A local farmer reminisces
By Joan Janzen
Bill Warrington is a newcomer to Caleb Village, having moved there a month ago. He moved there from his farm northwest of Marengo, located in the RM of Antelope Park. “I lived right next to the correction line,” Bill explained.
He was born at Kindersley on Oct. 8, 1941. His mother told him there was snow on the ground the day he was born. “There were seven of us; two girls and five boys, and I’m the oldest,” he said.
Bill Warrington recently moved to Caleb Village from his farm northwest of Marengo. Now he enjoys visiting, reminiscing and playing the piano. Photo by Joan Janzen
His education began at Merid School, where there were only ten students. Later he attended a rural school near Loverna. “One fall I went to school right in Loverna,” he recalled, adding that he attended high school in Marengo.
Bill has been farming full-time since 1959, but he was helping out on the farm long before that. “When I was four or five, I’d go with my dad and bring milk cows to the barn,” he recalled. “We had a farm that had ranch land and farm land. My dad always had cows for milking; that’s how they survived.”
Bill always enjoyed Christmas concerts, playing ball, and going to dances. Although he claimed to be able to play “a little” piano, he later proved he is quite a capable pianist who plays by ear.
Bill married a girl from Porcupine Plain on January 16, 1965, and they raised two children, a boy and a girl. Now Bill is the proud grandpa of a grandson and granddaughter. “My daughter and her husband look after the farm yard, and we rent out some of the land and farm some ourselves,” Bill said.
He enjoyed showing visitors what it’s like to live on a farm. When two young hunters from the States said they wanted to ride in a combine, “I said I can fix that for you in two minutes. My brother was combining, and those two guys were just about in tears because they were able to ride in a combine,” he recalled.
On another occasion a couple from Vancouver Island were able to ride on a big air seeder. “They were so fascinated with those great big seeders, sprayers and combines,” he said. Other visitors had never been around an oil well, and Bill was able to take them on a tour.
Throughout the years, Bill enjoyed curling, playing rec hockey and traveling. “I went to Alaska, Halifax, Mexico, California, Texas, Los Angeles, and Nebraska a number of times. I have family there,” he said.
He was always been a very active member in the community. “I was on the wheat pool committee, RM council, and spent 16 years on the school board in Kindersley,” he said. “One of the things I learned on the school board was how precious young people are. I was always interested in the school board.”
Bill was also on the committee for the Water West Pipeline, and was associated with the engineers, learning a lot along the way. And he’s still on the council of the RM of Antelope Park, and recently attended a SARM meeting in Regina.
Bill is also chairperson for the Kindersley & District Plains Museum and describes himself as a historian. “There’s a lot of history in this country that the younger generation is unaware of. They just take for granted all that we have in this country,” he noted.
Bill remembered when an elderly couple from Washington state stopped at museum on their way to Alaska. They said their uncle owned a pool hall in Loverna and was buried at the cemetery there.
“What are the odds that they met up with me?” Bill asked. “I sent them off to Loverna and got them looked after.”
In 2022 Bill’s extensive volunteer service was recognized when he received the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee medal for volunteer service.
While Bill is getting settled in at Caleb Village, he still enjoys going for coffee at the museum, and visiting with friends at Caleb. “We spend a lot of time visiting and reminiscing. I enjoy that,” he said.