8 Southwest Progress Report 2012


Piecing Together the Social Fabric


Richard Tumbach’s family has always sat three rows from the back for as long as he can remember.


Photo by Elizabeth Heatcoat


Close your eyes and visualize a young bride pulling into the yard escorted by her father, the nervous excitement gripping her body. Or, one can sense the energy of children rushing by excited for a Sunday visit. T e joyful chatter of


the annual bazaar reverberates


from the basement. T e few cracks in the foundation aren’t wrinkles from strain, they are the laugh-lines of memories shared. T ere is also the sense of tears and sorrow lingering from the near century of mourners who have descended the front stairs of the church and proceeded to the cemetery located on the grounds. T is place is the Blumenfeld Heritage Site located 16


kilometres south and six kilometres east of Leader just off Highway 21. T e Church’s records go back 100 years to March 17, 1912. T ey are amongst the fi rst offi cial records to document the early years of settlers in the area and tell the story of what was once a thriving rural parish. Now the church bell tower with belfry, spire and cross


rising above the prairie fl oor and can be seen for miles remains as a reminder of the original “Saskatchewan way of life.”


Blumenfeld Church transcends time S


BY ELIZABETH HEATCOAT


tanding on the middle of the Saskatchewan Prairie it is almost as though you can feel the history of the place.


T e following are snippets taken from a history of


Blumenfeld written in May 1955. Less than a half century from the time the fi rst settlers arrived and nearly half a century ago the author of the historic account begins lamenting the “urbanization” of its parishioners. “In speaking to some of the oldtimers, they refer to the


year 1908, when the fi rst Catholic settlers arrived in the district of Blumenfeld,” begins the author. T e early German settlers came from Romania, Krasna and Bessarabia. Some of the original family names to the area are Hoff art, Guckert, Duchscherer, Drescher, Ziebert, Riff el and Weisgerber. In the early years of the Church, between 1912 and 1955


— “the remarkable fi gure of 1740 baptisms” were registered, accompanied by 254 marriages and 295 deaths. “T e Church of Saints Peter and Paul, and Parish of


Blumenfeld, is the Mother Church of the district ... Similarly to a mother, who sees her children depart to make their own homes, so too the mother church of Blumenfeld has witnessed the beginnings of fl ourishing new parishes all around here, which at one time belonged to her care … “In numbers, Blumenfeld has dwindled, from a once


fl ourishing parish of between 80 to 100 families to the present status of some 35 families. Some of the contributing factors to this regrettable trend have been; the drought years of the


thirties; the war years and the then available occupational jobs in cities and towns; the school system of recent years, or centralization, which has created a serious problem for country people who strive to aff ord an education for their children; then too moreover, the modern way of farming which aff ords more than one a reason to literally from ‘town.’” In 1964, less than 10 years aſt er the writing of the early


history, the Blumenfeld Parish celebrated its last regular mass. Richard Tumbach lives just down the road from the


church, which was designated as a Heritage site in 1983. His family sat near the back, on the leſt hand side approximately three rows up from the back.” “I remember where a lot of people sat,” Tumbach refl ected.


He recalled the winter chill in the parish heated by two large registers at the front near the alter fueled by a coal-burning furnace. “My dad and I drove up here for Christmas one night.


It was colder than hell. We drove up with the horses and bobsleigh,” described Tumbach. “T ere was a chandelier, hanging right down the middle. It was about 10 feet around and was decorated with green balls and lit up with candles.” Continued on Page 9


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