When a Montreal packager was ready to reject a load of peas, Saskatchewan processor Ron Gaudet travelled to that city, took all 1,200 bags apart, cleaned out the glass fragments and sewed the now-acceptable peas back into the bags.
He was not afraid of hard work, said his son Tony, whose father will be posthumously inducted into Saskatchewan’s Agricultural Hall of Fame Aug. 3, along with five others.
“Dad was very giving. He never tried to cheat anyone.”
Tony and his brother now run the pulse processing plant their father set up in 1978, the first in the province.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
He described Gaudet as a visionary, who was growing peas in the 1940s and selling them to an eastern company to turn into soup. He continued farming, but also started contracting with neighbours, processing and marketing their pea and lentil crops. The volume grew and so did his list of international customers. Tony estimates that the family’s two plants in Bellevue and Duck Lake, Sask., are the biggest pea splitters in Western Canada. Their customers are located in India, South Africa, the United States and Mediterranean countries.
When Gaudet started the plant, it could process 4,400 pounds an hour. Today, it can process 44,000 lb. an hour.
“He definitely had confidence in the future of the pulse industry,” Tony said.
“He was never scared to tackle anything.”
He said his father kept five sons and four daughters busy cleaning peas in the field and sewing the crop into bags.
Gaudet was a founding director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association and later served on the Saskatchewan Pulse Crop Development Board.
But Tony remembers his father as more than a farmer and processor. He was also a carpenter with his brother for 20 years and ran a lumberyard for seven years. He loved music and played guitar and piano in a district band. He was proud of his Acadian heritage and before he died in 1994, attended a family reunion in New Brunswick. Tony is the 11th generation of the family that left France for Canada.
For the future, Tony said the family has reduced its farming efforts in favour of buying and processing peas. He expects his son, now in university, will join in the business.
Colleen Saywer
Also entering the hall of fame is sheep industry leader Colleen Sawyer. She married a farmer in 1960 and they raised sheep and cattle near Vanscoy, Sask. She was widowed with three young children, so changed the farm’s direction into purebred sheep and selling lamb meat directly to city residents. She sold breeding stock to Mexico and the U.S. and judged shows across Canada. She chaired the Saskatchewan Sheep Breeders Association and represented the province on the national body.
Sawyer helped organize the Vanscoy sheep show that has turned into a national show now held in Assiniboia, Sask. She also was a director of the Saskatchewan Sheep and Wool Commission and a manager of marketing and extension for the sheep board.
Garfield Stevenson
A president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from 1988 to 1994, Garfield Stevenson had been a pool delegate since 1959. During his time at the pool, the elevator system streamlined and value-added processing became popular. Stevenson was active in many organizations in his community of Whitewood and was an original commissioner of the Saskatchewan Hog Marketing Commission in 1972. He also travelled extensively in his grain leadership role and was a director of Canadian Western Agribition and the Saskatchewan Universities Commission.
Chris Bigland
The hall of fame is inducting Chris Bigland for his contribution to animal health. He worked for the federal and Alberta agriculture departments after graduating from veterinary college in 1940. He did poultry research and headed the microbiology department of the vet college at the University of Saskatchewan from 1962 to 1975. He was first the director of the Veterinary Infectious Diseases Laboratory in 1972, an organization that has gone on to develop vaccines for various animal illnesses.
Isobel Beeler
A supporter of homemaker clubs, 4-H and agricultural fairs, Isobel Beeler is being recognized for her volunteer work. She farmed with her husband at Semans, Sask., and served 32 years as a 4-H leader. She was a judge at many fairs and a cooking instructor through Carlton Trail College. She was named a life member of the provincial ag societies association in 1988, two years before her death.
Mark Kilcher
Mark Kilcher’s work in rangeland management is being honoured. Raised on a farm at Daylesford, Sask., he received his agriculture degree in 1949. For the next 32 years he worked at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Swift Current, Sask., doing research and presenting the results to farmers. He studied the techniques of forage growth, including grazing systems that used both cultivated and native grasses. He died in 1995.
The hall of fame was formed in 1971 and has honoured 191 people, including this year’s group, for their contributions to agricultural and rural life. The hall of fame, located at the Saskatoon branch of the Western Development Museum, features biographies and sketches of past inductees. The information is also contained in a book called Salute to Farm Leaders, and is available on the hall’s website. To find that, visit www.producer.com and click on links in the news.
