A group of farmers who organized a convoy of trucks to haul grain 100 kilometres to honour a friend say they were only doing what he would have done.
Matthew Frere, 22, of Trochu, Alta., died in a snowmobile accident Jan. 16 near his farm.
Frere, the main truck driver on the family farm, had been contracted to haul 419 tonnes of malting barley to the Rahr Malting plant at Alix before he died.
Knowing how busy it would be after the funeral, a group of friends and neighbours got together to haul the grain for the family, said neighbour Norris Hogg.
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“Matt would have been the first one to do something for someone else,” said Hogg. “He was a real community involved person. He believed in helping out.”
Hogg said Frere often stopped by the yard with a snowplow to keep the yard clean, just to be neighbourly.
Tyler Leischner, a friend and cousin of Frere, said the convoy of 12 trucks was their way of grieving and honouring Frere.
“It was a way for us to grieve, too,” said Leischner.
The dozen trucks pulled out of the family’s Simber Farms yard early on the morning of Jan. 25 and drove in a tight convoy to Alix.
“It was pretty surreal with all these guys together with the idea of helping him,” said Hogg. “The people at Rahr were awestruck.”
After delivering the grain, the drivers hung around and shared stories about Frere.
Although Frere was young, he had taken on a large role in the family farm, doing a lot of the spraying, marketing and trucking, said Hogg.
“It’s pretty neat that people will band together in these times. I love living in a small community,” he said.
Frere leaves his parents, Bernard and Simonne, and four siblings.
mary.macarthur@producer.com
