Throughout the year 2013, he delved into the history of North Battleford and extraordinary people who have impacted – or brought fame – to the community during its 100 years of existence. North Battleford Notables, which featured weekly stories about those extraordinary North Battleford people, appeared on this page of the News-Optimist throughout the centennial year. Most of those stories were written, all or in part, by Richard Hiebert.
It seems appropriate that at some point Everybody Has a Story, the feature that has been found on this page since North Battleford Notables wound up, should include the man who filled this page for most of the year 2013.
Richard Hiebert, the little boy from Meadow Lake who used to catch jackfish with his bare hands and once hid his principal's Volkswagen in a snow drift for two days, grew up to obtain a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational administration and an undergraduate degree in history.
You might presume a man who possesses the dedication and has invested the time it takes to earn a doctorate as an educator would have little interest or time for anything else. But, not so. We are actually looking at the stories of:
Dr. Richard W. Hiebert, the educator, former University of Saskatchewan senator and current Living Sky School Division board member;
Rick, the DJ/bandleader/fitness trainer; and
Richard Hiebert, essayist, author, advocate for the preservation of architectural heritage, Lions Club member and proud father and grandfather.
Hiebert says teaching is the family profession.
"We all made the right choice to get into education," he says.
His mother was a teacher, his sister and brother as well, and now three of his four children. The only child who isn't a teacher is married to one.
"So guess what we talk about when we get together," he adds.
Hiebert received his public school education in Meadow Lake, his hometown.
When he went on to post secondary education, he didn’t care much for the university life during his first few undergrad years. He spent most of his time playing sports such as wrestling, working in the weight room and in the library reading English and philosophy.
“Those were the days of hair, drugs and rebellion against authority,” says Hiebert. “I did not lock in, and I got a far better education in the library."
He did lock in eventually, however, and earned a BEd. in 1972, a BA in history in 1993, ME. in educational administration in 1997 (with the thesis The Exercise of Power and Authority in School Systems) and a PhD in 2006 (with the thesis The Education of Students From Poverty), all from the University of Saskatchewan.
In his first year of teaching, 1970, he was hired as a physical education and science teacher at Cairns Junior High School in North Battleford. Midway through the year, he also began teaching history.
"I taught history because I had to," he says. But he grew to enjoy it.
History is like language or art, he says. It's not a science.
"It's about people,"
To make it come alive for his students he often used props and planned field trips.
"It motivated me as well," he says.
Hiebert’s career in Saskatchewan schools spanned 36 years, 20 of which were served in K-12 and high school principalships, including 10 years at Cando. He finished out his career as principal of Spiritwood High School in 2006.
Since retiring as an educator, Hiebert has had the time to devote to his interest in architectural heritage, especially saving the built history of North Battleford’s downtown core. He has strong opinions to express.
“A succession of city governments have created a culture of poverty downtown and destroyed much of our architectural history,” he says. “The old post office was razed in 1972 and replaced with a bland, beige rectangular building … The old Royal Bank was razed in the early 1990s in preparation for the building of the King Street Station – a mall stretching from 11th Avenue to Railway Avenue on the west side of 101st Street. Large amounts of money were invested in buying up the buildings and properties (then demolishing them) on this stretch of land. The mall never happened. Instead we got a very large block-sized parking lot – mostly gravel. Across the street on the east side, the historic Miller block and Savoy Café were bulldozed to make way for the new police headquarters and another large half block public parking lot. Now, we have the RCMP detachment, immediately south a private liquor outlet and a bar in the hotel. Across the street (to the) west, we have the government liquor store and west of that the court house."
In addition to making a point about the grouping of police, liquor outlets and courthouse, he also says, "A majority of buildings in the downtown core are vacant – and deteriorating. The stalwart 105-year-old Sallows and Boyd building (Pigeon Hotel) has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be saved. It will be demolished this spring and no doubt the old bus depot (adjacent) with it. They should have been saved 50 years ago. The fact that they weren’t speaks to the fact the City did not have (and does not have) a plan and a policy to manage its heritage properties."
His concern led to founding the Battlefords Heritage Society. It's current members are Jim Shevchuk, Jane Shury, Gil Bellavance, Bernie Nolin, Joyce Smith and Hiebert as president. Its mandate is to, first, exert influence and lobby the City to preserve its historic buildings, particularly in the downtown core.
"If a building is slated for demolition, we’d like to know and be given an opportunity to meet and discuss," he says.
Secondly, the BHS has an educative function – to educate the general public. To this end, Hiebert has written several articles on North Battleford’s architectural history.
"Third," says Hiebert, "the BHS is in the completion stage of writing a comprehensive policy on our city’s old buildings which we hope city governance will consider."
Hiebert also has an interest in fitness, and nowadays likes to run 10 kilometres a day. As a teen, he built his own gym and became what he called "hugely strong."
As an adult, he and his wife Marlene operated the first health and fitness club in the Battlefords, even as he pursued his teaching career. They started the Battlefords Athletic Club in 1981. He was head strength and fitness coach and his wife (who is now retired from her position as assistant manager at the Bank of Montreal) was manager and head aerobics instructor. Starting in a building next door to Dairy Queen, they moved north to a building near what is now Bridges Pontiac Buick Ltd. At the height of operation, they had 5,000 square feet with a co-ed gym, a separate women's gym, 1,200 square feet for aerobics, a sauna and a whirlpool and 500 members.
