George was born in the Meadowbrook District in 1910, moving to Canmore at the age of fifteen. George’s son, Melvyn, remembers his dad telling him about a time on the farm when he went hunting with a .22 rifle and his brothers, Jim and Jack. As they were crawling through a fence, the gun went off and shot George in the leg. After his brothers carried him home, their dad put George in their Model T and headed for town. George said that it was the fastest they ever drove – which couldn’t have been more than fifteen miles per hour!
As a young man, George was an ardent fisherman, ball player and golfer. He excelled at golf. He only owned two golf clubs when he first started to play. In those days, the winner of each tournament was awarded a club, so George was soon playing with a full set of clubs. His boys remember large silver cups which he won and later donated back to the Golf Club.
Pearl Richards and George were married in 1932. Elsie and Whitfield Dredge stood up for them. Their first home was a cabin in John and Doris Riva’s yard. A year later Marvyn was born. When Grandma Heath became ill with cancer, they all moved into the Heath home. Pearl took care of her bed-ridden mother-in-law besides looking after the house and the rest of the family. Spud gave Pearl a helping hand many times.
George and Pearl then bought a house on Main Street for $50.00 which they paid for in payments. They hauled the logs with horses to build a two room cabin which they added on to in later years. Melvyn was born around this time in 1937.
George worked in the mine for several years as a contract miner. During the war he was frozen to the mine so he was in the Home Guard. He was a hard drinker all his life. In the 1940’s, he and Pearl separated; George moved back to the family home.
Marvyn and Mel spent many summers on Uncle Jimmy’s farm. Marvyn especially idolized his Uncle Jim, and both boys looked back on those summers with their cousins, Mavis and Evelyn, as a highlight of their youth.
George and Pearl reconciled, and Allen was born soon after, in 1945. George was closer to Allen than his other boys. Allen and his dad went on fishing and camping trips at Spray Lakes.
George held various jobs after he left the mine: waiter, then manager of the Canmore Hotel, Pool Construction, and tap man at the King Eddy in Banff.
Being a baseball fan, he would always arrange to have his holidays during the World Series.
Becoming more of a family man, he introduced Marv and Mel to golf. It was somewhat of a joke that when the three played together, Marvin would hook his drive, Mel would slice, and George’s shot wouldn’t go as far, but it would be straight down the middle. Gout and arthritis caused George to quit playing.
He was a kindly grandfather, and his grandsons will always remember playing poker with him.
In 1970, George was diagnosed with throat cancer. Marvyn took a leave of absence from his job with the Banff government to drive his dad to the Cancer Clinic in Calgary everyday for treatment. Dr. Gelfand operated on George, who died soon after.
Pearl and George Heath married in 1932
Winner of Canmore Miners’ Golf Cup, 1932-33, George in 1932, Jack in 1933
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 126-127.
