THE FRINGE

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Neighbor Dave

Back in the middle 1960s two ranchers barnstormed through Saskatchewan by private plane campaigning against formation of a hog marketing board.

They were John Minor and his brother-in-law Dave Willness. Initially they were successful in swinging the vote against a central marketing agency but later central selling became a fact of life.

Dave Willness came from the Cabri area and later farmed near Conquest. Then, from 1961-63 Johnny Minor prevailed on him to manage the big Chilco Ranch near Williams Lake, B.C., that Minor had bought into. Johnny was a big-time rancher in both Saskatchewan and B.C. He died quite young.

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Dave came back to Saskatchewan in 1964, settling near Mildred, where he farmed and ranched until retiring to Saskatoon in 1980.

Dave wasn’t the sort to get barnacles from inactivity so he helped form a group of farmers who raised rainbow trout for commercial sale, mostly to hotels, restaurants and various institutions.

The ponds and lakes near his Mildred ranch were stocked. When the ice on the ponds got thick enough Dave and his helpers chopped holes and dropped in nets.

Since Dave knew me from The Western Producer and he lived just a block away, every December I’d get a phone call.

“Hey Keith. We’ve been netting out some fish and I have a deep freeze full. Need any? I’m charging $2.50 a pound.”

You bet. And when my New Brunswick born son-in-law opened up his Christmas box and found a fish-shaped bit of cardboard he was delighted.This was our way of telling him his family would be getting a share of Dave’s trout.

Dave had a long battle with emphysema and he passed away Jan.13.

He will be missed around here.