He also spent 18 years as a DJ. Century Sound Professional DJ Services grew out of what might have been a one-off event, when he pitched in for a school function that needed a DJ. Having played in a rock band as a teenager and later in a country band and in his own family band with his kids, he felt he had enough of a musical background to DJ a school dance. Of course, it snowballed and he ended up DJ'ing weddings, community dances and school dances throughout this province and Alberta. He laughs that he has the distinction of being the only principal who DJed his own high school dances. Hiebert retired from DJing on Aug. 31, 2013, playing a huge wedding dance at the Alex Dillabough Centre in Battleford. He reckons he retired as the oldest DJ in western Canada.
Throughout his DJ years, his kids got involved, too. They all had a go at assisting, he says. It was how they earned money for university.
His oldest son Gary went on to become a teacher and he and his wife Sonia are high school teachers in Lacombe, Alta. Daughter Rhonda Simon is now the vice-principal of Bready School in North Battleford. (All Hiebert's children and grandchildren have attended Bready School.) Rhonda's husband Cody works in high security in Saskatoon and commutes to his job there. Son Ryan is a marketing manager with Agrium in Calgary. He is not a teacher, but his wife is a high school principal. Janice, the youngest, teaches in Regina. Hiebert and his wife also have seven "amazing grandchildren."
Hiebert says his new career is in writing.
"I am a writer – primarily in history and education … I also write short stories for high school students."
He is currently writing The Charlie Littlewolf collection of short stories for high school students. First in the series is The Spirit of Fineday.
"Ray Fox (North Battleford city councillor) will market the short stories for me in both public and First Nations schools," says Hiebert. "I’m also taking a shot at writing children’s literature based on my childhood experiences."
Hiebert says he had a wonderful childhood. He grew up in Meadow Lake where his mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a blacksmith and welder who owned his own business, Hiebert's Welding. His parents were killed in a head on crash seven miles east of Whitecourt, Alta. Nov. 9, 1989. It was a huge blow to the family, he says.
"My mother was a wonderful teacher and mother," says Hiebert. "My dad was very big, 285 pounds, and immensely strong – could lift a 45-gallon drum of diesel fuel, close to 500 pounds, onto a truck."
He helped his dad in the shop, learning welding and other skills, and like most prairie kids, had pets.
"Dog, cat, wild rabbits, baby crows, etc."
He enjoyed playing sports like road hockey, ice hockey and softball with his friends, and he also hunted rabbits in the bush with a slingshot and homemade bow. He and his friends also fished, without rod or reel, throwing a line with a hook into the centre of the Meadow River and hauling it in hand over hand, or chasing spawning jackfish through shallow water, catching them by hand.
"We would jump in, chase them through the grass then jump on them and throw them out on the bank. We regularly caught 10-pound jacks this way."
They would ride home on their bikes, with the fish hanging from their handlebars.
"Mom would clean and fry them up in butter and flour, incredible."
He had a faithful companion in the CCM bike his dad had purchased new for him. He and his bike performed some reckless feats, including riding headlong down a 35 degree hill at full speed. He also tried to impress a girl by standing on the handlebars. He crashed. (She wasn't impressed.)
Winter saw other activities for Hiebert and his friends.
"We snuck into the hockey rink in the winter months to watch our beloved Meadow Lake Stampeders."
They waited under the wood bleachers for the raucus crowd to cheer wildly, jumping up and down. It was at that moment coins from their pockets would fall through the spaces between the bleachers to the dirt floor below.
"We ran up and down under the bleachers picking up change," says Hiebert. "Fights broke out with other kids who were after 'our money.'"
The big event of the year, says Hiebert, was the Meadow Lake Stampede – three days beginning July 1.
"My uncles on my mom’s side were all cowboys and raced chuckwagons," says Hiebert, whose cousin Jerry Bremner has won two world championships at the Calgary Stampede. "The [Meadow Lake] stampede was huge fun for us kids – all the rides and rodeo events."
During the school year, he often acted as the bodyguard for the weaker, unpopular kids, yet he was also popular with the cool kids, he notes, because he played in a rock band and was good at sports.
He was also a straight A student – until Grade 11, when he says his marks dropped nearly to oblivion. At Easter of his senior year, his average was 26 per cent.
“I was a rubby dub student in Grade 12,” he says, “but this helped me to relate to unmotivated and unaccomplished students later.”
He redeemed himself by cramming for departmental exams, driving to the lake to study where the mosquitoes kept him awake. He got highest marks in English literature and English composition and went from 13 per cent in chemistry to 80 per cent. His one bad mark was in geotriginometry – “fell asleep, got 12 per cent.”
He laughs, “Ironically, I ended up teaching high school geotrig later in my career. Just goes to show…”
(Richard Hiebert encourages any resident who would like more information on the work of the Battlefords Heritage Society to call 306-445-5985 or 306-441-5810 or email him at [email protected].)
