Harold Tupper passed away at Islay Assisted Living, Islay, AB on May 28, 2026 at the age of 91 years.

Harold is survived by: his loving wife, Linda Tupper; son, Art Tupper (Sherry); daughter, Marie Blatz (Chester); grandchildren, Joni Graus (Aaron), Marshel Tupper (Mykaela), Shayna Tupper, Gage Tupper and Brooklyn Blatz; greatgrandaughter, Amelia Graus; brother, Vern Tupper; sister Charlotte Langridge; brother-in-law, Alan (Lynn) Young; sister-in-law, Wanda Young and Shannon (Ryan) Young; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Harold was predeceased by: his infant son; parents, Haskell Sr. and Lillian Tupper; siblings, Olive Lange, Delbert Tupper, Haskell Tupper, Ken Tupper and Gert Jeffery; brothers-in-law, Lou Lange, Lloyd Jeffery and Roy Young; brother-in-law; Earl Langridge; sisters-in-law, Donna Tupper and Caroline Tupper.

The Funeral Service for Harold will be conducted from Marwayne Community Hall , Marwayne, AB on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM.  If you are unable to attend in person, you may view the live streaming of the service posted on McCaw Funeral Service website under Harold's obituary.

Donations in memory of Harold may be made to Charity of Choice.

Eulogy for Harold Tupper

Hello, my name is Aaron. I am married to Harold’s oldest granddaughter, Joni, and I get the honour of reading Grandpa’s story.

Harold Andrew Tupper was born on May 7th, 1935, in Lloydminster to his parents Haskell and Lillian Tupper.  He was the second youngest boy of their eight children.  He took the first 8 years of his schooling at Silver Willow school and then he completed his education in Kitscoty.

In his younger years, Harold was very active in all sports, enjoying baseball, curling, track and of course fishing.  One of his favorite stories from these times was when he competed in and won the half mile race (but he always called it the mile race). While he was recovering from a fall in an earlier event that resulted in some accidental inhalation of lime dust from the lane markings, he was called up for his next race. So, he convinced his brother Ken to go run in the preliminary run for him. Once Ken had qualified, Harold then ran the final race and won first place.   

Harold continued his education until grade 11 when he decided he had learned all school had to teach him and quit to go full time farming with his dad and brother Haskell.

On August 7th, 1971, Harold married Linda Young and shortly after they moved onto the Stewart homestead, which was previously farmed by Harold’s grandparents. This is where they started a family and expanded there farming operation. Their first son, Arthur Roy, was born January 28th, 1973.  Their second son was born on March 25th, 1977, but sadly passed away that same day.  Marie Lynn arrived April 17th, 1978, and she completed their family. 

In his downtime from the farm, Harold enjoyed coaching Art in hockey and Marie in her curling, so his winters were spent in the arenas and curling rinks. He also coached Art in ball in the spring, which was always a busy time with seeding and getting the calves branded to go north to the pasture. When the farm was slower in the summer you could find Harold at the lake with his family, camping and fishing at Ministikiwan. In the fall time once the harvest was done, Harold always went on an annual hunting trip looking for moose and elk in the mountains. Along with raising a family and running a farm, Harold and Linda enjoyed socializing within the community, attending curling bonspiels and dances. Joni remembers admiring the way Harold and Linda danced at her wedding and how smoothly they moved across the floor together; you could tell they had had a lot of practice over the years.  Harold was a longstanding member of the Alberta Elks Association, and he enjoyed working the Elks booth at the Lea Park Rodeo. He spent a lot of time at the curling rink where he skipped many teams that included friends and family. He participated in the Elks curling bonspiels, winning districts every year that he competed as well as winning zone championships 6 times. He also participated in the Farmer’s bonspiel in Lloydminster with Art, Ken, and Al for many years.  

Over the years, Harold saw farming change in many ways. From a horse pulling a plow through the field to seeing 4-wheel drive tractors pulling 80 foot seed drills; from chasing cows from the farm to the summer pasture on horses (which was a 3 day, 35 mile trip) to all the cows being moved by horse trailers and cattle liners in a single afternoon. When Harold started, he was feeding his small herd in the willows in the slew behind his house. With all of his hard work, along side Art, he was able to expand the farm to what it is today.

The biannual cattle drives were a tradition that resulted in a lot of memorable stories over the years. One that stands out is when cattle drive weekend fell on the series finale of Dallas. No one wanted to miss the show, so Al brought out a TV to the sales corrals and set it up for everyone to catch the final episode. Cattle drive was always shared with the many friends and family who came to help. Mike and Shirley can recall celebrating the Oilers first Stanley cup at the campsite after a day of riding. Cattle drive was not always smooth sailing, however. One spring drive a calf fell off the Lea Park Bridge and Harold was out there until dark on his horse. He managed to save the calf and got it back to the herd. Even though cattle drives were some of the busiest weekends on the farm, they always brought everyone together and created many memorable stories that have been shared through the generations.

