Bolduc, George Joseph

George Joseph Bolduc was born on 28 March 1897 in Norman, a small community in northwestern Ontario a couple of kilometres west of Kenora. His parents David Bolduc and Claudia Labelle, both from Quebec, had married in 1887 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). The family first lived in nearby Keewatin and then in Norman where David found work at a local sawmill. Children born in Keewatin/Norman were Marshall Joseph (1889), Marie Rosanna (Rose) (1891), John David (1893), Marie Rose Josephine (1894) and George. It appears that the family briefly lived in British Columbia where son David Joseph was born in 1903 but then moved to the Lille area of Alberta. Lille is a former village in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, Canada. It was a company-built coal mining community that, between 1901 and 1912, hosted a population that grew to over 400. Born in Alberta were Laura (abt 1905) and Emile (1906). By the time of the 1911 census the family was living at the Hosmer Mines in the district of Fernie in British Columbia where David Sr was working as a carpenter. Daughter Beatrice was born in 1912 in British Columbia. From there the family moved to the Belloy/Wanham area of Birch Hills County in northwestern Alberta where they farmed.

Drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917, George was called up for service in June of 1918 in Calgary. He gave his date and place of birth as 27 March 1997 in Quebec, occupation as farmer in Grizzley Bear, Alberta, and his father David in Grizzley Bear as next of kin. As a Private with the 1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment, George was discharged from service by reason of reduction of forces on 9 December 1918 in Calgary.

George returned to the family farm, with 1935 and 1945 Voters lists having him farming in the Belloy area along with his parents and some of his siblings. Later in life George married Patience Edith (née Thompson) Halsall. Born in 1902 in the Clearwater area of Manitoba, Patience was the daughter of Welland Thompson and Beatrice Penman. Her parents had married in 1900 in Lanark, Ontario and would later farm in the Prince Albert area of Saskatchewan. Patience had previously been married to Thomas Halsall who died in 1964 in Saskatoon. At the time of his sister Rose (Samuel) Roulan’s (aka Rouleau) death in 1959 George was living in Belloy while when his brother Marshall passed away in 1970 he was living in the Rutland area of Kelowna in British Columbia as was his sister Maude (Dugald) Campbell.

George died on 29 November 1986 in Kelowna. He was predeceased by his wife Patience in 1984, mother Claudia (1952), father David (1955), and siblings Marshall (1970), Rose (1959), John David, David (1939), Josephine, and Laura. He was survived by his brother Emile (d 1989) and sister Beatrice Sjolin (d 1992). George and Patience are interred in the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in Kelowna.

By Judy Thorburn

Grave marker photograph courtesy of Lane H. Findagrave ID 47103390