In Memoriam

Carl Walter Eisler

January 1, 1936 to June 2, 2011

Brief Facts of Carl’s Life

· Carl was a first generation Canadian, born in Ferintosh, Alberta, Canada to mother Frieda (Stedel) and father Edward Eisler (born in Poland). He grew up on his parents’ farm in Ferintosh. He attended school in Ferintosh from 1942 to 1954.

· In 1954, Carl followed his brother Ronald into the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

· After discharge from the RCAF, he entered the oil and gas construction industry working on projects across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.

· He started in construction as a surveyor and then progressed to superintendent, project manager and estimator.

· In 1961 he married Isabel (Liz) Christina Schadlich. Liz and Carl had two sons, Michael and Gregory.

· In 1970, Carl, Liz, Michael, and Gregory moved to Strathmore, Alberta, and lived there until 1980.

· In the mid 1970s, Carl founded and operated a construction company named Strathland Developers, based on Strathmore and ran this business until 1980.

· From 1980 to 1986 he and his family lived in Central Florida where he owned and operated a service station for Texaco.

· In 1986, Carl and Liz moved back to Alberta and took up residence in Calgary.

· Leaves to mourn his passing his wife and companion of 50 years, two sons: Michael (Ruth) and Greg (Marlene) and three grandchildren, Kristin, Kevin and Grant Eisler. Also two sisters: Evelyn (Doug) Carter and Lois (Red) Emond and sister-in law, Lorna Eisler and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother Ronald and his parents Edward and Frieda.

· Carl enjoyed playing trains with his grandchildren.

· Carl was an active golfer for almost his entire adult life. In the 1980s he picked up alpine skiing.

Details of Carl’s Life

Carl was born on January 1, 1936 in a little log farm house near Ferintosh, Alberta. He was the second son of Edward and Frieda (Stedel) Eisler and the younger brother of Ronald. Dr. Drinnan and a midwife attended his birth. One can only try to imagine the events of that cold winter day in a small two room log house that was heated by a coal and wood stove. Later Carl recalled how he and Ron shared the attic bedroom and how the snow drifted in on them during the winter months. When he was 8 and 9 years old he became big brother to sisters Evelyn and Lois were born.

Edward and Frieda Wedding, 1932

Carl attended school at Ferintosh School from 1942 until he graduated in 1954. During his early years he and his brother walked 1½ miles to and from school along the railway track summer and winter. Perhaps even more challenging was the fact that Carl and his siblings, despite being born in Canada, were not English speakers when they started school, as German was the only language spoken in the household of Edward and Frieda (in those days, this was not unusual for households of people of German descent in the New World). He was a good student who eventually mastered unaccented English while retaining command of German for the rest of his life. He enjoyed sports such as baseball, curling and hockey (goaltender). He particularly enjoyed his English writing assignments and Liz still has two tattered scribblers full of those essays. Evelyn remembers several times while she was in grades one and two when her big brother Carl came to her rescue against those mean Turner twins Harold and Howard.

Carl and Ron in front of the family’s log house, off to school.

Growing up on the farm, Carl had many duties varying from daily chores to manning a team of horses and wagon during harvesting. He learned the discipline and value of hard work at an early age. It was likely here, working with his Dad that he developed many of his mechanical and carpentry skills, but more importantly learned to be self-sufficient.

After high school graduation, he enlisted in the RCAF for a brief time in the field of instrumentation. Following his discharge from the RCAF he moved to Edmonton and entered the field of natural gas construction; first as a surveyor and then progressed to superintendent, estimator and project manager.

During this time he met Isabel (Liz) Schadlich and they were married in March, 1961. In the early years of their marriage, Carl and Liz lived in various places in Alberta and Saskatchewan, including Edmonton, Calgary, and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Their sons Michael and Gregory were born in the early 1960s. Life was busy then and construction work took Carl away from home and family much more often than he liked. Still, in the winter, Carl and the boys would work together on model trains, and in the summer would build and fly model airplanes.

Carl and Liz Wedding, 1961

In 1970, Carl was offered a career opportunity with PanWest in Calgary, and so Carl and Liz and their boys moved from Edmonton to what was then a small town near Calgary: Strathmore. Carl and Liz became homeowners for the first time, and built that house by themselves.

After several years as a construction superintendent, Carl left PanWest to become Construction Manager for CalCo. He was responsible for all construction contracted to the firm, and ran an organization of several hundred workers. Carl thrived on the challenges his work presented, which aside from the expected issues of keeping customers happy and workers productive, sometimes required dealing with hostile wildlife.

