High RIver, Alta. – Hank Pallister was a collector of friends and stories.
Just before he died in April 2005, he had planned to collect those stories in a book to tell the social history of ranching in southern Alberta.
For almost 20 years, his columns had appeared in Alberta Beef magazine, weekly newspapers and the Western Stock Growers Association’s monthly newsletter. His last article was called Alberta’s Centennial and was published in the Alberta centennial brand book in 2005.
As his wife, Joyce, sorted through his memorabilia collected over more than 40 years as a brand inspector, she decided to carry on the dream and publish a book.
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She released 500 copies of Smoke from the Branding Fire with an official book launch in August in the Museum of the Highwood in High River, Alta.
A section of the museum was set aside as a tribute to the Pallister family with photographs, family collections and associated pieces such as branding irons, clothes and saddles linked to the history of early ranches in the area.
More than 50 Pallister descendents attended, including Hank and Joyce’s two sons and four grandchildren.
The book was almost sold out before the launch so Joyce released a second revised printing. The book is available in museums, gift shops and on the internet.
“It was quite a feeling to get the book in my hands because that was Hank’s desire,” she said.
Hank became an author late in life, writing his first story about the centennial of the A7 Ranch at Nanton, Alta., in 1986. What followed was a series of histories of Alberta’s original ranches and cowboys and pioneer anecdotes on how to make Christmas pudding, brand a calf or trade horses.
“He never, ever had a lesson in writing. It was a natural gift,” Joyce said. He spent plenty of time planning and researching his stories before sitting down at the computer to write; he made few revisions.
“It’s like he had it all written in his head before he got to the computer. That amazed me,” she said.
Much of his research started with the brand books and records that provided names, locations and other ranching facts. He also relied on his recollections of the famous and influential people he met during his extensive travels as a brand inspector.
Joyce is now pursuing a second dream to produce a book on brand inspectors. Many of the old-timers are gone and she wants people to know there was more to these men than a short obituary in a local newspaper.
Hank was one of 13 children born to pioneers Guy and Evelyn Pallister in 1925. The family lived on the Lineham ranch near Turner Valley, Alta., where Hank’s father worked for rancher and entrepreneur Pat Burns.
When Hank left high school he worked on various ranches before applying for a job as a brand inspector at the age of 19. He would stay there for more than 40 years, becoming supervisor of brand inspectors for southern Alberta in 1964. Another promotion in 1968 made him supervisor for brand inspection for the province. He retired in 1991.
Part of his career was spent at the provincial brand office in Stettler, Alta., where he was instrumental in computerizing the system’s 50,000 registered brands.
His social life revolved around his work. He met his wife, Joyce Haberaer, while she worked at the Calgary Stockyards. They married in 1964.
They eventually moved to High River in 1995 because Hank wanted to go back to the foothills.
Active in local history groups, Hank was vice-president of the Southern Alberta Oldtimers Association and for a time was manager of the Bar U Ranch national historical site south of Calgary.
