2021 hALL OF FAME iNDUCTEES
"The Lights from our Past Illuminate our Future"
- Doug Charles - Saskatchewan 1915 -1992
- John (Junior) Heatlie - Quebec 1928 - 2004
- Dennis Gordeyko - Alberta 1947 - 2018
- Lawrence McIntyre Rye - Alberta 1883 - 1981
nOW LETS READ ALL ABOUT THEM
DOUG CHARLES - SASKATCHEWAN
Doug Charles was born on January 11, 1915 at Pleasantdale, Saskatchewan. Early in his life he developed a love for livestock. His show career began in 1928 as a 4-H Club Exhibitor at the local fairs.As a young boy he was a member of the LacVert 4-H Club and later, a leader of the Pleasantdale 4-H Swine Club. This grew into an adult career of regularly showing horses at the Melfort Fair. By 1942, he had already shown at the Saskatoon Fair and by 1949, he began a long succession of showing Clydesdales horses at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair where he won many prizes for the halter and team classes.His biggest thrill was winning the six horse hitch class at the Royal Winter Fair in 1952. In 1955 he was asked to drive the stage coach that brought the Right Honourable John Diefenbaker and his wife into the grandstand area at the Saskatoon Exhibition.Doug was secretary of the Clydesdales Horse Association of Canada for many years. He was very helpful to horse breeders throughout the country. In his later years, he also became an avid harness maker. Many people showing horses today are still using all or part of show harness made by Doug Charles.His involvement in the raising, importing and showing of heavy horses kept the horse industry going during hard times. It is doing well today partly because of his efforts and we owe much to him. Doug Charles was a good friend and as one farmer said, “He was the kind of man you would like to have living next to you or just across the road”. He was a valued neighbor.Doug passed away on May 16, 1992. While he may be gone his accomplishments live on
JOHN (JUNIOR) HEATLIE - QUEBEC
.John Heatlie, often known as “Junior”, was born on January 9, 1923 and passed away March 29, 2004 in Brownsburg, Quebec. He was an ardent lover of Clydesdales from the time his father purchased his first registered horse off the boat from Scotland in 1928.John was well known across Canada, USA and Europe as a quality Clydesdale breeder. He was a long time member of the Canadian Clydesdale Horse Association of Canada and other Clydesdale Horse Associations as well. He was the custodian of the famous stallion imported from Scotland, Doura Perfect Motion – the sire of the great Ogdensburg Teddy Lad.Junior and his family enjoyed showing Clydesdales at various fairs each year and took top honors at the Royal Winter Fair on many occasions. He would always say, “It wasn’t just what you won, but who you beat”.He was a proud father and grandfather. John will be dearly missed in the Clydesdale world. His family and grandchildren kept up the tradition he and his father began. Nothing would have made him more proud.
DENNIS GORDEYKO - ALBERTA
Dennis Gordeyko turned an early interest in the Clydesdale breed into a lifelong passion and business hobby. Even as a child, Dennis had great interest and admiration for the “gentle giants”. As a young man, he would attend local fairs and larger city shows and his appreciation for the breed grew.Dennis and his older brother, Alan, shared a common interest. Together they started their small hobby with two purebred Clydesdale mares. It wasn’t long before the two men realized their hobby of producing foals and showing horses was becoming a larger business than initially anticipated. They then decided to establish themselves individually in the world of the heavy horses.Dennis imported several top quality stallions and mares from Scotland where the breed originated. One of the foundation stallions of his line was Bardrill Enterprise, imported from Scotland in 1976. Dennis established many good friends in Scotland over the years who shared a similar passion for the Clydesdale. Several breeders and exhibitors from Scotland became especially close to Dennis and his family, visiting back and forth as often as possible.Dennis was asked to judge classes at the National Stallion Show in Glasgow and the hitch classes at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh. He was also invited to judge in Peterborough, England. His ability to judge the quality of a good horse was recognized by many in Canada and the United States and, because of his “eye for a good horse”, he was invited to judge at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair and the Calgary Stampede, to name but a few.Over the years, Dennis exhibited Clydesdales throughout Canada and the United States and sold many top quality Clydesdales to other established breeders in North America. Horses bred on his farm were also exported back to Scotland. Dennis Gordeyko was an important member of the “Heavy Horse Family”, both at home in Canada, in the USA and worldwide. Together that family would share experiences and knowledge in order to maintain the quality of the heavy horse.Dennis bred and showed many champions over the years and was known for his depth of pedigree in the Clydesdale bloodline he established. Dennis’ expertise and passion for the Clydesdale breed will always be remembered and respected.
LAWRENCE MCINTYRE RYE - ALBERTA
Lawrence McIntyre Rye, Dean of North American Clydesdale Breeders, was born on December 27, 1883 at Parry Sound, Ontario. At the age of ten, he moved with his parents to homestead on a farm north of Namao in Sturgeon County, Alberta.As a young man, Lawrence worked hauling freight for the Hudson Bay Company on the Athabasca Landing Trail. Later, he began farming on his own and, on December 6, 1911, he married his wife, Sarah Ferguson. They raised five children – three girls and two boys.Lawrence raised purebred Shorthorn cattle and Tamworth hogs, showing them at fairs in the area. However, his main interest was Clydesdale horses. In 1967 Lawrence was honored as one of five Livestock Breeders of Edmonton District when the Edmonton Chamber Exhibition Association was celebrating Canada’s Centennial. He was also a director of the Clydesdale Horse Association of Canada, and was president for two years. He was in charge of the Alberta Exhibition and the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ontario for many years.He was a well-respected judge in Western Canada, and in 1956 judged the Royal Winter Fair. Over the years, he made the trip to the Toronto over 50 times, and for 33 years consecutively he did that on the train (a trip of over 2000 miles or 80-100 hours). In 1964, Lawrence won all the four and six-horse hitch classes at the Royal Winter Fair. Lawrence’s son, Elmer and Bill McCrimmon handled all the hitches. In 1972, he sold his last six horse hitch to the Gordeyko brothers of Ohaton, Alberta.In spite of all those successes, Lawrence said the best honor he ever won was when his home bred mare, Prairie Rose, was awarded Best Canadian Bred Clydesdale Mare in Western Canada and again at the Royal.In his ninetieth year, he still showed all of his own line horses. Some people knew him as the “Little Man with the Big Horses”, or the “Dean of Clydesdales”.Lawrence passed away June 12, 1981, at the age of 97 years. He was buried at Namao, Alberta and was survived by five children, 15 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren. A truly amazing man in the Clydesdale world, he surely left his mark.