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- (Research): Obituary, THE RECORD - Aug. 24, 2005 HIGH, Alfred C. - Peacefully, at Albright Manor in Beamsville on Tuesday, August 23, 2005, in his 91st year.Beloved husband of the late Olive (Cressman) High (2000). Dear father of Elaine (and Lynn) Wilkinson of Creemore and Les (and Pat) High of Jordan Station. Sadly missed by his four grandchildren, Evan Wilkinson and Derek, Laura and Jonathan High.Predeceased by his parents, Alfred L. High and Alda Culp of Vineland. Also predeceased by brothers, Isaac (Helen) High of St. Catharines, Daniel (Clara) High of Vineland and Norman (Eleanor) High of Kitchener.Born in old Louth Township, Alfred grew up in Vineland and was a fruit grower in rural St. Catharines and Jordan Station before retiring and moving to the Fairview Mennonite Home in Cambridge in 1987. He had only recently returned to the local area following a debilitating stroke.A family gathering for interment will take place at the Vineland Mennonite Cemetery in Vineland. A memorial service to celebrate Alfred's life will be held at a later date. If desired, memorial donations may be made to the Vineland First Mennonite Church or the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.Arrangements through Tallman Funeral Home - Vineland Chapel
ALFRED C. HIGH (1914 - 2005)Alfred Curtis High was born October 14, 1914 on a farm in old Louth Twp., west of St. Catharines, Ont. He was the youngest of four sons born to Alfred L. High and his wife, Alda Culp. In 1917, his family moved to Vineland Station in Clinton Twp., where they shared half of the original Isaac Culp homestead with his maternal grandparents who retired to the attached "dawdyhaus".Alfred grew up helping to tend the family crops and livestock. With his older brothers Isaac, Dan and Norm, he walked to nearby Rittenhouse School and later made the five mile trip by horse and buggy, (or cutter), to attend Beamsville High School. Following a short agricultural course in Guelph, he returned home to farm and for a time also worked for the Vineland Growers Co-op and as a teamster, with horses, on neighboring farms.With the rest of his family he attended First Mennonite Church in Vineland, and through congregational ties eventually met Olive Cressman, daughter of Isaiah Cressman and Magdalena Shirk of Waterloo Co. They were married April 12, 1941 in Kitchener, Ont.Writing home from Cornell University in New York, his brother Norm teased him that as the youngest but first of the brothers to marry, he would have to set an example for the rest of them.With the world at war, Alfred soon received his call, and as a conscientious objector, headed west by train on Nov. 11, 1942, to the Alternate Service camp at Castle Mountain near Banff, Alberta, where he spent six months as part of a crew, cutting trees and living in tents in the deep snow and bone-chilling cold of the winter months before returning home in the spring to farm.While living in Vineland Station, daughter Elaine was born. When Alfred's oldest brother Isaac returned to take over the home property in 1951, Alfred moved his little family to a small fruit farm on 7th Street, in west St. Catharines, near the Q.E.W. A son, Leslie, was born the following year. Alfred and Olive farmed there until 1969, when the Highway Department expropriated half of the farm and Alfred again re-located his family, this time to a property on 15th Street in Jordan Station. (Still in close proximity to family, Church and friends, which were such integral parts of their lives).The following years saw the marriage of his children and the birth of four grandchildren, whose accomplishments were always the source of much pride to "Grandpa" Alfred.Alfred was a lifelong member of Vineland First Mennonite Church where he served for a time as a Trustee and sang in the men's Church quartet. In addition, he participated in the Lincoln Centennial Choir; was a member of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society and served as the Mennonite Aid representative in his local area for many years.In 1987, Alfred and Olive retired to an apartment at the Fairview Mennonite Home in Cambridge, Ont., close to Olive's family, where they spent another thirteen years together and formed many close friendships. After Olive's death in 2000, Alfred remained at Fairview for another five years, until nostalgia stirred a desire to return to his birthplace and plans were in place to bring this about when he suffered a major stroke on July 19, 2005.A timely opening at Albright Manor in Beamsville, enabled Alfred to fulfill his wish and return to his home community where he passed away peacefully on August 23, 2005. Two days later he was re-united with his wife of 59 years, and laid to rest beside her in the family plot near his brothers and five generations of ancestors in the tranquil setting of the old First Mennonite Cemetery in Vineland, Ontario.
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