Helena and Jaan Kotkas family

Image © Copyright Estonian Private Collection
Helena and Jaan Kotkas family in 1915. Standing: Johannes and Maria. Sitting in front: Helena, Rudy, Jaan, Theresa (sitting on Jaan’s lap) and Louise.
To summarize the lives of the five children of Jaan Kotkas: Children of his first marriage to Emilia Shelbaugh who died in 1905: John (Jack) Kotkas (1902 -? ) left the farm near Barons and went to work in the sugar factory in Raymond, Alberta. He married Margaret Kurtz in 1927 and raised three children: Frances, Peggy and Lawrence, a retired doctor, who lives in Lethbridge. Mary (Maria) Kotkas married John Sepp, and moved to the Washington. They had one daughter Edna (1919-?) (m. Lewis Harres). The Harres family has eleven children. Children of his second marriage to Helena Erdman: Louise Kotkas (1911-1998) married Eric Row in 1936 and had three children: Norma Kay (1942-2006) (Married Howard Myson. They had four children) Norma died of a stroke in 2006; Della, (1946-) (Married Glen Larson and has four children) and Wayne (1949). Wayne lives in Barons. Louise lived most of her life in Barons. Theresa Kotkas (1913-1984) married Mason Steel (1940) divorced and married Pete Lewellen (1946). She had one child, George (1941), who lives in California with his wife Wendy. They have a daughter, Kimberly (1973). Rudy Kotkas married Jean Cross in 1929. They had three children. Always very active in the Barons community, Rudy and Jean later moved to Vulcan where Rudy was an assessor for the County of Vulcan. Upon his retirement he became mayor of Vulcan. Later they moved to Lethbridge to be near their son Ken’s family and their cottage in Waterton Lakes.
Image Date :	1915
Location :	Barons area