Leland "Lee" Stanford Williams was born on May 14, 1982 at Washington in Dutchess, New York. He is most known as the co-founder and principal of Weiller & Williams Co. Ltd. from December 11, 1925 up until his death on September 27, 1982 in Edmonton, Alberta. He married once to Marion Letitia Peacock on December 20, 1919, with whom he had one son, Jack Leland Redavats Williams.
Marion Letitia Williams, nee Peacock, was born at Blackburn in Lancashire, England in 1894. She was mostly known as the wife of cattleman, Lee Williams, who she married on December 20, 1919, and had one son, Jack Leland Redavats Williams. After a long battle with cancer, she died on September 14, 1969 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Born Lynn Bardsley on 10 Feb 1947 in Brandon, Manitoba where she started her journalism career as a teen correspondent from Brandon Collegiate Institute to the daily Brandon Sun. The paper eventually hired her as one of the first female news reporters in 1966. She was also a “stringer” (freelancer) for the Winnipeg Free Press. After marrying Dale Redekopp, a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the couple moved to Ottawa when Lynn worked at the Ottawa Citizen. A transfer to Regina led to work at the Leader-Post and also to the University of Regina as information officer. Moose Jaw followed and work at the Times-Herald. Lynn temporarily retired when Jared, the first of her two sons was born in 1974. Wade followed in 1976. Lynn kept active in the community and one of her volunteer positions was to write the programme for Ken Mitchell’s play The Medicine Line which was done as an old-fashioned broadsheet newspaper. The family first moved to St. Albert in 1977 where Lynn was an active volunteer in the community. It was followed by a second move to Ottawa. Dale returned to 435 Squadron at CFB Edmonton in 1984 and the family settled again in St. Albert. Lynn applied for a part-time job as proofreader at the Gazette and eventually began writing again. Her column “Scene and Heard” chronicled interesting items about local residents while “At Your Service” told about the wonderful work of local service clubs. She also wrote profile pieces on local citizens from all walks of life. In 1991, the family moved to Lahr, Germany where Dale operated the airport at 5 Air Movements Unit (later 1 Air Transport Unit) and Lynn worked as a writer/proofreader at Der Kanadier, the Canadian Armed Forces newspaper in Europe. Lynn retired from newspaper writing when the family returned to St. Albert in 1993. While living in St. Albert, Lynn has helped write/edit newsletters for several organizations including Les Tournesols playschool, 533 Air Cadets and SAVAC – the St. Albert Visual Arts Council. She also was a proofreader for a variety of publications including the Alberta Chamber of Commerce as well as three novels.
Pauline Vaugeois moved to St. Albert with her parents, Maurice and Bernadette, in 1950. It was shortly afterwards that she began to work in the Girl Guide movement, a commitment that continued for over 50 years. Vaugeois was the Edmonton Area Girl Guides District Commissioner from 1969 to 1975. Her duties in this role included attending meetings, partaking in decision-making, liaising with the national and international Girl Guides organization, and organizing and attending events. Vaugeois was also a member of the Circle Francophone, and Secretary of C.U.P.E. in addition to being a student of psychology at the University of Alberta. She was named Citizen of the Year of St. Albert in 1977. She has also been a prominent member of the First Tamarac Area Council as well as the local level.
Anita Ratchinsky was the chairwoman of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce in 1985 and 1986. In 1986, Ratchinsky ran for city council and was elected as alderman. She then ran as mayor and was elected for three consecutive terms from 1989-1998. Ratchinsky was St. Albert's first full-time mayor and first female mayor.
Elizabeth Macpherson was born on October 4, 1937 in Budapest, Hungary. Her parents Reginald and Leah (Lonia) Menzer fled Hungary when Elizabeth was a child. Her family settled in the Westmount neighborhood in Montréal. Elizabeth had a degree in biology from McGill University. She married Andrew Macpherson and together they conducted Arctic field studies. The couple later moved to Ottawa where Elizabeth worked at the National Museum of Natural Sciences. She published The Marine Molluscs of Arctic Canada in 1971. In 1970 the family moved to Edmonton where she worked for the Provincial Museum of Alberta and in 1988 she became the assistant curator of the Musée Héritage Museum. While at the Musée Héritage Museum, she created a database on Métis genealogy as well as published The Sun Traveller, a history of the Callihoo family. She retired in 1998 and published Murder of a Horse Thief, a fictitious book about a murder mystery in St. Albert, posthumously in 2001. Elizabeth Macpherson died in 2001 of leukemia.
Mabel Goed (nee Saffin) was born on Jan 30, 1928 to parents Mark Saffin and Albertine L'Hirondelle in Morinville, Alberta. She attended Tellier School and graduated high school from Notre Dame Convent and she attended McTavish Business College. Mabel Saffin married John Goed on May 26, 1955.
Luisa Vollmer was born in St. Jacobs, Ontario in 1865 and Jeremiah Seibert was born at Heifelberg, Ontario in 1857. Luisa Vollmer and Jeremiah Seibert married and farmed at Port Huron on the Lake Huron coast in Ontario. They had six children including Fred, Herbert, Florence, Lulu, Marguerite and Percival. In 1917, the family moved to St. Albert and had purchased land beside the Atkinson brother’s homestead where they farmed.
Thomas Atkinson came to Edmonton from Liverpool, England with his two brothers, Jim and Ted in 1907. The brothers found work in Edmonton laying foundations for the swimming pool of Edmonton’s first Y.M.C.A. and working on the sewer system. Later that year, the brothers made their first homestead west of Edmonton near Wabamun Lake. On the homestead, Thomas Atkinson had a sawmill for which he required an Engineers certificate from the Department of Public Works. In 1911, his other brother Jack came to Canada and moved to the homestead. The brothers supplied lumber for cottages built along Seba Beach. In 1913, the brothers’ sister Mary came to Canada and lived at her brothers’ homestead.
The one brother Jim as well as Mary’s future husband, Perley Cull from Seba Beach, served in WWI. The other brothers were exempt from the war on account of their importance in food production. In 1917, the brothers moved their homestead to St. Albert. They purchased the land from Arthur Sifton who was premier of Alberta. In 1920, Mary Atkinson and Perley Cull were married. Much later, in 1945, Jack Atkinson married Eunice Holmes.
On December 18, 1919, Thomas Atkinson married Florence Seibert, daughter of Jeremiah and Luisa Seibert. Florence Seibert had been working as a secretary for the Government of Alberta until she married Thomas Atkinson and consequently, she supported the farm and her husband’s work and family. Thomas Atkinson and Florence Seibert had two daughters, Helen who was born in 1921 and Gladys who was born in 1926. Helen Atkinson married Wilfred Naundorf in 1945 and the couple had three daughters. Gladys married Keith Gibson in 1946 and they had five children. In 1952, the Atkinson brothers’ farm was sold to H.R. Milner.
Thomas and Florence Atkinson moved to Edmonton after the farm was sold and Thomas Atkinson died in 1969. Florence Atkinson died in 1972. Earlier, Jeremiah Seibert died in 1955 and Luisa Seibert died in 1947.
Sam Rowland (1870-1974) married Eleanor Plante (1888-1975) Two of their children are James Rowland (b. 1911), Emily Rowland and Francis Rowland. Emily Rowland married a Selvage, and they had a son Reginald Selvage. Reg Selvage had two daughters with Violet Owad (née McRae): Dianne Lorraine Owad (b. 12 Sep 1959) and Sandra Leigh Owad (n. 13 Dec 1962). Reg Selvage also had a son from another relationship, David Selvage.