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Excerpt from Trails to Mannville and District (Published 1983)
Inter-Collegiate Press

Alvin* Pace By Edna (Banks) Kilborn

Pace, as he was commonly called came from South Carolina to farm near Mannville. He lived about one and one half miles north of town and had the north half of the section on the west side of the road NE 36-50-9. His farm adjoined that of Claude Richardson and both were bachelors.

Mr. Pace raised Wheat, coarse grains and pigs. Among my earliest recollections of him were how hard he must have worked. His farm seemed to contain more stonepiles than I had ever seen anywhere. They were piled into great mounds near his house which was a small weather-beaten frame building. The fence was lined with stones and in various places in the fields they were piled to resemble small mountains. To my childish mind it seemed like an awful lot of stones and represented a lot of hard work. I thought it must have been the stoniest farm in the country. He was a small man and stooped somewhat, likely as a result of hard work.

Mr. Pace had a team of horses that he called Pokey and Johnny. With them he hauled the buttermilk from the creamery to feed to his pigs. These horses were big, raw boned creatures and real plodders. We used to overtake him when on our way to town with our old "Bill" horse and buggy. We could hear him urging on his team as he called our, "Git-up Pokey! Come on, Johnny!" He kept up the continual sing-song, so to speak as he sat jolting along. But Pokey and Johnny never moved a mite faster for all his coaxing. They knew where they were going and I'm sure could have done the errand quite well on their own.

Sometimes on our way to town we would overtake Mr. Pace taking his pigs to market. When he though some looked fit to sell he just drove the whole lot down the road and into town ot the stockyards. There he got the fat ones sorted out and took the rest back home to await their return at a later date. I remember driving along in the ditch so as not to send the pigs in all directions while passing. He'd shout out to us in his southern drawl, "The ornery critters orter know whar they's goin' they bin thar 'nough times afore, but you niver kin trust a hawg."

As with all youngsters I was curious and I wondered why Mr. Pace had such bad scars on his face and neck. Dad told me he was lucky to be alive.

It was in the early days that it happened. He'd been sorting potatoes in the cellar one hot afternoon and became drowsy and fell asleep. Perhaps the lantern had been placed on top of the potato pile and while he slept the potatoes had rolled down causing it to be dislodged. Anyway when he awoke the flames were engulfing the floor above and the ladder had been consumed. After several efforts he managed to leap through the flames and grasp the edge of the trap door opening and scramble up into the house before the whole place went up in flames. This was the reason he was so disfigured. His life was hard and he knew no comforts yet he had a kind and generous nature, another old timer who with courage and much struggling made his contribution to our community.

*Mr. Pace's headstone very clearly says Alvis Milton Pace as opposed to just Alvin. It's a very nice stone

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[Alvis Milton Pace was born South Carolina 1874 died 13 May 1950 in Mannville, Alberta Canada]

 

 

 

 

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