Alexander John Robert Duncan was born in Montreal,
Quebec on July 21, 1904, to Alexander and Margaret
(Scott) Duncan. Alex Sr. was coachman for the Governor
General at the turn of the century, and later a messenger
for the Bank of Montreal. His mother, Margaret also
worked for Government House. Alex's father passed away
in 1912, and his mother passed away in 1920. As a result
of this tragedy, Alex and his two brothers, Bill and John
were put on a train destined for Lethbridge, Alberta to be
raised by Aunt Kate and Uncle John Scott.

In 1922 Alex went to Coaldale, to work for George Bathgate
on the farm. After Mr. Bathgate left the area, Alex worked
out on other farms in the summer, and drove horse-drawn,
curtained windowed school buses. Alex was the proud
owner of a Model T Ford Coupe and we have been told
that Alex never took just one girl dancing, that he would
pile as many girls as possible into the car and away to the
dance they would go. After the dance, the girls would be
delivered home safely.

In 1930 Alex went out to Vancouver where he picked up odd
jobs for a few years, and in 1934 Alex moved back to the
Coaldale area, soon moving to the Coalhurst Area to work
for Roger Davis. Alex soon became good friends of Charlie
and Ada Watnough, and spent many evenings at their home.
I wonder if the reason was their daughter, Edna.

Edna was born on the homestead in West Lethbridge (NE-9-22)
on September 9, 1914, the ninth child of Charlie and Ada
Watmough. Edna's health wasn't the best, and in 1918 along
with sister Annie and brother Oliver were stricken with diptheria.
Their father stayed with them and looked after the ill. Edna
was the sickest and for many days hovered between life
and death. She gradually recovered from this dreadful disease,
but it was many months before she was able to walk and talk.
Edna went to school in West Lethbridge from 1920 to 1927,
when the family moved to the Coalhurst Area. Then, Edna
along with other family members, transferred to the Coalhurst
School. She found the Coalhurst school much different from
the school in the "bend". Edna was very athletic, and liked
sports. Coalhurst was involved in the annual track and field
meets, Edna would be seen in her square-collared white
blouse well decked with red ribbons and the odd blue ribbon.
Edna was finally able to talk her parents into letting her quit
school, and went to work helping in the fields, later finding
work on other farms. In a few years Edna met Alex. After
courting for a while they decided to tie the knot, so on September
21, 1937, Edna became Mrs. Alex Duncan and moved to a
small acreage north of "home".

Through their married life together they raised a family of
five children. Edna and Alex never made a living off the
land, so Alex worked at different jobs. For many years
Alex worked on the tipple at the Federal Mine as a weigh
man. The miners knew that Alex was honest, and they
would never be cheated of their weights. After the
mine closed in 1956, Alex went to work at Lilydale Poultry
where he did the same type of work, only this time it
was weighing turkeys, chickens and geese.

As the children were growing up and in school Edna and
Alex took part in the local Home and School. They always
attended the local dances held every two weeks in the
School Hall.

Edna was the leader of the Coalhurst 4-H Garden Club
where she worked with the young teenagers, teaching
them about gardening and canning.