Howard Weitzel was born on Dec. 8, 1921, the third oldest child, to Alvin and Maude (Stevens) Weitzel at Edam. He received his elementary education (Grades 1 through 8) at Horse Hill School, which was located nine miles northwest of Edam.
When his older brother left home, Howard, as the second oldest son, had to quit school to work on the farm. Farming then bore little resemblance to the machine-driven mega-farms of today. Farms were much smaller and labour-intensive. Farmers had to be physically strong and able to work long hours. Howard was no exception. He remembers farming with horses, the back-breaking labour of picking roots and rocks, stooking grain sheaves by hand, and milking 12 cows daily. During the Dirty Thirties, he worked with a threshing crew for $2 a day. But despite the emphasis on work with little time for recreation, there was an upside.