Forster, George Reginald “Reg”

Regimental Number: 291964
Rank: Private
Branch: Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps

Reg was born to George and Ida Forster on June 26, 1898 in Killarney, Manitoba. He joined the Canadian Army in December of 1915 and arrived in England about a year later, where he served as an orderly with the Royal Army Medical Corps. Reg was diagnosed with acute nephritis in October of 1917 due to cold and exposure, and was hospitalized for about four months.

After the war he met and married Hazel in Manitoba, where he worked as a barber in Killarney, and their first child, Vivian, was born. In 1924 the family moved to Tompkins SK, where two more children were born: Dorothy and Kenneth. For a year the family lived in Lacombe, where again Reg was a barber. Embarking on a great adventure, they headed out in 1937 to the Peace Country, to stay at the farm of Jack Proctor. Hazel was not impressed with the crude and unkempt log cabin, neglected by Jack, but made the best of it, by adding a granary to make a kitchen. They were able to purchase the home quarter land, SW 34-73-8-W6, and another quarter NE 34-73-8-W6, about 2 ½ miles from La Glace. The family moved to Grande Prairie where Reg signed up for the army and did barbering. Reg was transferred to Calgary in 1944, where they lived until 1968. At that time they moved to Peace River, where Reg lived in the nursing home and Hazel moved in with their daughter Dorothy and her husband. Reg died in August 1970 in Peace River.

Source:   La Glace Yesterday and Today pp. 279-281 (family photo), p. 313 name only

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