Annie (Siddall) Gaetz

Red Deer

1881-1972

Description

Life and Work

Annie Siddall Gaetz is honoured in Red Deer for her contributions as a teacher, author and preserver of the city's pioneer heritage.

Born and raised in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Annie Siddall came west in 1903 to become the teacher at Mound Lake school (Ardley) east of Red Deer. The only equipment provided was blackboard and some chalk. In 1904, she married Fredrick Warren Gaetz, son of Dr. Leonard and Caroline Gaetz who had homesteaded in 1884 on the site of the future city of Red Deer. Together Annie and Fred raised a family of four children, and Annie became deeply involved in community activities in the growing village. A long-serving Sunday school teacher and president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, Annie also earned life memberships in the United Church Women's Missionary Society and the Canadian Red Cross.

In 1948, she published a local history, The Park Country, and followed it with Trails of Yesterday and a historical narrative of the Gaetz family, Footprints. She was instrumental in the compilation of Red Deer's community history, Book of Memories, and in the founding of the Red Deer Archives Committee, to which she donated significant material.

Memoirs

Books of the Gaetz Family

• Foot prints of the Gaetz family : descendants of Martin Gaetz./1961


• The park country : a history of Red Deer and district./1948


• The park country [microform] : a history of Red Deer and district./1976


• Trails of yesterday [microform] : folklore of the Red Deer district./1976


• Trails of yesteryear : folk lore of the Red Deer district./1952.

Associated Member Museum: Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery