Obituary of Carl Moren

Moren, Carl Edwin (Ed) August 5, 1916-October 7, 2010 It is with sadness that we let you know the passing of our father Carl who was 94 years old. Carl is survived by his children; Betty, Sue, David, Dolores and Carl Jr. 13 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren, sister Ellen (Austin) Doree’, Brother Roger (Lori) and Earl Stanley and Aunt Hazel Peterson. Carl was predeceased by his parents Tilda and Pete Moren, brother Clarence, sisters Ruth and Gladys. Carl’s father Pete built a log house in 1915-16. This was the house in which he was born in house (Hopkins fairy AB, near Elk Point) As a young child Carl worked hard helping his father farm and running the steam engine for the saw mill and thresher during thrashing season. Carl mastered the fine art of firing the 20-60 case with straw, and according to our Boiler Inspector he may have been the last man alive in Alberta who fired a steam engine with straw. Carl went to work at St. Paul Foundry at St. Paul, AB., he was signed up as an apprentice welder and machinist. The next 2 years were the most intensive learning period of his life. Carl left St. Paul Foundry with some regrets to go shipbuilding. He found work with Pacific Sheet Metals; they had contracts with both shipyards. Carl held a key position in charge of bulkhead installation because he could overhead weld and read blue prints especially well thanks to Popular Mechanics Magazines. He changed the way they were installing the bulkheads making the job safer more accurate and efficient. The draft board was soon after him, but the company managed to get him many deferments as they felt they could not replace him. He did have to join the Reserve Army where he was trained on the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun that he helped man, in defence of Canada at Beacon Hill Victoria. After the war he and his brother Clarence built a fully equipped machine shop in Vermillion. Carl and Clarence used their Dad’s saw mill on the farm and produced lumber to build a 40 x 60 machine shop themselves. Lathes and a Milling Machine were purchased from CPR. Welding machines were built & bought, Carl also built an acetylene generator, and it can be viewed at the Bonnyville museum. They opened the doors for business in the winter of 1947. After five years together they split the business, Clarence kept the electrical & refrigeration as he wanted to go more into electronics and sales. Clarence did well as Moren Electric, as he had two stores and was talking about expanding when he was killed by a drunk driver in an auto accident in 1981. Carl ran the machine shop for over 20 years and raised 4 kids himself as his wife left them with him, this was no small task. He sold the shop in 1969. He trained a lot of good tradesmen in that time and never had a serious injury in his shop. He was very safety conscious which we know he learned from his father Pete, who owned & ran sawmills in Alberta and BC from the early 1920’s to the late 60’s without any serious injuries or deaths, and both were respected by those who worked for them. After finishing a steamfitter’s certificate at CFB. Cold Lake, AB. He spent a couple of year’s millwrighting in B.C. When the sawmills went on strike he decided to go shipbuilding in Australia, Carl came back to Canada after a year as his second marriage broke down. After arriving back in Canada he decided to use all his years of running steam engines for his father and wrote his fourth class power engineer’s certificate successfully. He then worked for Eskimo/Dresser/Atlas proving test wells with steam injection, in the Wabasca, Cold Lake and Bonnyville areas. The Word Wide Energy Company asked him to stay on with their project at Fort Kent as Chief Power Engineer, as the project grew Suncor took over and he was asked to stay on as chief power engineer for them. While in this position for both companies he voiced concerns and offered solutions to problems with safety, the environment, and waste. Two things that stand out to us as to why he was awarded the title oilman of the year for northern Alberta in 1984, he pushed for the use of directional drilling off one pad rather than the checkerboard pattern in use, that was very wasteful on farmland. The second was when he investigated the necessity and the dangers of a chemical called hydrazine that they were being sold to treat the boiler feed water at a cost of thousands per barrel. He found out they did not need it at all, and that it was a serious cancer causing agent. He then put the bung back in the barrel and told his men how dangerous that chemical is and to leave it alone. He then told the chemical company take it back. They offered to re-label the barrels and give him shares in the sales, he told them to get lost. They in turn went over his head in an attempt to have him fired, but he stuck to his guns. Soon other oil companies in the area followed suit and quit the use of hydrazine upon hearing this. He enjoyed this job, but at age 70 he finally decided to retire to start his 200 years worth of projects he had saved up. His friend Lucien Croteau put him back to work helping run the boiler for the old time threshing demonstration for a few years by Bonnyville. Carl was a great story teller, and had an unusually good memory and loved to talk to everyone and was always willing to share his wealth of knowledge. This is only a short overview of Carl Edwin (Ed) Moren’s life. He was truly a great man. Northern Lights Funeral Chapel Ltd. were in trust of arrangements. Funeral Director Kelly Turzanski and Staff providing compassionate service to the Families we serve. ~ Bonnyville 780 826 6083 & Cold Lake 780 594 6083 Toll Free 1-888-926-6083~ Northern Lights Funeral Chapel Ltd. were in trust of arrangements. Funeral Director Kelly Turzanski and Staff providing compassionate service to the Families we serve. ~ Bonnyville 780 826 6083 & Cold Lake 780 594 6083 Toll Free 1-888-926-6083~