Alfred EscherCourtesy of family
Alfred Escher: Father. Husband. Immigrant. Craftsman. Born Sept. 1, 1932, in Kerkrade, Netherlands; died Aug. 6, 2023, in Calgary, following complications with diabetes; aged 90.
Alfred Escher was packing school lunches at an age when most people are ready to retire. Family members would say, “Dad, you need to rest.” He never told us to mind our own business. He had three young children to raise: Allen, Anjo and Anika.
Alfred was a child in Germany during the Second World War. Born in the Netherlands, the war displaced his family and ended his formal education. One of his siblings died because of starvation. To stem his own hunger, Alfred caught frogs and ate them. The conditions of war shaped his character. His younger brother, Ewald, described Alfred as being a natural problem solver: “He could fix anything, literally anything, mechanical or otherwise.” His solutions showed great resourcefulness and ingenuity. Alfred did not dance to the drum of conformity.
In 1954, Alfred boarded the SS Italia headed for Pier 21 in Halifax. He joined his brother Hans in Calgary. At first, Alfred spoke little English, but he embraced Canada. He began working as a blacksmith, welder and mine mechanic.
Life changed when Alfred met Betty Barnes at a YMCA dance. A letter from 1958 captured the delight of Alfred’s parents back in Germany, “We are very pleased that Alfred has married a girl who likes the country and out-of-doors, because that is what we all enjoy here.”
Alfred and Betty had three children – Rick, Caroline and Julie – and lived in southwest Calgary. They wanted to be close to Betty’s parents, who had an acreage in nearby Pump Hill. They rode horses and camped in the Kananaskis, listening to Alfred play the harmonica at the campfire. They caught rainbow trout in the Spray Lakes. Memories were made sleeping under canvas in the Canadian Rockies and cooking crabapples in the playhouse that Alfred built in the family’s backyard. After a family dinner, Alfred would often play the piano. He could play by ear. The notes seemed to flow from his fingers. On the family’s front lawn, the Canadian and Centennial flags flew proudly.
In 1967, Alfred joined the ranks of entrepreneurship which ran through his family and Betty’s. He started a floor-covering business in Calgary called Centennial Floors. Alfred cherished his customers and became friends with many. To win a contract with the Drumheller penitentiary, Alfred outbid his competitors by proposing to use prison labour and teach the inmates to install the floors. With business going well, and Betty minding the showroom and tending the books, his teenage son Rick, became a ready-made, though reluctant, helper. Alfred’s entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and perseverance were guiding values for his children. He never let his kids say the word “can’t,” always insisting that they could do anything.
After Betty died in 1980, Alfred was left to raise three teenagers. Decades later, Alfred’s eyes still gleamed remembering their first meeting: “I never saw a woman walk like that.” His eyes grew watery and his voice became choked with feeling. Then he straightened his spine and moved his torso from side to side, his head tilted. Watching Alfred embody his late wife’s elegance captured his strength and her gracefulness in one movement.
Many years later, life changed again when Alfred met Raquel Rapadas. They married in 1998 and raised a family in Drumheller. They enjoyed camping and fishing for crabs. He volunteered at his children’s elementary school and took pride in polishing the school floors.
At that point, it wasn’t really about the floors. His three youngest gave him a new purpose. Managing diabetes and asthma, he had his share of health scares. His determination only grew stronger. He saw all six of his children grow to be adults and he got to know his nine grandchildren.
Alfred inspired us to persevere through difficult times and to value friends and family. He enhanced thousands of lives in his pursuit of a life in Canada.
Lorraine Escher is Alfred Escher’s daughter-in-law.
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