Regimental No: M1264
Walter was born June 14, 1911, to Arthur and Hannah Thew. Walter arrived in the Grande Prairie area in April, 1930. He took a freight train from Drumheller, Alberta, to Hythe, which was the end of the steel at that time. He went on to Dawson Creek, B.C., on foot and by hitch-hiking. That fall, he came back to Goodwin staying with his father, Art, until spring, returning to Dawson Creek where he worked until 1932.
Walter married Maud Agassiz Moore in 1932 in Hythe, AB, and they moved back to Goodwin that winter. Maud was born January 17, 1908 in Agassiz, B.C.
Walter filed on SW 26-71-2-W6, the “coulee quarter.” They built on the land south of the coulee, right where the Edson Trail went through. Their first house was built of logs and was 12’ x 28’. There was no church or school. They lived there, except for Walter’s stint in the army when they moved to Midnapore, AB. Walter served overseas and in 1945 was slightly wounded. In 1969, they retired and moved into Grande Prairie where Walter worked for AMA.
Walter and Maud had 2 children: Robert “Bob” Lewis Thew, born at Goodwin and married Elsie Dianne “Dianne” Calberry on July 31, 1961, in Grande Prairie (born July 30, 1941 in Grande Prairie, died May 22, 2020), and William Walter Thew, born May 6, 1933 (married Beryl), died December 1, 2002, interred at Goodwin.
Walter died May 15, 1984 and Maud died October 13, 1994 in Grande Prairie. Both are interred in the Grande Prairie cemetery
Source: Calgary Albertan April 3, 1945 Page 3 column 5; The Edmonton Bulletin April 2, 1945, Page 5, column 6; Daily Herald-Tribune, Oct 17, 1994, Page 5, column 3-4; Daily Herald-Tribune, Dec 3, 2002, Page 7, Column2; The Daily Herald-Tribune Mar 8, 2001, Page 7, column 1; Ancestry (1921 Canadian Census, Obituaries), Newspapers.com, Community Book Index – Across the Smoky and Bridges to the Past