- 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.