Knight on a crusade: funding cancer research

By JEFF GRAHAM

Ernie Faessler’s life story reads like a classic novel, complete with triumph, heroism, romance, and tragedy.

Faessler is spending his days preserving the history of B.C.’s pioneers while raising money for cancer, keeping a promise he made to his dying wife.

“My wife had been suffering from leukemia for five years,” said Faessler. “Before she died she said she didn’t want flowers or anything fancy for her funeral; she wanted the money to go to the food bank and to cancer research.”

Since the death of his wife Jeane last June, the 82-year-old Faessler has been a man on a mission, selling his book, Barns: From Our Pioneers – Builders of a Nation, with all the proceeds going to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society of Western Canada, as his wife requested.

The son of a B.C. pioneer himself, Faessler witnessed first hand the extreme hardship pioneers faced in clearing land and building their barns and homes. His book features oil paintings of the old pioneer barns in an effort to preserve the legacy of our forefathers.

“There was no employment insurance, there was no health insurance, there was no telephone, and we were 100 miles away from the nearest doctor,” he said. “There was no money; you just had to make a living by growing vegetables and eating wild meat and fish.”

The son of a Swiss immigrant, Faessler moved with his father at age 3 to Bridge Lake, B.C., near 100 Mile House, where the government had granted his dad a plot of land with the requirement that he clear it. They lived in a sod-roofed trapper’s shack, and Faessler spent his days leashed to a tree so he wouldn’t wander off while his father worked.

His father cleared that land by hand, felling old growth Douglas fir with a crosscut saw, and then built the barn, also by hand, using moss for chinking and splitting roof shakes with a froe.

One day his father cut off a thumb while cutting shakes, and bandaged the wound himself; the stump healed.

“They had no money to buy nails, so they used hardly any, and used pegs instead, drilling holes and using pegs. They would often make their own paint, and use mud, manure, or anything they could find to fill the holes.”

Faessler explained barn construction was a high priority for pioneers. “The barn was more important than the house, and the barn was in far better condition than the house was.”

Faessler, who now resides in Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Surrey, hopes his book will give people an appreciation of the work that went into the land they now enjoy.

“The point I try to make to people is that all those pieces of land were some pioneer’s hard work to make it livable land,” he said. “They’re all someone’s lifetime; they spent their life doing this.”

For his part, Faessler’s life has had a number of twists along the way.

At 19 his life changed sharply when he joined the medical corps and followed the Canadian advance into Holland during World War II. It was an experience that changed his life, giving him a love of his fellow man and a love of art. In Europe Faessler saw first hand the beauty of the art at the Louvre, and he witnessed the horrors of war.

“One thing I learned from the horrors I saw is that there’s not enough kindness,” he said. “I just don’t think there’s enough kindness and compassion in the world.”

During the war Faessler began charcoal sketching and oil painting. This became a lifelong habit, and eventually led to his book.

He met his wife Jeane 25 years after the war, and they had three children: Andrea, April, and Rick. Faessler also joined the North Surrey Knights of Columbus Council 4767.

“I’ve been a member for about 40 years, and held every position, even on the State Council, except for the State Deputy,” he said. “I’m still very active in the Knights.”

“My faith has helped me a lot. I still go to church and I still go to the Knights. I’d say it’s helped me a great deal.”

Faessler explained that his wife, Jeane, was heavily involved in the St. Vincent de Paul Society and volunteered even when she was sick with cancer.

“That was my wife’s favourite charity, and she worked hard on that even when she was ill.”

He also said that while his wife was suffering greatly, she did very little to let on how much pain she was in.

“Leukemia does not show up much, but I know now that she was a lot sicker than I thought she was,” he said. “Jeane sure was a trooper; she kept on doing everything and would make like she wasn’t ill, but she was. She never said anything about it.”

“There are two kinds of leukemia, the fast kind and the slow kind. She had the slow kind. Five years she suffered with it.”

Even though Jeane had been diagnosed with leukemia several years before her death, Faessler said he wasn’t prepared for her passing, and he misses her.

“My daughter and I watched her die for a week, and it was just horrible,” he said. “It’s been tough. We were married for 34 years; we went everywhere together.”

Despite the sadness of his wife’s passing, Faessler explained that he wanted to do something in his wife’s memory. He took some money out of his bank account, approached a publisher, and said he wanted a book dedicated to her, with all the proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.

Faessler had 1,000 copies printed, and he takes it with him everywhere, selling it for $24.95 a copy.

“I’ve been on the road every day since Christmas, leaving no stone unturned,” he exclaimed. “I’ve been really busy, and it’s been good for me. I get the terrible blues sometimes, and when I’m busy like that it really helps.”

By all indications the book has been well received, making the B.C. Bestsellers list while being picked up by Art Knapp, Auto Coop, Save On Foods, Blackbond Books and Timeline Books. Even local schools are picking up Faessler’s gem.

“The schools now, the Surrey school board, the Langley and Abbotsford school boards, have all taken the book on.”

Faessler explained the appeal for the schools is that the book not only provides visuals for the students, but supplements the images with detailed descriptions of the barns and the pioneers who built them.

“It’s a history of the early pioneers and it’s turned out very nice,” he said. “Most of the time when I bring my book around, people want to buy it when they see it. I’ve sold about 200 books myself, just going on the road.”

Faessler said he is extremely thankful for the support he has received.

“Sometimes people even give me more than the book is worth,” he said, “and my daughter, Andrea Macrae, she’s been the most wonderful person of all. She’s phoned me every day and she’s been my biggest booster. I’m welcome at her place any time. They have a bed for me and they’re so wonderful to me.”

What is plainly obvious is that Faessler is determined to return any kindness he’s received along the way.

“I think the world needs more kindness and compassion. I think it should be taught in schools,” he said.

“I just try and go out there and help.”