Marguarite Kerbes's powerful voice trembles slightly as she recounts the honour bestowed on her family during the weekend.
The Kerbes brothers and their wives, some with children in tow, arrived among the wave of Estonians who settled in the area north of Big Valley in the early 1900s, seeking new opportunities in Western Canada's unbroken prairie.
On the weekend, their descendants were chosen for special honour during the first celebration of the newly-formed Alberta Estonian Heritage Society.
It's very humbling. They're enjoying it and they're very honoured," Marguarite said simply as a grandson tugged at her sleeve.
The Kerbes offspring epitomize their nation's revery for dancing and music, generating a culture of entertainment that survives today.
Marguarite, of Irish descent, married into the clan in 1954. Five years later, she replaced her husband Elmer's cousin Helen as the pianist for the 4Ks, an evolving collaboration of musically-inclined Kerbeses and Klauses who entertained the district for more 42 years.
Marguarite and Elmer's son Hal and his wife Kathryn carry the tradition on with their Calgary-based theatre company, Shadow Productions.
In a memo to his mother, Hal described how the 4Ks shaped his life as a musician and entertainer.
I have vague memories of being a little kid at the back of the stage during a dance, falling asleep to a rhythmic vibration like a train or a ship. It was actually the floor shaking."
Spinler's Hall in Big Valley had two coal heaters on the dance floor, one at each end, wrote Hal. Poplar beams supporting the floor would jump along with the dancers, bouncing the balls off the tables in the adjoining pool hall.
(Mom) had nightmares about the floor collapsing and the heaters and orchestra ending up on the top of a fiery heap."
Irene Kerbes said her romance with Elmer's second cousin, Deane, was among the many to blossom on the dance floor as the 4Ks performed.
It was she, Deane, Bob Tipman and Evelyn Shursen (nee Klaus) who decided it would be appropriate to honour the Kerbes family during the weekend.
We thought it would be a good time to pay tribute to them as a family and as musicians."
Irene said music and family are essential ingredients in the Estonian makeup.
They're the first ones on the dance floor and the last to leave. They were always there for the good of the community and for the good of the family."
The 4Ks evolved from an earlier group, the Riverside Revellers. They formed in the winter of 1939 to play for a wedding.
Music played a big role in sense of Estonian community
Archived Articles | 07 Jul 2005 | EWR
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