Delbert Laurier (Del) Coubrough ^1,2

  General Notes:

Eulogy from unknown author:

Del Coubrough was born Oct. 1, 1897 in Lampton (sic) County, Township Dawn, near Dresden, Ont. His parents were Mr. & Mrs. Matheau (sic) Coubrough who had a family of 16 children (they had the largest family around Ogema.) His father and two of Del's brothers came to Ogema area to file for a homestead in 1906 and they built a 12x14 house. Then his father returned to Ontario and brought his wife and other children to Weyburn in the spring of 1909. His mother and children came to the homestead by buggy in 1-1/2 days.
His father, brother Harvey, and Del came with a wagon full of household goods. It took them three days because they had the milk cow walking behind so travelling was slow.
Last month I had the privilege of visiting Del's 91 yrd (sic) brother, Archie, his wife, and daughter in Porcupine Plain and he told me of an interesting incident. When their mother and the family were at the train station leaving Ont., she told Archie to stand in a certain place till he was told to come. Everyone got on the train and when they checked noses, Archie was missing. He was still obediently standing on the platform! So someone rushed and got him on the train. It must have been hard to travel with such a large family.
Archie, also, told me that the last time he visited Del, he jokingly said to him, "Since we are the last two boys left in the family, let's pull straws to see who goes next."
Del answered, "You go ahead. I'm in no hurry."
I guess the Lord had his own plan who goes first.
As a young man, Del leased land at Big Beaver. They grazed cattle on it during the summer and moved them back to Ogema in the winter.
Eventually he took a homestead at Big Beaver near his brother Bill. Del's father moved to Big Beaver later on living near Del and Lena.
Del served in WWI. He was one of the few remaining WWI veterans. He went to Europe in 1918 and served as a dispensary orderly on hospital ships travelling back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean.
He married Pauline Bromberg on April 7, 1926. We know her as Lena. Del did not have to go far searching for a wife as they lived in the same school district.
They raised a family of four sons, John, Doug, Gerald and Gary and one daughter, June, who passed away in June 1978 at Leduc, Alberta.
Eventually, Del and Lena moved to Bengough in 1947 to make it easier for their family to receive an education.
They have been blessed with many years of married life celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary last April 7, 1991.
I have known Del all my life because he was a friend of my father. They played baseball together. He was the back catcher and my Dad was the pitcher.
I'm not sure of the years either between 1910-18 or after WWI in 20's.
Del greeted life as a big adventure. He was full of energy & had a gleam in his eye-call him spunky-walked and stood erect even in his old age. He was noted for being a scrapper in his younger days. He liked to box-in and out of the ring.
Del and Lena loved to dance. The zest they had for life carried over into dancing. I remember the lively schottisce!
Del worked as hard as he played. He worked at carpentry, moving buildings, and cement contracting.
My experience was working with him on cement jobs and pushing a wheel barrow. He was no slouch-gave it all he had.
At the end of the job-always-a party afterward.
My recollection-often no pay-gallon wine. In those days you had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to milk the cow-even if you had a party.
In a world where there is so much doom and gloom, Del could always look on the bright side of things.
He was not too concerned about gaining a lot of worldly posessions. Family and friends were important to him and he'll be missed by all who knew him. Knowing Del, I feel he would not want us to mourn over his passing. He would want us to celebrate his life.
Our prayer is that God in his (sic) mercy has taken him into eternal glory and that we will all meet him again some day.

Drafted into the Candian Overseas Expeditonary Force Spring 1918.
Regimental number of 268688.

Delbert married Pauline Marie (Lena) Bromberg.