Fergus curler Norma Harrop helped others on and off the ice

Norma Harrop was an active community member and curler who taught her family to treat people the way they wanted to be treated.  

"That's the big one for me. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and kindness and dignity, but you deserve to get that back too," said Ian Harrop, Norma's youngest son.

On May 9, Norma passed away at Groves Memorial Hospital at the age of 92. She had four children, 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

As a child, Norma lived on a family farm outside of Oakville that had milking cows, laying hens, turkeys and an apple orchard. She was the second oldest of four siblings, and was close with her younger sister.

Born in 1930 during the beginning of the Great Depression, Norma's upbringing in a farming community influenced her interest in helping others. Ian notes the farm she grew up on didn't have plumbing and her family used a coal burning stove to warm up the house.

"They were all small farms in that area, but everyone worked together because it was essential for survival, whether you were harvesting a crop or building a barn, or doing whatever work you were doing, " said Ian. "It was essential for you to give up your time and to help your neighbours, and in turn, your neighbours will help you."

"That was one of those things that was kind of cemented into her head right away, like that it was just really important, and she just carried that on, and it was never a 'I don't have the time for it,' she made time."

In her 20s, Norma met Sam Harrop at a barn dance and they got married in 1952, taking over Sam’s family farm in Milton. The couple remained together until Sam passed away in 2016.

"They would've been, about five miles apart, but don't think they knew each other before this barn dance, but that's how they met," said Ian.

Before the family moved to Fergus in 1969 and started a dairy farm called ‘Harrcroft Acres,’ Norma and Sam became founding members of the Milton Curling Club. Ian said his parents had a passion for curling, and with the help of four five other couples, raised $1,500 for the project.

"With some help from the town, and interest from people that signed up as members, they were actually able to build the curling club," said Ian, "It's grown since then, but they were one of the first ones to say, 'Let's do this,' so that kind of their first involvement, and when we left they were pleased to see it being carried on."

In Fergus, Norma and Sam joined the Fergus Curling Club where Norma was secretary of the women's league from 1974 to 1978. Through curling, Ian said they travelled to Scotland in 1985 to compete in the Silver Broom World Curling Championship and visited every province through the Brier.

"I used to walk to the curling club to get a ride home, or sometimes, she would pick me up and I would be detailed to pick up groceries and stuff, and she enjoyed that part of curling, the social part," said Ian, noting Norma curled with Sam in a mixed competitive league and in the women's league.

Norma liked how everyone in Fergus helped each other, said Ian. She volunteered with different organizations, including with the local chapter of the women's initiative, a support group for women in agriculture, and spent a few years on the board of directors for Groves Memorial Hospital. Norma also volunteered at the Fergus Highland Games.

"Her thought was, you know, ‘We need to give back,’ and a lot of people do in a lot of different ways, but that was kind of her way through volunteering," said Ian.

When not working or volunteering, Norma enjoyed knitting and sang in the choir at Melville United Church. Ian said Norma had ‘quite the voice’ and was also an accomplished pianist.

"If you got her at Christmas time, or that sort of thing when we were small, she'd get up and she'd play the piano and she was quite good at it," said Ian. 

As a mother, Ian said Norma always made sure her kids were well-cared for, well-fed and well-dressed.

"Emotionally, she was not so much the cuddly type, but she was there to make sure you were healthy and happy and all that sort of thing,” said Ian, noting she had a good relationship with her grand kids.

"Loving supportive parent, no doubt about that, firm when necessary but consoling and helping when necessary too," said Eric Harrop, Norma's third son.

Eric recalls Norma was an excellent cook and had a huge garden on the farm which she froze, canned and pickled the fruits and vegetables she grew. Together, he and Norma also tapped maple trees on the property.

"That was my job to collect it and she boiled it, so we kind of worked together on that," said Eric.

Outside of the farm, Norma also worked part time at Gold’s Jewelers in Fergus and Husky Farming Equipment in Alma. In her fifties, Norma was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and had to step back from curling and the piano. It was around this time her and Sam began stepping back from farming to allow for their sons to take over the main operations. Today, Ian continues to manage the farm with his family.

"That was one of their goals that they had taken over the farm and they had wanted the next generation to do the same. We've also put in place that once we're done, then the next generation will be there as well,” said Ian.