Obituary
Saying Goodbye to Ponoka’s Horseman – Henry Fleck
It is with profound sadness that we say goodbye to a loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and skilled horseman and a truly loyal statesman for the Town and County of Ponoka. Henry Fleck passed away early on the morning of Friday, January 22nd, 2021. At his side were his loving wife Carol and several immediate family members.
Although he was born in Macklin, SK in 1942, Henry spent most of his life in Alberta as his parents, Marcus and Maria, along with the rest of the Fleck family moved from Saskatchewan to a farm west of Ponoka in 1944. He was very proud of his Saskatchewan roots.
After attending elementary school at Dakota, Henry completed his junior and senior high school classes at Crestomere School and enrolled in an Automotive Mechanical Class at SAIT in Calgary in 1960. He completed his Automotive training, which included an apprenticeship at Al Schantz’s Garage in 1964. Henry would continue working at Al’s Garage for a while after he graduated but would shortly take a position at George Louck’s Ford Garage in Ponoka where he worked until 1969. It was during this time that he would develop a relationship with the love of his life, Carol Stewart, and they were married in August of 1965. The couple moved onto their present homesite, an acreage just north of Ponoka, and settled in to raise their family. Two of their three children were born during this time period. Brent was born in 1966 and Carolyn in 1968. While he was indeed a skilled mechanic, fixing cars wasn’t Henry’s passion as his heart was still on the farm working with the animals. In 1970, he started working at the Ponoka Veterinary Clinic. He spent the next 7 Years working with Doc Harbin. The two were rarely far apart as they not only worked together but were also an exceptional team roping duo that loved their evening ropings at Em Pritchard’s Arena. Weekend cattle drives and time spent travelling throughout the County of Ponoka to treat ailing critters filled the days (and more than a few nights). It was during his time at the Vet Clinic that Henry and Carol welcomed their 3rd child, Darren, into their family in 1971.
After many happy but exhausting years at the Clinic, Henry went to work for the County Of Ponoka as the Supervisory Mechanic on the Bus Garage side in 1976. He kept the school busses running smoothly for 22 years. Henry took special pride in his school bus maintenance program realizing that the safety of pretty much every school age child in the county of Ponoka was in his hands on those daily rides to and from school. He took that responsibility seriously and the children were indeed in good hands. It was also during his time at the County that, together with his brother Joe, Henry would purchase, relocate and resurrect the Bowie Sawmill from southeast of Ponoka to the acreage. A plainer mill was added and for a number of years the Fleck Family worked together to log trees and mill them into usable lumber.
Henry retired from the County in 1998 but, while his professional life was over, the best years of his life were still to come for it was during this time that he would become involved with the Ponoka Stampede Association as the driver and custodian of their newly acquired Stagecoach. He also joined forces with his Son-In-Law, Kevin Prediger and Kevin’s father Ron to form Fleck-Prediger Carriages. Those were indeed good days for Henry as his family was grown and Carol was working full time at Alberta Hail & Crop so he could concentrate almost all of his time and effort to the horses he so truly loved. For the next 16 years he and Carol, along with Kevin, Ron & Joan Prediger and George and Vivian McCaughey would become strong ambassadors for the Town and County of Ponoka as well as the Ponoka Stampede Association. Together they would travel to parades, stampedes and horse events throughout central and southern Alberta, with the Stampede Association Stagecoach proudly promoting Ponoka. Many dignitaries and country music stars were introduced to Ponoka by climbing aboard the Stage coach for a heart hammering, quick loop through the infield at the annual Ponoka Stampede. Highlights included trips to Klondike Days in Edmonton and the Calgary Stampede Parade. People would stop, stare, and grab their cameras when Henry drove the 4-up and stagecoach through Ponoka inevitably ending up at Tim Hortons for a fresh coffee.
The fun didn’t stop with the Stagecoach and parades. As Fleck-Prediger Carriages became more well known there were endless opportunities for Henry to show off his well trained horses and his masterful driving skills. There were carriages for weddings, chuck wagons for cattle drives, bob sleighs with toboggans in tow for winter sleigh rides and, of course, the hearse for taking the horsemen of Central Alberta to their final resting place.
Almost as strong as his love for horses was Henry’s love of the mountains. He treasured the family pack trips to the “hills”. The peaks, valleys, rivers and creeks of our Eastern Slopes were never far from his thoughts. Places like Job Lake, Lost Guide Lake, Obstruction Lake, The Blackstone River, The Cline River, The Ram River, Ranger Creek, Chungo City, Vimmy Creek, Whiskers Creek, The Ya Ha Tinda Ranch, Dormer Lake and many others were the back drops for our family vacations. He never forgot a trail. These were indeed good times for Henry and his family. They always looked forward to him saying “Let’s hit for the hills.”
Yet another chapter in Henry’s life was the time that he and his faithful side-kick, George McCaughey, worked on John Scott’s movie sets. Although it made the movies harder to watch with him, everyone could see the pride in Henry’s face and hear the excitement in his voice when he would make us stop the movie so that he could point out the team and wagon he was driving in one of the scenes. Once when filming a movie about the Oregon Trail, his family asked him about the Director. He said his name was “Steven something” and commented that Steven would occasionally join them at the wrangler fire for a coffee. Henry said, he seemed like a “decent guy”, and he was quick to add “I really don’t know much about him, but he must be important because when he talks, everybody listens.” It turns out his coffee buddy and Director of the movie was the famous Steven Spielberg! That said, his fame didn’t matter much to Henry. In truth, he had never heard of Steven Spielberg and the bottom line was, the guy didn’t know much about horses!
