Jonathan Berry home
In the year 1887 CLB was born at 3 St. James Street, London, England, a son of the famous Berry Brothers & Company, Distillers.
He was educated at Croydon, and married Constance Pollard of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1911. A son, Deryck, was born to them and later a daughter, Sylvia.
At the tender age of 16, Cecil Berry's urge to see new places and make new friends was manifested. In 1903 he found himself in Idaho, USA, punching cattle on a ranch 75 miles from any railroad. He loved the live, for his head was full of rooting cowboys and shooting Indians. But soon he was on the move again, crossing the border to herd sheep in Alberta. His resourcefulness in any situation came to light in an incident which occurred about this time in Lethbridge. He had spent his last fifty cents on a good meal .... Nevertheless, he walked into the town's best hotel and booked a room for the night. When the sceptical landlord asked for payment the next day, the Berry boy replied, "I'll go out and get a job--you'll get your money."
That evening he paid his debt. In his opinion, there was always a way, if you used your brain.
World War One came along, and Cecil Berry enlisted in the Canadian Army. He saw service overseas with the 2nd Division C.E.F., the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and the Worcestershire Regiment of the Imperial Forces. At the time of cessation of hostilities in 1913, he was an Acting Major.
"Since that day I was broke in Lethbridge", Mr. Berry told J. Lunness Webster of the Toronto Star Weekly, "I've done about everything. I've been an engineer, wheat grower, rancher, salesman, soldier and actor.
Returning to Canada from overseas, he farmed, under the Soldier Settlement Scheme, near Millet, joining the Cockshutt PlowCompany Limited to travel north from Ponoka as Blockman.
"I was selling plows to Peace River farmers when the need for a Northern Radio station struck me" Mr. Berry told Webster. "I mentioned my idea to some Grande Prairie businessmen, and the answer is C.F.G.P."
With George Allford and other prominent men of Edmonton, Mr. Berry formed the nucleus of the Northern Broadcasting Corporation, Limited, which gave birth to North America's most northerly commercial broadcasting station. In January of 1938 he became manager of the "Voice of the Mighty Peace", which slogan he originated .... a station of 100 watts power and a tiny transmitter house, two miles north of Grande Prairie, which housed all equipment, broadcasting studios and personnel of four.
"We have to act as a sort of northland courier," Mr. Berry told Webster.
"Suppose you lived 100 miles north of our town, away from regular mail deliveries and miles from a telephone.
"Suppose your mother was coming north from Edmonton. If you were a C.F.G.P. listener, here's what would happen: your mother would write to the station, saying 'Tell Jack I'm coming to Grande Prairie on Saturday's train.` We'd broadcast the good news and you'd be on your way to town.
"That's just one way we serve the north."
"Or suppose you were like the young fellow whose truck broke down in town. He came to me and asked if I could get word to his mother that he wouldn't be home that night."
"'Sure`, I told him, 'but why not do it yourself? Just come up to the mike and speak your message.' Well, sir, that boy faced the mike like he might have approached a loaded machine gun. Finally he blurted out, 'Hello, Maw ... this is Bill ... the truck's got a busted axle, so I won't be hoe until tomorrow.'"
Thus began C.F.G.P.'s popular "Uncle Tom's" request programme ... on which people personally sent greetings to listening friends.
No biography could encompass the versatility of Cecil Berry ... No list of achievements could do justice to his record of service to the peoples of the Peace River Country. Nothing escaped his attention that could be capitalized on to render such service ... each new day brought fresh ways in which he could live up to his motto of "Think ... then act."
These are but a few of the results of his thought for others:
Behind every going concern that spelled progress, growth or service, stood Cecil Berry and C.F.G.P., and yet, aside from business, he found time for such activities as Board of Trade and local Dramatic Societies, to say nothing of appearing suddenly at a friend's door, calling cheerfully, "Hi, neighbour ..."
On Sunday, September 30th, 1945, Cecil Berry passed quietly away in Grande Prairie Municipal Hospital, following a heart attack which came upon him suddenly two days before.
He leaves to mourn his loss his wife, residing at Victoria, B.C., son Deryck, and daughter Sylvia, two brothers and five sisters ... a loyal host of friends, and C.F.G.P.'s staff of fifteen, to whom he was much more than an employer.
Memorial service was held from Grande Prairie's Anglican Cathedral on October 2nd, funeral services from Andrews-McLaughlin Funeral Chapel in Edmonton on October 4th, on which day tribute was paid to him on the Alberta Livestock Co-operative programme, with script read by Paul Guy, on of Cecil Berry's first radio employees.
A great man lies at peace ...
A large number of messages of sympathy were received from Friends and Readers, from which I have extracted the following
"I was deeply shocked to hear of the death of Cecil Berry ... Grande Prairie has truly lost a public spirited citizen. Those wonderful years with Mr. Berry and his staff will never be equalled in fun and friendship.
"My regards and deepest sympathy to each of you at C.F.G.P.
Shirley Higginson
Toronto, Ontario"
(Former Continuity
Writer at C.F.G.P.)
As of February 1959, a letter from Edward Marchant of Folkestone, Kent, England, revealed that following siblings of Cecil Berry still alive.
Douglas Berry, Edmonton.
Dorothy Lawrence Marchant (formerly Berry) who resides at 33 Wells Road, Folkestone, Kent.
Nora and Margaret (both widows), residing at Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Dorothy had an eventful career, received her training as a Hospital Children's Nurse at Pendlebury, near Manchester, finishing at Great Ormond Street, Children's Hospital, London.
For about 2 and a half years, (1909-11) she saw service with the British Ambassador's family at the British Embassy in Paris; after which, in the summer of that momentous year 1914, she unconsciously and unwittingly found herself in residence in Berlin, still as a children's nurse. In due course she became a prisoner of war being in residence at a Castle on the borders of Poland and Russia; then in 1915 she was transferred to Switzerland. Whilst here, she again too up her work as a children's nurse, and finally in the year of 1918 she was able to return home to England, and immediately had to enter Hospital for an operation for appendicitis.
So Dorothy, like her brother Cecil, had an eventful and interesting career.
URL: This web page is:
http://members.shaw.ca/berry5868/clb.htm
Last modified April 4, 2003