Obituary of Doreen Elizabeth Archibald

Doreen was born on March 14, 1927 in the Provost Hospital, Dr. York presiding. She was the third child born to Vincent Batty Bowler and the former Edna Dalrymple, who ranched twenty miles south of town in the Neutral Hills. She attended the nearby Gascony School in the Hills and made some lifelong friends there. In WWII she contributed to the war effort working in a munitions factory in Toronto. The most memorable event there was when she made a side trip to New York for New Years Eve, 1944. As the Battle of the Bulge was raging in Belgium she was counting down in Times Square. Her contract over, she then returned via the CPR and was informed of the arrival of VE day while changing trains in Wetaskewin. Back home she spent some time in Mount Royal College in Calgary but then returned to Provost to help her mother run the Club Café. There she met an Imperial Oil roughneck named Ralph Archibald who would have his lunch made at the café daily before going out to the rigs. She would marry him six months later on Dec 21, 1946. After a brief Christmas honeymoon Imperial sent them to a little town up the No. 2 called Leduc. Little did they know then that they were walking into history, as the Leduc oil strike came in on Feb. 13, 1947. There they built their first home, a skid shack, as Ralph worked on the Leduc No. 2 rig. They also spent 1951-52 back on the farm at Provost with Doreen's father and brother. After a few more years in "the 'Patch" they settled in Calgary in 1955 where Doreen soon adjusted to city living and raising a family. She was also busy with her life-long hobby of sewing. Later she found time to start her own business - "Draperies By Doreen" which she operated for many years. She and Ralph retired to Chemainus, BC in 1981 but the call of Prairies could not be left unheeded. They returned to Calgary in 1988 where both were involved in running their condo. After Ralph passed away in 1998 Doreen carried on but in 2008 decided to return to her home town of Provost to spend her senior years in the Hillcrest Lodge. She passed away on February 25, 2013 after battling Alzheimer's Disease and a final stroke. She was a meningitis survivor and then a lifetime sufferer of Lupus and was told by doctors that she would not survive her thirties. In the end she always marveled at how she had stolen another fifty years! She was predeceased by her parents and by her brother Clayton, sisters Lucille and Dale, her husband of 51 years Ralph and son Warren. She is survived by her son Dresdin of Edmonton, brother Raymond Bowler of Camino, California and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.