Even as farming evolved his love of horses and riding never changed. Harold continued to use horses on the farm to work cattle and for moving the cows from the farm to the Tulliby Lake Stockman’s Association pasture until his retirement. He passed his love of horses and riding down to both Art and Marie. He found every opportunity to be able to ride. Lots of time was spent riding the Tulliby pasture in the summer. Art remembers riding through the pasture and learning how to get around. He often wondered if Dad knew where he was going because they kept passing the same broken tree a few times in the day. He made sure Art knew how to get around the pasture, because he was known to leave him alone with a group of cows in the bush on a regular basis. During these rides in the pasture, he taught Art rules to live by; Never leave a group of cows, don’t go through closed gates, and if all else fails, your horse will always bring you home. Harold always said a horse knew its way home; he called this the Oat Bin walk - when pointed in the direction of home, the horse would pick up the pace, and they would take you all the way home.

Harold was the secretary of the Tulliby Lake Stockman’s Association pasture for 23 years, from 1969- 1996.

Harold passed his love of farming down to his son Art who bought his first cows when he was 16.  Harold and Art farmed actively together until the drought of 2002 when Harold decided to retire. Even in retirement, Harold never lost his love of farming. He still helped with all the baling, leading the cows from pasture to pasture, going on parts runs, and giving advice from his years of experience. Even after Art started farming with Terry, he would be sure to follow them around and let them know if they missed something and what to do next. Harold also had a sixth sense; he knew a break down was about to happen before it did. And you could guarantee that he would be on the scene minutes after a break down to tell you what needed to be done to fix it.

Harold had 5 grands kids; Joni, Shayna, Marshel, Gage and Brooklyn and 1 great granddaughter, Amelia. He was their biggest supporter. Whether it was the arena or the ball diamond, all the kids remember him being there at every sporting event cheering them on from the stands. Not only was he a supporter, but the kids also got the opportunity to do many things along side him. Between curling in bonspiels, chasing cows on horses during the cattle drives, and moving equipment to the next field, the kids could always rely on their grandpa to give advice and a helping hand. Shayna remembers one instance when she was young and she needed to bottle feed a calf in the barn, but the cow was a little short tempered. Like always, Grandpa wasn’t to far away, and he was more than happy to brave the cow and help get the baby calf fed. As he stepped back from the farm, he was always close by supervising the day-to-day operations. When Gage got old enough to start taking on more responsibility, he could always see Grandpa off in the distance watching him from afar, making sure that he was doing it right but ready to step in if there were any problems. Harold was a caring grandpa who was always there for the grandkids when they needed him.

As he got older, Harold found lots of ways to keep himself busy. He spent many hours in his truck cruising around performing gopher control for the farm, and he always made sure to tell us that he never missed. He was also very good at finding the soft spots with his truck, because the grandkids remember getting a call from him numerous times that he needed a tow. Marshel recalls one time where Grandpa was stuck and while he was pulling his truck out, Grandpa forgot to roll up his window and got covered with mud. With some help from Linda and the grandkids, he was the caretaker for the Marwayne Curling Rink for many years. He also loved playing cards. At family functions, many hours were spent with family and friends playing cards. Games such as hand and foot, crib, and crazy Pedro were staples, especially at his sister Gert’s house on holidays. He also enjoyed playing sticks with the grandkids. In later years, he enjoyed his coffee with friends every morning.  Linda gladly took over the driving and getting him there once he couldn’t see to drive himself.  He was also a dedicated Blue Jays fan and watched every game that he could. Brooklyn remembers one time when they had stopped for lunch and Grandpa refused to come sit at the table because he couldn’t see the TV that the Blue Jays game was on.  He thought the Jays were much more important than eating lunch.

Harold moved into the Islay Assisted Living facility on March 26, 2026. If you came to visit, you would find him in an easy chair with his blanket listening to a Blue Jays game.  Marie will always remember the smile on his face whenever she stopped in. He enjoyed playing floor curling and he made some great takeouts, even though he couldn’t tell which colour the rocks were. He even made a draw to the button. The nurses in Islay always said he was such a sweet man. 

Linda enjoyed the drive over to see Harold as often as she could. The first thing he always wanted to know was what the weather was doing out there.  She would give him the updates from Art, Marie and the grandkids.  He was happy to hear about the calving, the seeding and scores of the Blue Jays games. Art is glad that he got to see one last May long weekend snowstorm.

When people would ask “How are you doing?”  He would answer “I’m still kicking!”  He may not have been able to see in his later years, but his hearing was very good, especially when you thought he was sleeping.

The Farm was a big part of his life, and he passed down that legacy to his kids and grandkids. As you can see on his casket it started with one brand and has expanded to 6 brands representing the family farm. The foundation that he created when he first started farming has supported the 6 members of this family and allowed the farm to grow into a successful operation.

Harold was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother and friend and he will be missed and remembered by all.  Art says we don’t have to worry though; he’s in a good place with all his family and the cards will already have been dealt.