Carl then left CalCo to enter the house building industry via his own company, Strathland Developers. With the whole family participating, Strathland was a very hands on operation that took advantage of Strathmore’s rapid growth. Teenagers, Michael and Greg worked side by side with their Dad on site, part time during the school year, and full time each summer and Liz handled the accounting side of the operation. Carl’s brother-in-law Doug (Evelyn) used to say, Carl can do anything he sets his mind to, and if he can do it, Liz can too.

In 1980 the family moved to Central Florida. While in Florida, Carl owned and operated the Texaco Service Station on Lee Road in Orlando, and later he owned an automobile repair shop in Oviedo. The service station was operated by Carl and Gregory, who both performed the bulk of the auto repairs, with Liz and Michael often helping with the till and the pumps.

Carl and Liz resided in Florida until 1986 when they returned to Canada and settled in Calgary, minus Greg who had returned to Alberta several years earlier, and Michael who by this time had met and married Ruth.

Except for a brief stint as an owner of his third auto repair business (in Calgary), most of Carl’s remaining working life was back to the gas construction industry until he retired in the late 1990s.

Carl took up golf as a young man and enjoyed playing until he became sick last year. Even then he still managed a few holes now and then with his grandson Grant. Carl learned to ski at the age of 50, mostly by reading a book. No run at Nakiska (site of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics) was too great a challenge for him. He continued to ski up through the winter of 2009.

Carl teeing off at Pebble Beach, California in the early 1990s

Perhaps stimulated by his instrumentation stint in the RCAF, throughout his life Carl had a fascination with practical technology. He thought nothing of soldering together a radar detector from a kit to outwit police and their speed traps, or installing an outdoor telephone extension from a phone Liz salvaged from an abandoned farm house (allowing him to enjoy his pool by taking calls on the deck) a decade before such things were common. In his early 60s he developed an interest and proficiency in the use of computers - mostly by reading a book, of course. Whatever he decided to do, he did well. A young friend, Rory, while visiting Carl in the hospital, commented that he learned something every time he visited with Carl.

Over the years Carl and Liz enjoyed taking trips to Chicago, San Jose, and Colorado Springs to visit with Mike and Ruth and their grandchildren Kristin and Kevin. They also took several trips to British Columbia with their grandson Grant. When Kristin, Kevin and Grant were small he set up an elaborate train system - for the kids, he said. We are not sure who enjoyed it the most. In the mid 2000s Carl and Liz finally took a trip to another continent, Australia, where they had a long holiday in the states of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW). During this holiday Carl and Liz reconnected with Carl’s cousin on the Stedel side, Brenda, her husband John Nicolson and their family in Sydney, NSW. Carl helped Brenda and John with some minor renovations and he added Down Under electrical and plumbing to his construction skills.

Carl was intelligent, with a good sense of humour and quick wit, often directing this humour towards himself. He was a perfectionist. Each job he undertook, he did to the best of his ability, and it was not until he mastered a skill that he would direct others to perform a similar task.

He was generous with his time and financial resources. When his brother Ronald died, Carl and his brother-in-law Doug finished the basement of a new home for Lorna and her family in Innisfail, Alberta. It was nothing for him to drive up to Edmonton to oversee and build a garage for his niece Kendis, or replace the brakes or struts of the car of a friend or relative. On another occasion he and Liz went on a holiday to Gabriola Island to visit with his sister-in-law Lorna and niece Diane and spent the time doing home renovations. He would often give a hitchhiker a ride, and often a free meal and bed at his home, and/or a short term job at one his job sites.

Now he leaves to mourn his passing: Liz, his wife and companion of 50 years; two sons, Michael (Ruth) and Greg (Marlene); and three wonderful grandchildren, Kristin, Kevin and Grant. He also leaves two sisters Evelyn (Doug) Carter and Lois (“Red” Jean Jacques) Emond and his sister-in-law Lorna Eisler (widow to brother Ronald) as well as numerous nieces, nephews, grand nieces, and grand nephews. He will also be missed by Liz’s brothers Robert (Ruth) and Dave (Faith), her sister Doreen (Harvey), her sister-in-law Shelly (widow to Liz’s brother Dennis), and their families. He was predeceased by his brother Ronald and his parents Edward and Frieda Eisler.