GOOD WORK After spending 29 years of his life at the Stampede Ranch

Dan Fox spent 29 years teaching at the Stampede Boys Ranch, Longview, AB.

A LifeChanging Legacy

In a career spanning almost three decades, one teacher made a difference in the lives of countless young people on a remarkable ranch. By PIPER WHELAN

You never know when the chance to step into the role you’re meant to play will come. For Dan Fox, that opportunity came as a young teacher, leading to a rewarding career working with troubled youth in an unconventional setting.

Fox, who was raised west of Nanton, AB, spent his first four years of teaching in Fort Macleod, AB, and was looking for a change when a position came up at the Stampede Boys Ranch near Longview, AB.

“It was just a perfect fit,” said Fox, who was drawn to the landscape and the focus on outdoor pursuits. “I loved the setting. It was right at the edge of the mountains, and I’ve always loved the mountains and going into the forested areas.”

This working ranch, originally owned by Calgary Stampede founder Guy Weadick, was previously run as a guest ranch. In 1975, the ranch opened its doors to boys who had been in detention centres or were removed from their homes for various reasons.

In the program’s first year, the province sent six boys to the ranch, under the supervision of one teacher. The program expanded to 12 boys in its second year, allowing for special education designation and the hiring of a second teacher. It was then that Merv Edey, who started the program, reached out to Fox about this job.

“Merv knew that I had just quit down at Fort Macleod, and he called me up and said, ‘do you want to give this a try?…You can come out and take the kids camping and going down the Highwood River and whatever during the summer, and if you think it’s a good fit for you, then in the fall you can come on as our second teacher,’” Fox recalled.

In its almost 40 years of operation, around 1,500 youth were placed at the Stampede Ranch. Although some had challenges such as fetal alcohol syndrome, Fox explained that they worked with the boys’ issues to help them succeed. “There were some pretty tough kids ended up out there, and once you got their respect then they weren’t any different than any other kids.”

The program’s classroom learning aspect was developed on behavioural standards instead of academics, with boys of all ages divided into three classrooms. “If a kid responded then he got to move up and he got more privileges, and that’s the way life works – if you work hard, then you get the rewards,” said Fox.

The duration of a boy’s stay at the ranch would depend on the circumstances, with the average being around six months to a year, and sometimes longer. “We actually had a set of twins that were there right when the program first started, and they were there for over seven years,” he said. The twins were taken from their mother at the age of 12, and rather than ending up in foster care or being separated they were able to grow up together on the ranch. “They needed a combination of loving and discipline and that kind of thing, and they turned out pretty good.”

In a setting such as this, outdoor pursuits naturally played a major role in the program. In Fox’s class, each Thursday was an outdoor challenge day, where students spent the whole day hiking, exploring the landscape or trying a variety of activities.

“The outdoor program we developed, I think, really helped those kids. It gave them a place to grow and a

The outdoor program we developed, I think, really helped those kids. It gave them a place to grow and a place to be able to express themselves.

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place to be able to express themselves. They weren’t locked up in the confines of a classroom all the time.”

As a working ranch, the program also featured an equine component, which allowed many of the boys to shine. “Some of the kids were really interested, (and) they had their own colt to break and they got to go riding up in the mountains and in behind the ranch, so a lot of them really took to that,” he said. “It wasn’t for everybody; not all of them enjoyed the cattle and the horses, but a lot of them did.”

Though he admits it wasn’t always easy to work with children and teenagers who had faced different challenges and traumas, Fox explained that in time the majority made great strides. “After they’d been at the ranch for a few months, most of them came around. They learned that we really cared about them and we were trying to do the best for them, and they were well fed, they had a place to bed down every night in the cabins out there, and it was a good program.”

Over the years, Fox saw many students go out into the world and become successful, and he keeps

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An integral part of the Stampede Boys Ranch was its outdoor programming, in which Fox saw many of his students shine. When students worked hard and showed progress, they were given more privileges, such as opportunities to ride snowmobiles.

in touch with some of them. One of these students “was one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met, physically and mentally,” he said.

“I used to teach survival training, and we’d go out in the woods and they’d have to survive for 24 hours with just a little coffee can with a few things in it and an axe,” he went on. This student was particularly sick at the time, but he was so excited about this trip and determined that he would be fine that Fox allowed him to go. “In the middle of the night, I was checking on him, and here he was: he had squirrel snares set up, and he had a shelter and he had a big fire going, and he was running around in the snow and just happy as anything.”

This young man went on to join the military, a career that has suited him well, rising to the rank of sergeant in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. After several tours of duty, he’s seen his share of difficult things and has had issues with PTSD. “He’s hanging in there and doing okay, and I have him out here occasionally and he camps down in my little cabin and spends the weekend just to get away from it all.”

Fox became the principal of the Stampede Boys Ranch, holding that position for 19 years. He worked with two teachers and an educational assistant, with 18 to 24 boys at the ranch at a time. “We used oldtime values, and the kids realized that we weren’t there just for the job; we were there because we cared about them and we wanted to help them out,” he said. “A lot of kids really responded.”

After teaching at the ranch for 29 years, Fox retired in 2005. The program continued for only a few more years, and in 2013 the ranch shut down due to a lack of funding. “I think it’s sad that the government didn’t keep supporting financially the program enough to keep it going,” said Fox.

“The province needs a program such as Stampede Ranch used to be to work with these kids and do some

Students generally stayed at the ranch for six months to a year, and their achievements were celebrated in a small graduation ceremony, as seen here.

good for them, and it’s a shame, I think, that there isn’t another program like it to take its place,” he continued. “I would really like to see a program start up that sort of had the same ideals and method of operation that ours did.”

In his retirement, Fox volunteers much of his time to Nanton, Alberta’s Bomber Command Museum of Canada. He has been involved with the museum since its establishment and is currently vice-president of its board.

Looking back at his teaching career, Fox is especially proud of being able to help so many troubled youth whose lives could have turned out quite differently had they not come to the ranch. “I think the number of years that I spent there and the respect I gained from the kids that I taught, and seeing how some of them turned out really well after they left the ranch – that would be probably my proudest accomplishment,” he said.

“A good percentage of those gained, I think, from their experience at the ranch, and went on and became law-abiding citizens and contributing to society after they left. I would say that’s my biggest sense of accomplishment, is seeing the good things we did for a great number of boys.”

The impact of what Fox and other dedicated teachers achieved at the Stampede Boys Ranch is reflected in the lives of the boys who found what they needed at this special place. Just one example of this can be seen in how one of Fox’s former students went on to start a security company, which is now one of the largest in Calgary and employs around 200 people.

When the Bomber Command Museum required security for a special event, Fox gave his former student a call. “He sent down two security guys, and they spent the day with us guarding our Lancaster bomber and handling people,” he said. “And at the end of it all he sent the bill, and at the bottom it said, ‘Amount owing: zero.’”