Hans John (John) and Edeltraut (Edel) arrived in Canada as newlyweds on October 21, 1951. Edel had met the soccer player, John, in November, 1949, in Germany, had married him in 1950, and together they had set sail from Genoa, Italy, aboard the ocean liner Vulcania, bound for Halifax harbor.
Although this was Edel’s first trip to Canada, John had been here before as a prisoner of war in Ozada, a camp close to the present community of Seebe. Their Canadian destination was Lethbridge, an area already known to John. The Canadian government had paid their trip to Canada, $600 each, which they paid back within two years. They had just spent seven days and nights, budgeting their $10 wisely, travelling by train from Halifax to Lethbridge, their Canadian home for the first year. Next was a two and a half year stint in Niagara Falls where John practised his barbering. Following the suggestion of a Swiss fellow who felt that Banff was a place with a future, John came back to the West (Banff) on May 9, 1954. Edel insisted that John return to Niagara Falls to get her and they arrived in June of 1954. After acquiring lodging, the next task was job hunting, a task not easy for those lacking fluent English. Edel worked in hotels, specifically the King Edward Hotel, until son Gordon was born November 17, 1956, in the old hospital in Banff. Daughter Ursula was born May 22, 1960, in the new addition to the hospital in Banff.
Banff in those days was quiet and small. The tourist season was July and August. In March of 1960, John was able to open his own business, the Hub Barber Shop on Main Street, near the Hudson Bay, Banff Cafe and a drugstore. The beauty parlor part of the shop was rented out. This business was held until March, 1977 when the Charles Reid Mall was built and John was there until 1985, after which came temporary practice and then retirement. During this time Edel was working too, not just as a mother and housewife, but as a salesclerk, supervisor, or buyer for Spinning Wheel Gift Shop (one and a half years) then twenty-two and a half years at the Japanese owned OK Gift Shop. She retired September 15, 1998.
As well as enjoying their Canadian life and Canadian family, John and Edel were able to make several return trips (1958 – 59, 1965 – 66, 1974, 1980, 1986, 1988) back to Germany to visit family. Edeltraut Obermeier was born April 17, 1929 in Fischingen, Baden, part of a family of eleven. She worked in a textile factory before marrying John. John, an only child, was born March 16, 1920, in Freiburg in Baden. The trip back in 1988 was special to John and for the aunt who had raised him following his parents’ divorce. As an eight year old in 1928, John had attended soccer games with his uncle. This was the beginning of a keen interest in soccer and other athletic activities such as running (a bronze medal at the Senior Games in 1998), swimming (1990 fourth), badminton (fourth) and 800 meter (fourth in Lacombe). These feats followed the first hip operation in 1985 and the second one in 1997.
In 1935, John joined the army and spent 1940 -1941 in North Africa. Of eight ships, four went down in six to seven meters of water. The captors were Italian. So in May, 1942, until October, 1942, John was in Ozada, then in Lethbridge on a sugar beet farm, before going to Wales where John worked on a hops farm. Next John went to England where he played soccer in the third division, and, finally on February 17, 1947, went home to Germany. In April, 1956, John and Edel became Canadian citizens in a ceremony in Calgary.
John and Edel remember a good butcher shop in Canmore in the early days. The Olympics of 1988 put Canmore on the map. The Olympics brought more people, resulted in more growth and increased the price of lots. The National Park was an enjoyable place to live and used to have good snow removal. After Labor Day weekend until the long weekend in May, Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise used to shut down. The children attended public school and high school in Banff. John always enjoyed his badminton. He coached girls’ and men’s soccer teams, and, in 1977, the oldtimers of Banff went to the Red Deer Summer Games and won silver. Daughter Ursula was a hockey goalie. 1954 is memorable. Six hundred people in Canmore and good hockey games in the old arena. The Big Six played good hockey.
How times have changed from that first trip to Banff, getting off the train and seeing a bear and an elk on the street to seeing lots of bears in town, especially at the “dump”. Now fishing is a good pastime for both John and Edel, with Edel being the “good “fisherman.
John, Edel, Ursula and Gordon Rock, 1999
John Rock, 1943, Internment Camp, third from upper left
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 248-249.
