| In his obituary it states that "life revolved around being a farmer from Saskatchewan, but he did not find that at all limiting. He was a farmer, but one that stretched the boundaries of this all inclusive profession. He was also a musician, playing the violin as a young boy and the sousaphone in the Eston town band; an instructor at university, a driver, an inventor, an innovator, an explorer, a husband and a father. Raised on the farm on a hill nearest Richlea, Saskatchewan, Sigurd worked to put himself through engineering, starting at the University of Saskatchewan and moving to University of Manitoba where they offered a degree in his interest area of electrical engineering. This was during the war, so Sigurd joined the many attending Canadian Navy officer training exercises three times a week. Graduating with his Bachelors in Engineering, it was back to the farm with his new wife, Ingeborg (Inga) to follow his passions of farming and family. He tried pig farming and turkey farming, but eventually focused on raising mainly cereal crops. Sig believed that Canada was the breadbasket of the world and wanted to do his part. Establishing himself as a successful grain farmer on the homestead, Sigurd moved the now family of five children into Saskatoon for two reasons, first to support the children's efforts towards further education, and to indulge his love of the science of farming. He joined the staff of the Ag-Engineering department at the U of S to improve the technical skills of young farmers in electrical wiring, motors, mechanical systems and other fields. This idea rich environment brought out Sigurd's inventive side. The farm was used as a giant experimental farm with the earliest versions of air seeders, combine loss meters, dual wheeled tractors, self unloading grain wagons among many other modified machinery. Sigurd was a very early adopter of what is now known as Zero Tilling farming methods. He studied the Western Producer as the Canadian prairie farmer's window to the world and was always supported the Canadian Co-operative movement in its many forms." |
