A Little Family History

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Here is Tim's side of the story

in August of 2000 our family made the change from the Green Northwest of Washington to the Desert of Utah. Whoa!

Here is a little history starting in the way back machine.

Tim was born in Cardston, Alberta, Canada

My father, Walter Luscher, was born in Muhen Switzerland and immigrated to Canada in the mid 1950's. He was originally going to Australia on a visa, but had a friend that wrote to him from Canada and told him that he needed to come to Canada instead of Australia. He checked it out and since Canada and Australia were both in the Common Wealth he made the change and immigrated to Hill Spring, Alberta where he worked as a farm hand during farming months and worked as a logger in South Western Alberta through the winter months. Dad had been raised a Lutheran, but while living in Southern Alberta converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - The Mormon church. Dad's original intent was to stay a few years in Canada and then return to Switzerland. However after he joined the church, he was called to served a mission for the church in Germany where he met my mom, Mae Bressler. After his mission he settled in Southern Alberta, but has always kept a love in his heart for the "old' country and the "old" ways. The Luscher family built a home in Muhen during the 1700's which was passed down through the family until my grandpa, Adolf Luscher died in 1965. At that time the estate went to my father, his sister Trudy and the family of his other sister Berty who had passed away some time ago. The estate was sold to a developer and the house was torn down.

My mother, Mae Lucille Bressler, was born in Victor Idaho to Lydia Lucille Mikesell and Lyle Leroy Bressler. She was the oldest of six brothers and one sister. Mae was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints when she was about 16 years old. Lyle Bressler moved his family from Victor to the Jackson Hole area when mom was close to graduating. She did not want to move, so she made arrangements to stay with her Aunt Ross and graduated from high school in Victor. During my youth we always traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to visit Grandma Bressler and other relatives. My grandmother, Lucille Bressler, lived most of her life in the Jackson Hole area. Mom's dad, Lyle Bressler died before I was born. Mom tells how he told her that girls should stay home and raise a family and that he would not pay for her education in any way. That did not stop mom. She put herself through college and became a school teacher. She taught in many places, including a short time in Jackson, WY, at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City and in Euphrata Washington. She also taught school overseas for the armed forces. She taught elementary school in France for the Air Force (as a civilian) for a year and resigned after the school year was over. She came home and signed up with the Army (as a civilian) to teach elementary school in Germay. She loved to travel. While in Germany she bought a car and drove all over Europe while teaching school. She also travelled to Guatemala and Northern Africa with some girl friends. She loved teaching elementary school and taught for about 35-40 years, teaching in Utah, France, Germany, Alberta and British Columbia. Even after she retired from teaching she would tutor kids that needed extra help.

My mom tells me that she tried hard to have more kids, but was never able to have more after I was born. She tells me that when I was little I would constantly pray for a little brother. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints had a program called the "Indian Placement Program" which was instituted in the 1960's. Perhaps dad felt duty because of his calling in the bishopric, or my mom's love of Native Americans, but whatever the reason we had an Indian boy, Eddie Moore come live with us from September 1965 until 1974. His home was Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. During the school year he would live with us and would only go home in the summer. What a change it must have been to leave the island and move to Southern Alberta. Looking back I realize how hard it must have been for him to leave his mom and sisters. Amazing how time changes our perspective. The same year my mom and dad adopted a baby boy. We have pictures of John Alan Luscher under the tree as a baby. He was really cute. Our family really changed that year.

When I turned eleven our family Walter, Mae, Tim, John and Eddie moved to Salmo, British Columbia which is close to Nelson and Trail. It was quite a change for me moving from the farmlands of Alberta to the logging and mining area of the Kootenays of Southern British Columbia. We arrived at the end of the school year in June. There probably is never a good time to move, but arriving in Salmo a few weeks before school was out was a little difficult. The one thing that was pretty cool was I had been taking band in Cardston in grade six and had been playing the clarinet. When we moved to Salmo I was allowed to walk from the elementary school to the high school (there were only the two schools in town) for band class. That was kind of cool because I was the only kid that was doing it. Made me feel a little older which is always important when you are in grade six.

My folks made sure that we always did things together as a family. We did a lot of camping and traveling when I was young. Mom and Dad loved to go to the World's Fair. Seems that today the Worlds Fair is not what it used to be. Our family went to the Worlds Fair in Seattle, Montreal, Spokane and Vancouver.