Showing 117 results

Authority record

Damase [Dan] Bouvier

  • Person
  • 1898 - 1977

Damase Bouvier was born July 23, 1898 in St. Damase, Québec. He had eight siblings and his family moved to Massachusetts. At approximately age 14, Bouvier moved to Lac LaBiche, Alberta.

Early in his career, he worked as a train operator for the railroad on the line between Edmonton and Waterways, which has now been amalgamated into Fort McMurray. He later went into the poultry business in Northern Alberta until W.W.II. broke out.

Damase Bouvier had married Cecile Wilson and they had four children; one boy and three girls.

On January 10 1942, Bouvier was hired by the National Film Board (NFB) as a rural circuit projectionist to show NFB films to communities in Northern Alberta. In this position, he discussed with parishes what films were needed, advised film councils and taught people how to use film projectors. He later acquired professional recording equipment and produced a program named "Talent from the Towns." The program captured folk music from Northern Alberta and was aired on CKUA at the University of Alberta on Friday evenings. He was active in helping orphans during his time at the National Film Board as he would volunteer his time to show films for free to orphanages around Northern Alberta where he was working. He worked for NFB until he retired at age 65. In his retirement he made souvenir discs from his recordings and the souvenir discs were distributed to the people he recorded.

Damase Bouvier died November 23, 1977.

Crouse, Nolan

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 24 Nov 1953 -

Nolan Crouse was born on 24 Nov 1953 in Viking, Alberta, to Lois and Aaron Crouse. He attended Irma High School and received a Masters of Business Administration from Cape Breton University.

After his post-secondary education, he spent 30 years in management and executive roles within the Forest Products industry in Slave Lake, Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Pennsylvania (USA). Crouse held these leadership roles with Procter and Gamble, West Fraser Timber and Alberta Energy Company (EnCana), followed by several years as a small business owner of a sawmill and wood packaging manufacturing plant employing 30 staff in west Edmonton. Crouse also was the co-founder of the Grande Prairie Indoor Ice Society, an organization that raised funds for the Canada Games Arena that hosted the 1995 Canada Winter Games. Crouse is also a former hockey coach for Fort Saskatchewan Traders, Brooks Bandits, and St. Albert Merchants.

In 2004, Crouse ran for office and was elected to the St. Albert City Council. He then served three consecutive terms as Mayor of St. Albert from 2007-2017. Crouse also served as the chair of the Capital Region Board (CRB) and the chair of the CRB's Transit Committee.

Crouse is a past recipient of the prestigious Pulp and Paper John Bates award, was awarded a “Key to the City” in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, received the Rotary Paul Harris Award and was recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Silver Medallion.

Crouse is married to Gwen (m. 1975) and they have three children: Curtis (b. 1977), Celina (b. 1979), and Dalen (b. 1985).

City of St. Albert

  • Corporate body
  • 1904 -

Founded in 1861 by Father Albert Lacombe, St. Albert is the oldest, non-fortified community in Alberta and was the largest agricultural settlement west of Winnipeg. Father Lacombe, one of the earliest missionaries in the west, proclaimed Mission Hill home to the St. Albert mission settlement. He built a log chapel for ministering to the Cree and Métis. Father Lacombe Chapel, the oldest building in Alberta, is now a Provincial Heritage Site and has been restored to its original appearance. It is located on the north hill of the river and is open to tours from June to September.
St. Albert was incorporated as a village in 1904 followed by town status in 1962. St. Albert officially became a city in 1977.
Today, St. Albert is a city with over 64,645 residents. With more than 85 kilometres of trails, 1,100 acres of green space, the Arden Theatre, the visual arts studios, the Musée Héritage Museum and numerous special events.

Citizens' Ad Hoc Committee

  • Corporate body
  • 1977 -

The Citizens' Ad Hoc Committee for the St. Albert Community Services Advisory Board was formed in 1977 to document facility needs in the area of cultural activities. The facilities included a new library, a new museum, and visual arts and crafts. The first members of the committee were Louise Zuk, Les Graff, Shirley Martin, Lois Falkins, Sandra Vanelvik. As a result of the work begun by this committee, a building named St. Albert Place was completed in 1984.

Chevigny, Octave

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 4 May 1938 - 24 Mar. 2014

The Chevigny family is one of the pioneer families of St. Albert. Octave Chevigny was born 4 May 1938 to Octave Chevigny Sr. and Dellamen Plamondon. He married Claire Plamondon.

Octave Chevigny Sr. married Julie Froment and had Prosper, Godfrey, Doree, Marie-Ange, and Cheri Chevigny. After Julie Froment's death, Octave Chevigny Sr. married Dellamen Plamondon, the widow of his brother Albert Chevigny, and had two sons Octave and George Chevigny.

