By Carla Granberg
Anna and Norman Granberg celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Oct. 10, 2015.
This year, the lifelong residents of Lone Butte will celebrate their 71st Christmas together as a married couple.
Anna is the youngest daughter of Sheridan Lake homesteaders Carl and Sarah Nath.
Norman is the eldest son of Ellis and Bertha Granberg who homesteaded at Roe Lake.
Following their wedding in Kamloops in 1945, Anna and Norman spent their first Christmas in a cabin at the 83 Mile Ranch.
The next spring they moved to a cabin on Taylor Lake Road called the “Pre-Emption,” a homestead belonging to Norm’s Uncle Frank Granberg. Uncle Frank presented Anna with her first flock of hens and she has raised chickens every year since.
Within a couple of years their growing family expanded with two little ones and they moved to a small ranch near Katchmar Road.
In 1956, they moved up the road to the quarter section where they still make their home today, about a half mile from Lone Butte.
After finishing school after Grade 8 in 1938, Norm figured he honestly became a full-time working cowboy at around age 13.
In the early years, he also supported his young family working at the local sawmill and was a first rate cat skinner.
In the mid-1960s and early ’70s, Norm became one of the first log home builders in the area. For Norm, ranching also meant putting up his own hay for his livestock, every summer – rain or shine.
Well known and respected in the local ranching community, Norm was inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame in April 2012 as a Working Cowboy.
Although he downsized his herd in recent years, Norm did not fully retire from cattle ranching until three years ago at age 87.
At age 15, Anna lived in Victoria for a year with an aunt and uncle while attending a seamstress school and working for her room and board.
Homesick, she returned to the Cariboo to work in the Lone Butte Hotel for several years prior to her marriage.
In addition to the ranch chores alongside Norman, gardening and the busy life of raising five children, Anna also helped to support her growing family by working as the janitor at the Lone Butte Elementary School for 30 years, retiring in 1992.
Throughout all these years, Anna pursued her creative nature and devoted her “spare time” to baking, quilting, sewing, knitting and all manner of handcrafting.
Her handmade items must number in the thousands and they became birthday, wedding and Christmas gifts for her friends, family, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Furthermore, Anna still found time, and still does today, to volunteer for community organizations, including the Lone Butte Historical Association.
Anna and Norm experienced much joy raising their five kids and watching 13 grandchildren grow to adulthood.
In recent years, the grandchildren bring the great-grandchildren along to visit with Grama and Grampa over the Christmas holidays, all ranging from 48 years old to small toddlers.
From that first Christmas in a tiny cabin in 1945, throughout all the years, the holiday was always celebrated in a festive manner with the tree, trimmings, homemade gifts and, of course, a fully-featured Christmas dinner.
This year, Anna, 88, and Norman, 90, are looking forward to Christmas Day. Perhaps their celebration will be a bit lower-key, but it will be filled with lots of love, family and many precious memories.
