| If you could sit down with someone very
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| | demeanor. A true Victorian gentleman
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| successful and pick their brain-what
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| | that rather intimidated the little girl
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| would you ask?
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| | who would perch on the sofa beside his
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| As a child, I knew of a man who was born
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| | rocking chair in the farmhouse he had
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| in the latter part of the last century
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| | built with his own two hands. But that
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| who fit that criterion. He was the
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| | all changed years later, when she was a
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| youngest child of a woman whose husband
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| | grown woman with a life of her own, and
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| died when he was a baby. He and his
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| | she found the Valentines he had sent to
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| brothers moved from England as young men
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| | his love back in England as he struggled
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| and homesteaded land in Alberta. He
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| | to make a home for them on the wide open
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| married a woman he had known in the old
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| | Prairie. He worked hard, even taking a
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| country that had traveled to join him in
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| | job in a lumber camp for the winters to
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| a new country. She was a midwife whose
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| | make ends meet (he was the cook and his
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| father was a doctor back in England.
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| | bread was absolutely the best). He
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| Anyway, during the Depression, when
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| | deeply loved that woman who was
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| everyone else was going broke around him,
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| | considered above his class in England and
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| he became a millionaire.
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| | it came through in the tender words he
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| The million dollars he made in the 1930s
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| | wrote in beautiful script on the cards.
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| came from the sale of work horses to
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| | But the message here for modern women in
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| farmers and trades people. Huge, big
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| | business is this: he never did anything
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| Morgan horses. He had been told that he
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| | by half measures. If he committed to
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| was foolish to keep raising these
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| | something then he saw it through and did
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| magnificent animals when fuel-driven
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| | it to perfection. Nothing less would do.
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| machines began to appear on the farms in
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| | Another message he passed along was to
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| the 20s and money was to be made on
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| | believe in himself and what he was doing.
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| homesteads now well established with
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| | When others were so busy enjoying the
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| second generation families. But he kept
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| | good times that they were blind to the
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| on doing it because he was aware that
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| | other side of economic booms, he kept his
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| fortunes can change. So when nobody
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| | own counsel and created something that
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| could afford the fuel and parts for their
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| | would withstand economic decline. He saw
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| new tractors, they came to him to buy
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| | trends in both directions. And he
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| horses for their traditional equipment.
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| | understood there are opportunities in
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| I have often said I would love to sit
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| | good times and bad times-- change is
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| down and talk to him now. Ask him what
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| | opportunity.
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| his mindset was to be successful when all
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| | Is he a mentor? Absolutely. His
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| around him was failure and heartbreak.
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| | knowledge and business sense have
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| The lessons he learned from mistakes he
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| | survived him. Just one question-- if you
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| had made, as well as the triumphs he had
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| | could sit down to tea, what would you
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| experienced along the way.
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| | ask?
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| He was a quiet man, almost stern in
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