Roy Matson was born August 13, 1882 in Ottawa,
Illinois. At Ortonville, Minnesota, on August 29,
1905 he married Clara Marie Klein, who was born
August 29, 1886 in Graceville, Minnesota.

Roy first came to Alberta in the fall of 1906
settling in Woodpecker (now known as Barnwell).
His wife came a month later and a son was
born there in 1907. Later in 1907 the family
moved to Spring Coulee to work for W.L.
Thompson to haul lumber for the Spring Coulee
company store and also lumber for the Bert Kelley
house.

Later in the year he got an outfit to farm a section
of land owned by Ken Long, located north of
Woolford. In 1908 Roy obtained his own outfit
and farmed the Joiner place, 5 miles east of
Spring Coulee. For two years he farmed the John
Wintergreen land north of the canal.

In 1910, Mr. Thompson built buildings on Section
19 for Roy to rent (3 miles S.W. of Spring Coulee).
While living here a son Clarence (Dutch) was born
in 1910 and a daughter in 1911. Roy and Mrs. Clara
C. Thompson (widow of W..L. Thompson) formed a
steam threshing partnership and Roy did the threshing
for Spring Coulee and Woolford area from 1911-1916.

In the fall of 1915, the family moved into Spring Coulee
and bought the Bank house which later became the
school house. Roy helped move the safe from the
Bank house to the railway station from which it was
moved to the Bank of Montreal in Magrath.

A second daughter was born in 1913.

During their stay in Spring Coulee, the children
attended both school and Sunday School and their
parents were active in all community activities.

In the spring of 1917, the family moved to the
homestead at Wennett, Montana and stayed there
for three years, during which time another daughter
was born.

In the fall of 1920 the family returned to Southern
Alberta and rented the Rosedale farm, then owned
by R.D. Bradshaw (Rosedale later sold to the Taylor
Bros.)

In March 1925, Roy bought the Orton Minor farm
southeast of Magrath. They resided there for 47 years
until retiring in Lethbridge in 1963.

Roy and Clara had three sons and three daughters.

While in Magrath, Roy served a total of 19 years on
the council of the Sugar City Municipal District as
councillor for 6 years (1996-1932) and as Reeve from
1936-1947. He was active in various community
organizations, while his wife took part in church
and community work.

On August 29, 1970, Roy and Clara celebrated their
65 wedding anniversary. Roy died March 26, 1971
and Clara August 30 1976. They were predeceased
by one son Clarence.

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