Memorable Manitobans: Frederick “Fred” Byle (1921-2006)

Farmer, municipal official.

Born in Manitoba in 1921, the youngest of nine children to Dutch immigrant parents David Byle [Bijl] (1873-1960, divorced in 1935-1937, remarried to Annie Padlaski in 1938) and Evelyne [Evelijntje] Vogelesang [Vogelenzang] (1879-1953), he grew up on the family market garden in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul. During the Second World War, he enlisted for military service with the Royal Canadian Air Force (1942-1946) and, following military discharge, he and two of his brothers purchased around 200 acres of land at Blackdale and farmed sugar beets. Part of their newly acquired property served as a temporary camp for German Prisoners of War until their repatriation in the later 1940s, during which time the additional labour was used for crop harvesting.

He was actively engaged in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul, serving as a Councillor (1958-1977, each time re-elected by acclamation) and Deputy Reeve (?-?), as well as a charter member (1963) and President (1963-?) of West St. Paul Curling Club, a founding member and trustee of the Seven Oaks Hospital Board, and a member of the Royal Canadian Legion (Middlechurch Branch No. 167). On 3 June 1944, he married Irene Vandal at Middlechurch and they had five children.

He died at the Seven Oaks Hospital on 5 September 2006. He is commemorated within West St. Paul with the naming of Fred Byle Drive and Fred Byle Park.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lister Rapids Park / Fred Byle Park (Shaw Road, West St. Paul)

Sources:

Birth [Arthur Byl and Harry Byl] and marriage [David Byle and Annie Padlaski] registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Death registrations [Evelyne Byle], British Columbia Vital Statistics.

1926 Canada census, Library and Archives Canada.

Winnipeg divorce file (ATG 0009A), #235/35 - David Byle & Evelyn Byle, GR0171, Archives of Manitoba.

“15 farmers given cups for sugar beet yields,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 January 1943, page 10.

Births [Byle], Winnipeg Tribune, 11 February 1950, page 28.

Obituary [Mrs. Evelyn Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 7 October 1953, page 13.

Obituary [Mrs. Rose Anne Vandal], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 Otober 1957, page 22.

Obituary [David Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 May 1960, page 14.

Winnipeg estate file (ATG 0024A), #60476 - David Byle, GR4883, Archives of Manitoba.

“Do-it-yourself system built new curling club,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 December 1963, page 53.

“Cockerill - Byle,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 March 1968, page 18.

Obituary [Annie Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 9 February 1971, page 28.

“Road lack stymies landowners in obsolete subdivision,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 January 1977, page 8.

Anniversaries [Fred and Irene Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 June 1984, page 29.

“Wartime memories in couple’s backyard,” Stonewall Argus, 23 May 1994, page 3.

Obituary [David Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 August 1997, page C7.

Obituary [Arthur Byle], Winnipeg Free Press, 9 July 2002, page C7.

“West St. Paul is celebrating 125 years,” Selkirk Journal, 24 June 2005, page 25.

“Leaders honoured,” Selkirk Journal, 15 July 2005, page 4.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 7 September 2006, page 34.

Obituary, Selkirk Journal, 8 September 2006, page 23.

Diana Bijl family tree, Ancestry.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 27 September 2019

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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