Publisher.
Born at Portage la Prairie on 3 July 1938 to Ada Maude Tremeer (1912-2002) and William Henry Ernest Farmer (1913-2007), he moved with his family to a farm in the Balmoral area a year later, and in his youth enjoyed belonging to the Balmoral 4-H Club and studying piano and accordion. He helped on the farm, where life progressed from plowing fields with horses and the annual threshing gang harvest, to the family’s purchase in 1949 of its first gas-powered tractor and harvesting the crops with a combine. He also helped care for the farm’s pigs and cows. His first job off the farm—changing tires and oil at a local garage in Balmoral—lasted a mere three hours. He discovered his career interests lay elsewhere.
When he was 17, he left Balmoral School and the family farm and moved to Stonewall. There he found employment at the Stonewall Argus newspaper print shop and worked for Bill and Joe Saundry from August 1955 to December 1966 before purchasing the business. In 1961, he married Luella Jean Edwards (1938-2018), and they went on to have seven children. They also bought 40 acres north of Stonewall, where they raised their family and operated a small game farm. He loved birds and animals, raising everything from elk, llamas, pheasants, goats, and Japanese Sika deer, to snowy owls, rabbits, and raccoons. If anyone in the area found a wounded bird or animal, they brought it to the Farmers for rehabilitation.
In 1967, he founded Interlake Publishing, which operated the Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times and the print shop. In 1973, he founded the Interlake Spectator, and in 1985 the Selkirk Journal. He also supervised the building of the Interlake Publishing offices in Stonewall in 1992. He went on to serve as a director and President of the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association (MCNA) and as a director of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association (CCNA). He received an MCNA life membership on 16 April 1994 and a CCNA honorary life membership on 23 July 1998 for his contributions to the improvement of the profession of community newspaper publishing in Canada. In 1992, he sold his business to Quebecor and retired on 31 December 1999.
Outside of the sports world, he served for more than 25 years as a volunteer and Deputy-Chief on the Stonewall-Rockwood Fire Department; spent eight years with the Stonewall and District Ambulance; was Councillor for the Town of Stonewall and Chairman of the Police and Fire Committee. He played a large part in the hiring of the RCMP to police Stonewall during his time. He was a member and served as President of the Stonewall and District Chamber of Commerce; wrote and published Turning a Century for the Town of Stonewall in 1975, commemorating its 100-year history; and compiled and published the Golden Memories song book, specifically designed for senior citizens. During his retirement, he pioneered the raising of elk as an industry in Manitoba and started up one of the first elk farms in the province. He was a founding member of the Manitoba Elk Growers Association and served on its board for many years.
He played the piano and organ throughout his life and was a member of Balmoral United Church and Stonewall United Church as well as a Sunday school teacher. He coached and managed several of his sons' minor hockey teams, and supported his daughters’ involvement in the Stonewall Figure Skating Club. He often enjoyed coffee and lunch at the Balmoral Rec Centre with friends after his daily chores at the farm.
He died at Stonewall on 24 July 2012 and was buried in the Balmoral Victoria Cemetery. In 2014 he was posthumously inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 28 July 2012.
“Mervin Farmer,” Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
“Mervin Ernest Farmer,” Poole Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 14 March 2026
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