| Noteringar |
- [Narrative by his daughter, Carol (Eritsland) Wait]:
1914-1915 - Oregon National Guard - Honorable Discharge
1916 - National Guard, State of Minnesota - Honorable Discharge
1917 - United States Army - Honorable Discharge
He was trained as an electrical engineer in the U.S. army. While in the Army he was stationed in Texas along the Mexican border. At that time he got malaria which affected him all of his life. He never went overseas as he got th e flu of 1917 and by the time he was over that the war was over.
He married Bertha Christensen about 1918 in Chicago. They had a daughter Esther, who was raised by her Grandmother Anna Marie Eritsland after Bertha died in a fire in Chicago in 1922. Dad's hands were burnt trying to get Bertha out of the fire.
He worked as a taxi driver in Chicago before he came to Canada. He was with the taxi drivers when they started the union, and if they had not changed their meeting place, well that would have been bad, as it was the garage where the St. Valentines massacre took place.
Dad always said he was never without a job during the depression of the 1930s, he just never got paid. He travelled throughout Alberta showing motion pictures. He owned Eritsland and Holmes Auto Repairs and Service in Rocky Moun tain House. Once in a while he would get a chicken or something for gasoline etc at the garage in Rocky.
He also belonged to a semi - professional baseball team. I think he was the pitcher. He had many awards for Marksmanship, usually came in 1st in competitions. I don't know who has these award badges.
From 1942 - 1945, he taught Airplane Mechanics to Canadian and British Air Force personnel who were going to England to maintain the Air Force fleet during WW 2.
When we moved to Lethbridge in 1945, Dad worked at a garage that went out of business. The owner couldn't pay Dad his salary so gave him some furniture instead. I don't know how he managed to feed us all at that time. He then ta ught auto mechanics at the Lethbridge Collegiate institute (1945 - 1961). There was no course in mechanics at that time and he convinced the school board to develop one. In the summers he went to University to get his teachersc ertificate. The LCI was located on the North side of Lethbridge at that time. In 1949 the new Lethbridge Collegiate Institute was buil,t at 7th Ave and 15th Street, on the south side of Lethbridge. Dad organized the shops, mecha nics, electrical and woodworking.
From 1961 - 1962 he taught Auto Mechanics in Westlock Alberta; he retired due to illness
Dad was an avid hunter. We ate a lot of ducks, pheasants and partridge but he never did bring home a deer or moose or an elk. I used to tease him that he would rather let them go than shoot them. He also liked to fish, especiall y for trout. We spent a lot of time around Pincher Creek and in the Kananaskis fishing.
He belonged to the Fish and Game Association in Lethbridge and wrote several articles for their magazine. He was also instrumental in setting up the shooting range n Lethbridge so that people who wanted to target practice could do so in a safe place. When he was in the U.S. Army he was considered to be a sharpshooter.
[in a Jan 2002 email message, Carol Wait commented on his death in 1971, age 75]: "Mom and he came out for a Christmas visit and were staying in North Vancouver with Rosalind. They both came down with a terrible flu. Dad phoned me Christmas Eve day and was very upset: [his sister] Esther had died [on December 19], and he said he wouldn't be around long either. One of Rosalind's twins took Dad to the hospital and he died there. They did an autopsy as he was from Lethbridge [ie not a resident], and discovered he had diabetes. They were amazed he had lived as long as he did. "
email from his nephew Don Lowe, Jan 2002: " Lorna, Larry and I attended Oscar's funeral in Lethbridge. The cemetery was cold, windy, no snow, on the NW side of Lethbridge."
More About OSCAR BERNARD (PEDERSON) ERITSLAND:
Burial: December 31, 1971, Archmount Memorial Gardens Lethbridge Alberta
Cause of Death: combination of influenza, heart failure
Education: Bet. 1946 - 1950, University of Alberta
Employment: Bet. 1942 - 1945, Taught Airplane Mechanics to Canadian and British Air Force personnel/Calgary Alberta
Immigration: 1923, United States to Canada
Medical Information: had diabetes (discovered in autopsy after death) also had malaria, contacted in Texas around 1916 - 1917
Military service: Bet. 1914 - 1915, Oregon National Guard - Honorable Discharge
Retirement: Bet. 1963 - 1972, Lethbridge Alberta
|
släkten Alfsvåg-Jonsson-Sehlberg
1896 - 1971 (75 år)
