Global anchor finds family gravesite
Headstone of Global anchor Steinke’s ancestor was noticed by accident
Had August Droste not been a relative of Edmonton Global’s TV anchor Gord Steinke, his grave might soon have been claimed by undergrowth.
Droste was born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1897, fought for his country in the trenches during the First World War and came to Canada in 1923.
“August was my dad’s uncle, and my dad and I recently decided we’d make a road trip to look for his grave and the old family homestead,” says Steinke, whose favourite TV program is the Smithsonian Channel’s History in Colour.
“My dad Ray is an 84-year-old hard-working electrician and we knew from family stories August had farmed and been buried in the Luseland and Salvador area, a two-hour drive west of Saskatoon.”
His dad remembers August as a tall, kind, gentle, hard-working man who made a trip back to Germany in 1938 and returned with a wife, Herta Baum (Droste).
“August reported in his diary that on that trip he had explored cabarets and the opera house in Berlin and had heard Adolf Hitler speak at a massive rally,” says the veteran broadcaster, honoured with the Governor General’s distinguished Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for his exceptional community volunteer work.
Steinke, who made the trip on his Harley-davidson Road King, and his dad both knew they were not guaranteed grave-hunting success in Luseland, a town of 550 that had once been a bustling Prairie community.
John Macoun, exploring a route west for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1818, after the buffalo had nearly been wiped out, saw the country as “an agricultural Eden.”
Drawn by accounts of rich pastures, settlers over the years were increasingly pulled in to what became known as one of the most productive wheat-growing areas in the west.
Many pioneers came from German communities in the Russian Volga colonies, where their acceptance had deteriorated. But many Swiss, Polish, Hungarian, Irish and Scottish immigrants also arrived.
“We knew there would be countless tombstones,” says Steinke, whose prohibition-era Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada is a bestseller.
The duo began their search in blistering Prairie heat and went through two graveyards, checking hundreds of graves.
“We were ready to call it a day and end our search when an odd thing happened,” Steinke says.
“I was in one corner of the graveyard and dad well off in another when I called to say
I was going to take a photo of glorious sunset before we left.
“I took the picture and then looked down to check the focus and noticed I was standing on a flat headstone partially covered by grass. I bent down to take a closer look and was both surprised and delighted to see the writing — ‘August Droste
— In God’s Care.’
“We were thrilled at finding it. We were incredibly lucky.”
They also discovered the site of the old family homestead and barn — where Gord’s dad remembered playing on summer vacations — had been bulldozed years ago.
“Bigger farms had decided to use the land to create a larger farming area,” Steinke says.
“Sadly, August died of what we believe was an aneurysm in December 1951.”
AUTHOR DONATES PROFIT
Local author Molly Anne Warring is leading the charge to raise the $1.1 million needed to complete the new $16-million Herb Jamieson Centre for homeless men.
“I shudder each time I think of people sleeping out when Edmonton’s Arctic-type winters close in,” octogenarian Warring says.
“I plan to donate the profits for my fourth book in my Paradise series, Emma, Ellen, Emil and I, to the help build the new centre, which will raise bed availability to 400 beds from 249.”
The federal and provincial government have each donated $4 million for the construction and some 3,500 Edmontonians have to date donated a total of $6.9 million to match their investment.
Warring has a long history with the Jamieson Centre, named for Herb Jamieson, who owned a Jasper Place hardware store; chaired the Hope Mission board in the 1930s; served as an Alberta MLA (1959-1963) and was an Edmonton city councillor (1980-1983).
“I was so impressed with the centre’s work that for 20 years I collected winter coats and later jeans, underwear, sweatshirts, pants, tuques and mitts, for destitute men sheltering at the centre,” says Warring.
“I also taught a writing course there one year and now, somewhat older, I hope my book sales will help. But sales have been extremely poor during the COVID -19 pandemic and many events where my books sold well, such as the Smoky Lake Pumpkin Festival and the Vegreville Pysanka Festival, were cancelled.”
Warring ’s books are now on sale at Audreys Books, Mundare Sausage and Uncle Ed’s Restaurant.