Chartrand, Dorothy

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 15 Aug. 1918 - 6 Sept. 2013

Dorothy Chartrand (née Bellerose) was born on August 15, 1918 on the Bellerose family farm near St. Albert. Her parents were Pierre and Justine Bellerose. Chartrand grew up on Sturgeon River Lot #38 with her twelve siblings. After graduating from high school, Chartrand worked for the Alberta Government, Department of Trade and Industry. In 1941, she joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and was deployed to London, England, in late 1944 to work as an administrator in London’s Canada House. Chartrand met her first husband, Canadian Sergeant Robert Atcheson, while in London. They were married on July 26, 1945 and had four children: Anita, Joyce, Tom and Theresa. Robert Atcheson passed away in Edmonton in 1958, and Chartrand remarried in 1963 to Eli Chartrand (d. 1991). Chartrand conducted genealogical and historical research and contributed greatly to the St. Albert history book, The Black Robe’s Vision. On Nov. 11, 2011, Chartrand became the third person to receive the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta Patron’s Award in recognition of her heroism. Chartrand passed away in Edmonton on September 6, 2013.

Champagne, Juliette

  • MHM
  • Person

Juliette Champagne is an historian and heritage consultant specializing in Western Canadian history, especially related to Alberta's francophone communities and peoples. She has served as a board member with heritage organizations such as La Société Généalogique du Nord-Ouest. Champagne has several publications, "De la Bretagne aux plaines de l'Ouest canadien, lettres d'un défricheur franco-albertain, Alexandre Mahé (1880-1968)" which is about French-Canadian community building in northeastern Alberta. Champagne has also annotated and published the memoirs of the Oblate Joseph Le Treste, who worked in Northern Alberta between 1884 to 1955, "Souvenirs d'un missionnaire breton dans le Nord-Ouest canadien", now out of print.

Brutinel, Raymond, Brigadier-General

  • 2014.22
  • Person
  • 6 May 1882 - 21 September 1964

Brigadier-General Raymond Pierre Marc Brutinel was born May 6, 1882 in Alet-les-Bains, Aude, France. His father was Louis Brutinel and his mother was Louise Maury. In 1903, Brutinel married Marie Calamun (1882-1952). They divorced in 1907 but continued to live together. Brutinel had a daughter, Raymonde (b. 1905) and two sons, Roger (b. 1904) and Pierre (b. 1909).

In 1904, Brutinel and his family moved to Canada. They settled in Edmonton, Alberta but Brutinel also bought property in St. Albert. During his time in Alberta, Brutinel served as editor for Le Courrier de L’Ouest, Alberta’s first French language newspaper. He also surveyed routes and resources for the development of the Grand Trunk Railway. He discovered the coal-rich region around Pembina and is considered the founder of the area known as the Coal Branch. Brutinel was also instrumental in building the Interurban Railway between Edmonton and St. Albert, which ran until 1914.

In 1913, Brutinel and his family moved to Westmount, Montreal. At the start of World War I, Brutinel joined the Canadian army and pioneered the formation of a mobile motorized machine gun unit, financing it himself and soliciting donations from other wealthy citizens in Montreal, Ottawa, and Winnipeg. In August 24, 1914, Brutinel enrolled the first recruits for the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade, which was the first fully mechanized unit of the British Empire. The Motor Machine Gun Brigade played a significant role in many battles, including Vimy, Canal de Nord, and Somme.

At the end of World War I, in 1919, Brutinel returned to Westmount, Montreal, only to discover that his lawyer had lost all of his assets. Brutinel moved to France in the same year where he worked and invested in different businesses including the Schneider-Creusot Company and the Banque Adam, and purchased several properties and vineyards. Between 1939-1945, during World War II, Brutinel worked with the French Resistance and developed an underground network to aid escaped prisoners of war and downed airmen, as well as send messages.

Brutinel won many military awards, including the Distinguished Service Order (1916), Officier de la Legion d’Honneur (1918), Order of St Michael and St George (1918), Order of the Bath (1919), Croix de Guerre with stars and palm (1919), Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (1926). He earned seven citations to the Order of the British Army between 1916-1919, two citations to the Order of the French Army (1918), and a citation to the Order of the 42nd D.I. delivered by General Deville (1918). Brutinel was a naturalized Canadian citizen. He died on September 21, 1964 in his Chateau near Couloume-Mondebat, Gares, in France.

Main source for biographical note from: Baylaucq, Dominique, and Jacques Baylaucq. Brutinel: The Extraordinary Story of a French Citizen Brigadier-General in the Canadian Army. Trans. Shelley Pomerance. St Albert: Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert, 2014.

Bracko, Len

  • MHM
  • Person
  • 2 Dec 1943 - 19 Aug 2017

Leonard (Len) Bracko was born in 1943 in St. Albert, Alberta. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Education and a graduate diploma in Education administration. Bracko began teaching junior and senior high in St. Albert Catholic school in 1979. In 1989, Bracko ran for MLA in the provincial election with the Alberta Liberal party. However, he came in second to Progressive Conservative Richard (Dick) Fowler, former mayor of St. Albert. Later in that same year, Bracko ran for St. Albert City Council and was elected as alderman. He served as alderman from 1989-1992 before running again and winning a seat as MLA in the 1993 provincial election. Bracko served as MLA with the Liberal official opposition caucus from 1993-1997, when he lost his seat to Mary O’Neill. He returned to teaching and retired in 1997. After his retirement, Bracko ran for and was elected again to the City Council of St. Albert, and he served as alderman from 2001-2013, having been reelected three times (2004, 2007, and 2010). Bracko and his wife Barb were active with Habitat for Humanity and international development. Bracko passed away on 19 Aug 2017.

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