As the years rolled along Henry’s health began to decline. He ended up losing his left leg to complications related to lifelong diabetes. Arthritis set it in, making it difficult for him to use his hands. Most people would have given up, but not Henry. To the very last, and with the constant love and support of his wife Carol, he was as sharp as a tack and always had a project on the go. In the fall of 2016 Henry and Carol, along with son Brent, purchased two Fjord Mares. A third Fjord Mare was added to the mix by neighbour, Darwin Flair, and a beautiful Quarter Horse Stud was supplied by Tim McCaughey. Henry had a new challenge and a new lease on life, raising colts. It was his dream to get a beautiful 4-up team of Fjord/Quarter Horse Cross horses broke and ready to go. This winter that dream came true as we hooked and drove all but the youngest of the Fjord colts in the final weeks and days of 2020 and the early days of 2021.
Henry suffered his 4th heart attack on January 3rd, 2021 and, although he fought a strong battle he just couldn’t regain his strength. After nearly 3 weeks in hospital with Carol constantly by his side, he passed away early in the morning of January 22nd, 2021. We would like to take the opportunity to thank Dr. Chan and the staff of the Ponoka General Hospital and Ponoka Community Health Centre for the wonderful care they have provided to Dad throughout the past decade. You all went above and beyond to keep him as well as he could be and you did so with the utmost care and professionalism.
He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Carol Fleck along with sons Darren Fleck (Crystal), Brent Fleck (Erin) and daughter Dr. Carolyn Fleck-Prediger (Kevin Prediger). Grandchildren include Chase Fleck, Madison Fleck, Ceanna Miller (Chase), Kristin Prediger, Zachary Prediger, Anika Prediger, Heidi Cabay, Justin Fleck, Ashley Fleck, Quinn Cabay, Blaine Cabay & Brandt Cabay, all of Ponoka or Red Deer. His grandchildren will always remember his very precious “wiggly hugs” and the wink of his eye. Henry is survived by his loving sisters Marion Delong of Edmonton, Evena Long of Ponoka, Violet Lorenz of Calgary and Linda Gaida (Bob) of Kelowna and brother-in-law Glen Crandall as many very special nieces, nephews and cousins.
Henry was predeceased by his father Marcus in 1981, his mother, Maria in 2009 along with his brothers, Joseph, Peter, Jerome and sisters Madeline Dewald, Dorthea Crandall, Alvina Fleck and Diane Lane. He was also predeceased by brothers-in-law Gothald Dewald, Jack Delong, David Lorenz, Lloyd Long, George Stewart, Wayne Stewart and Dale Stewart.
Family Note:
While each of us has our own special way of remembering Dad, if you asked him, we don’t think he would want to be remembered as a loving husband, dedicated father, generous father-in-law, loved grandfather, treasured uncle/cousin or even as a true friend. Although he certainly was all of those things and more, we believe that Dad would prefer to simply be remembered as a damn good horseman, for working with horses brought him great joy throughout his life. We believe that he would like to be remembered as a man who had the ability to take that green two-year-old colt that had scarcely been touched and turn it into a well broke, trustworthy part of his four-up team. We believe that he would like to be remembered as the horseman that could take that spoiled cayuse that was known for bucking and, in a few short weeks, turn it into a horse that he felt comfortable letting his young son ride. We believe that he would like to be remembered as a confident and competent teamster who was comfortable holding the reins of a four-up hitch on the Stampede Association Stagecoach as it entered the infield of the Ponoka rodeo grounds at a dead run amidst a herd of wild horses with a dignitary or famous country music singer hanging on for dear life by his side. We believe that Dad would like to be remembered as an ambassador for those who know how to hold the reins and those who know the pleasure of a good solid horse under them on a high mountain pass. While the days Dad spent at the Ponoka Veterinary Clinic were indeed good days, the sixteen years he spent driving the Stagecoach were the best days of his life. We invite all of you to keep the Horseman of Ponoka in your thoughts and prayers as he rides his final mile.
Funeral Service Details
The Funeral Mass will be live-streamed at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30, 2021 from the St. Augustine Catholic Church, Ponoka Facebook website (click “Happening Now” or “Events” tab).
All friends and family are welcome to join a horse drawn hears procession from the Fleck Farm Family Pond to the Interment Ceremony at the Forest Home Cemetery on Saturday after the Mass. Please arrive at the farm no later than 2:45 p.m. and the procession will begin at 3:00 p.m.. As all guests must remain in or just outside of their vehicles, an audio signal of the ceremony will be broadcast on FM radio (tune to station 91.5).
Donations in memory of Henry can be made to the Alberta Diabetes Association.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Henry R. Fleck, please visit our floral store.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Henry R Fleck November 19 1942 January 22 2021 (age 78)..
Death notice for the town of: Wetaskiwin, Province: Alberta