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Family History - William & Velma Gehrke, Early Settlers Mr. and Mrs. William G. Gehrke came to Ambrose in 1910. They were homesteading in Saskatchewan when Bill had a chance to trade his land there for a small house and barn in the booming town of Ambrose. They shipped their household goods from Flaxton by freight train and drove to Ambrose with their two small children, Mardeth and Albert (Buff). When they got there, they found the man didn't own the house but had a lot with a small barn on it. They camped in the barn until a small two-room house could be built. In 1911, the Gehrkes built a new home in Ambrose which they occupied for over fifty years. Bill, who had some experience in grain buying, started a business buying "on track" (they loaded the grain right directly into the railcars). His business flourished and he was soon able to purchase his own elevator. He ran the elevator until it burned down around 1930. Shortly thereafter he purchased the Texaco filling station and kept that until he retired. Mrs. Gehrke, the former Velma L. Carter, was the bookkeeper for their businesses. She was active in the Presbyterian Church, was a charter member of the Embroidery Club and held various chairs in the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Gehrke was a lifetime member of the Masonic lodge. After Velma's death, Bill lived on in his home in Ambrose until he was well past 80. He spent his last years at Pioneer Manor in Plentywood during the winter, and in his trailer home on the farm where his grandson, Chuck Bublitz, lived during the summer. Velma Gehrke died in February of 1961. Bill Gehrke died in December of 1971.
Family history taken
from pages 71-72 of the
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