Historian, Peter McArthur Reveals his Life History

Historian, Peter McArthur Reveals his Life History

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Henday Historian & genius, Peter McArthur was born in Viking, Alberta in 1938 and he still resides there. In his early years, he grew up with seven brothers and two sisters, all living in town. Peter’s earliest memory was when he was nine months old and a family friend was putting this blue paper on the wall. This friend used to make his own glue for the wallpaper so he would go into the kitchen and put the glue from the pot on the stove on the paper.

Peter said he grew up in town but he spent a lot of time on the farm at his uncle’s place. Peter grew up during World War II when there was a shortage of people to do labor. So, he helped carpenters and did what ever needed to be done around town since he was a very young lad. Peter recalls helping to shingle the first wartime house in Viking.

Peter admitted as far as having money goes, his family was as poor as what people could be but they never considered themselves to be poor. “We had everything we needed and we were always happy. We had plenty of food and we wore second and third go around clothing which were sometimes full of patches but it never bothered us,” Peter said with a chuckle.

They made their own toys and didn’t have time to play games. Peter’s father was run over by a truck the year Peter was born and he was smashed up bad. He had a bad back and wasn’t able to do much but he had a good head on his shoulders. So, Peter’s dad sold second-hand parts for farm machinery. Peter and his brothers used to dismantle these parts from the time they were very young doing their part to help.

Peter said he remembers the day Pearl Harbor was hit and when Churchill told the allied forces in a speech on the radio that they were going to fight them on the water, on the air, and on the ground and never surrender. “These might not be the exact words but I remember some of what Churchill said” commented Peter.

Peter mentioned that they weren’t always paid for their work and when they were, the money went to Peter’s mother.

Peter found school easy. He had a few friends but they didn’t have much time for playing. If there was a chore they had to do, that came before having fun.

Peter left school after he finished grade eight leaving to work in a seed cleaner for three years in the winter time in Saskatchewan. In the summer of 1954, he worked on a farm in Saskatchewan. Then in the summer of 1955, he worked on the pipeline. In 1958, he got into plumbing/electrical work where he even built water wells. Peter did many types of work in his lifetime and admitted to having two or three jobs at the same time for most of his life.

Peter knew his wife since he was a kid because she grew up on a farm west of Viking but they never got together until the year 1962. That was when Peter was working at various electrical jobs and his wife was taking a course in Edmonton every day and Peter was her driver. During this time, the couple grew closer to each other.

His wife and he got married in 1962 and they had four children. They got along fine and were both very busy during the marriage but still found time to do square dancing and to travel taking a few cruises together.

In 1975, Peter pursued real estate work where he landed up being awarded third place in the prairie region in Canada Trust one year.

Peter and his wife separated and then later divorced. Since then, Peter found a companion and lived common law for 17 years. Peter has eight grandchildren.

Peter did plenty of work in genealogy and despite his many jobs and big family, he even found time to volunteer. Peter took care of his mother during her senior years and is the author of the book, ‘Pearl of the West’.

Today, Peter’s health is good. He credits this to keeping busy. His advice is if you want to have a good life; don’t get too upset about silly things in life because this will just destroy a person.