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Harvey LeRoy Trace
1931 ~ 2024
It is with great sadness we announce
the passing of Harvey Trace on
February 20, 2024, at the age of 93, with
many family members at his side.
He is survived by his wife Esther
Pearl (nee Neufeld) Trace; his children
Sherry (Ron) Jurykovsky, Roy (Rose)
Trace, Janet Trace (Phil Zelenka) and
Faye (Ron) Ford; 14 grandchildren and
21 great grandchildren ... ranging from age 8 months to 51 years;
brother Francis Trace; and sisters Lucille Vold and Audrey Lucas.
He was predeceased by his parents Lorne and Flossie Trace; a
brother Donald Trace; and a great-grandson Nathaniel Hill.
Harvey was born in Elnora, Alberta. He was raised around
central Alberta, taking most of his schooling in the Lacombe area.
As a boy, he had paper routes delivering the Edmonton Journal and
Calgary Herald on his bike. One day, at about 12 years old, he went
to a fair. He had saved up $3.00 from his job and was able to go for
a 15-minute airplane ride. He was hooked on flying. He decided he
was going to be a pilot someday, but that took money, so he found a
job to earn more. At 17, he went to Yellowknife, N.W.T. to work in
the Con Gold Mine. Coming back from there, he worked with his
brother for Borger Brothers Construction, building water reservoirs,
sewage lines, etc. He went on to road construction, drove taxi and
was a flying instructor, working to make money so he could rent a
plane. Harvey did ferrying for Stan Reynolds at the Wetaskiwin
Airport. He said he swept floors to work his way up for more flying
lessons.
Next he joined the Air Force and flew Harvards out of Gimli,
Manitoba. In 1951, he was sent to Trenton, Ontario, with his unit,
for the trooping of the colours for Princess Elizabeth when King
George died. He left the Air Force in 1952, returning to become an
Alberta Forest Ranger in the Kananaskis area in southern Alberta.
One of his jobs there was riding his horse, leading a pack horse
and checking power lines in the mountains, summer or winter.
After a few years, he decided to go back to flying. He was a flying
instructor for a while, then ended up at Associated Helicopters Ltd.
#10 Hanger. This was the very first helicopter company in Alberta.
Harvey flew for them for 36 years.
His jobs with the helicopter were varied ... fighting forest fires,
counting game, patrolling pipelines, stringing powerlines, hauling
surveys with oil companies, spotting illegal hunters, and flying
mercy flights (long before S.T.A.R.S). He also did timber cruising,
looked after and fed stranded cattle in snow storms, and took flood
victims to safety. Several times Harvey flew new helicopters from
Texas to Alberta. His jobs took him all across Canada plus several
months in Belize and Bombay.
Harvey had many hobbies. He enjoyed HAM radio, loved to fish,
go game hunting and competitive shooting, selecting nice wood and
building anything he could from it. In later years, he bought a lathe
and built tools and other things from metal. He built helicopter
parts. One time, he built a hockey puck throwing machine. They
were really happy with how well it worked. In later years, he took
up sewing and made many braided rugs and placemats as well as a
few quilts.
The competitive side of Harvey brought out many events where he
came home with ribbons, pins or trophies. These competitions took
him all over Canada and the USA, along with some of the family
to be proud and cheer him on. He won many t-shirts, sweatshirts,
jackets, hats, etc. Other winnings were a Rolex Oyster wristwatch
that came from flying 8800 accident-free hours with the helicopter.
Harvey and Esther formed their own company, Trace Scope
Repairs (repairing scopes and building stocks) and Nu-Line
Distributors Ltd. (selling scopes for the Burris factory out of
Colorado).
He loved to travel to Arizona for part of the winter. They did
so for 36 years. He made many close friends at the shooting ranges
there.
Harvey married Esther on April 8, 1955. They would have
celebrated their 69th anniversary this year.
We will hold a memorial of his life in the spring. If family
and friends so desire, memorial contributions in Harvey’s memory
may be made to STARS Air Ambulance, St. Mary’s Hospital in
Camrose,
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Harvey Trace Has Gone to the Last Range (Read 788 times)
