Robert (Bert) John Fowler

Bert Fowler was born on September 2, 1882 at Teeswater, Bruce, Ontario, the first child of William Grosert Fowler and Ellen Maria Hiscocks. He grew up in a family of seven children in Teeswater. He worked for C.P.R. working first at dauphin, Manitoba and later at Kingsgate, B.C.  He and his brother Grosert moved to Irricana, Alberta at the time of the grand opening of the local hotel in 1909. Bert enjoyed music and had a natural talent for entertaining by singing, piano playing and acting. Bert opened a drug store at Irricana.

The Meisel family traveled by covered wagon in 1909 from Virginia to Irricana.

Bert married Pearl Verna Meisel in January, 1911. Verna, as she was commonly called, was born in 1895 in Virginia, USA.

In March 1916 Bert and Grosert decided to move to Acme, Alberta. Bert opened at drug store there complete with a soda fountain. Bert Fowler's home was on Main Street across from the school. The store was lost by fire on December 20, 1921. The store was rebuilt on the same street. Bert Fowler took an active part in the Elks and Oddfellow Lodges, mainly as their musician and as an entertainer.

Bert and Verna moved into a new home on the North Hill in Calgary in December 1948 just after Bert retired.

Bert died May 10, 1952 in Acme, Alberta.

Bert and Verna had two children:

            Eleanor Clarissa Fowler                               b. July 6, 1913 at Irricana, Alberta

            Robert John (Bob) Fowler                           b.  September, 1914 at Irricana, Alberta

Eleanor C. Fowler was a member of Canadian Girls in Training at a teenager. She married Burton Roebuck. Burton came to Acme, Alberta with Sharpe's Circuit running a weekly picture show. They lived in Drumheller for a few years and the remaining years were spent in Calgary. Burt Roebuck died, and Eleanor was the Supreme Honored Royal Lady of the Royal Purple Lodge. They had two children:

            Robert Lewis Roebuck  

            Eleanor Ann Roebuck             

Robert Lewis Roebuck married Sylvia Adelaide Garrett. They had four children:

            Randall Lewis Roebuck

            Kathrine Jean Roebuck

            David Lawrence Roebuck

            Kenneth Dean Roebuck

Eleanor Ann Roebuck married John Tiller. They had a son:

            John Wilson Tiller

Robert John (Bob) Fowler came to Acme with his parents in 1916. He attended high school in Calgary, and graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Alberta. Bob married Ruth Emily Harris of High Prairie, Alberta. Bob was employed at a drug store in Drumheller in the fall of 1939. He worked there two years, then worked for seven years at the Brooks Pharmacy. The family moved to Acme, Alberta in December 1948 and lived in his father's house on Main Street, when he retired and moved to Calgary. In February 1962 they moved to a home on Walsh Avenue. Bob Fowler owns the drugstore on Main street previously built by his father. Bob and Ruth had two children:

            Don Kenneth Fowler

            Gail Fowler

SOURCES:  Acme Memories, Acme and District Historical Society, 1979.

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