The St. Albert Community Band was founded in 1970 by its first director, Gerry Wennes, two members of the Lions' Club, John Kaminski and William Cuts, and its president, Gerry Buccini. The Band has continued to grow from its original 25 members to its current membership of over 70 musicians. The Community Band features a concert band, a jazz band, and smaller ensemble groups.
St. Albert National Aboriginal Day Society
The Society hosts and plans an annual event showcases and celebrates the Indigenous community through Dance, Music and Artisans of the Inuit, First Nation and Métis peoples. The first one held was in 2009.
Elke Blodgett was born in 1936 in Lepzig, Germany. Her father was a chemical engineer, who first taught her about caring for the environment and living off the land. Her first love of nature began with picking blueberries on her family's East Prussian estate. In her youth, she lived in England, Switzerland, France, Greece and the United States before moving to Canada in 1966. She was married to Ted [Edward Dickinson] Blodgett. She attended the University of Minnesota and completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in a year and a half.
Blodgett moved to St. Albert in 1966. After exploring the St. Albert river valley and Big Lake, Blodgett became an all-round watchdog, resolving to do all she could to maintain its environmental integrity. She was a founding member off the Anti-Bypass Coalition, and was subsequently elected spokesperson. She was involved in gathering over 10,000 signatures in the 1997 petition to encourage city council to consider all possible routes for the western bypass. She also successfully lobbied for Big Lake to be designated under the Special Places 2000 program. She was a participant on the city committees St. Albert Red Willow Park Update and Parks and Open Spaces Committee. She is involved in continuous efforts to clean up the river valley, and to report transgressions to Alberta Environment.
Elke Blodgett is also an artist focused on pottery, particularly hand-building, raku, wood kiln construction, and primitive firing. Her works are in collections world-wide including the Banff Centre permanent collection, Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), and the Consulate-General of Japan (Edmonton). She has been a part of many solo and group exhibitions. She has won dozens of prizes for her work including first prize in Reflections on Three Plains Ceramics Exhibition (Winnipeg), honourable mention in Showcase '80 Juried Travelling Exhibition (Alberta), first prize in Raku, Primitive Pottery and Wheelwork, (Stony Plain), as well as many purchase awards. She has also taught courses in hand-building, raku pottery and kiln construction.
Elke Blodgett passed away on February 15, 2018 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Ron Walker worked on renovations of the Vital Grandin Centre, also known as the Bishop’s Palace in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He supervised the restoration that was conducted in the old building which was originally erected in 1882.
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.
Victor Post was born on May 12, 1953 in Port Colbourne, Ontario. His parents were Lena and Jack Post. Lena Post was born in Cudworth, Saskatchewan and Jack Post was from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Victor Post’s father was in the air force as a fighter pilot during World War II. After the war, the couple moved to Ontario. They had two children, Jack Jr. and Victor. In 1968, the family moved from Port Colbourne, Ontario to St. Albert, Alberta.
During his childhood, Victor Post was interested in and experimented with electronics. At age seven, he first made the news when smoke coming from one of his experiments brought the fire department to his home. From 1967 to 1971, Victor Post participated in various science fairs at local, national and international levels. He was particularly interested in holography and lasers. In 1969, Post participated in the 9th Annual Edmonton Regional Science Fair where he won third place. That same year he competed in the Canada-Wide Science Fair where he won first place. This win placed him in an international competition, the International Youth Science Fortnight in London, England where he presented helium-neon lasers for holography. During this trip he met with Dennis Gabor, a Jewish-Hungarian physicist who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in holography. Victor Post and Dennis Gabor corresponded for two years after meeting. While in London, Victor Post also had the opportunity to audit courses in Science and Arts at Cambridge University. In 1970, Victor Post participated in the Edmonton Regional 10th Annual Science Fair as well as the Canada-Wide Science Fair. In 1971, Victor Post participated in the Edmonton Regional Science Fair. Because of his interest in science, Victor Post began undergraduate work at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He was able to attend courses at the university in the years 1971 and 1972 but due to health issues, he discontinued his studies.
Victor Post’s interest in photography also began at an early age. In the years 1965 to 1967 Victor Post studied portrait photography and black and white production of prints under photographer C. Healy in Ontario. In 1968, while attending Paul Kane High School in St. Albert, Victor Post worked as a part-time freelance photographer for the St. Albert Gazette. He worked for the St. Albert Gazette until 1971 when he gained employment by the Government of Alberta to photograph 4-H club and Junior Forest Warden Program activities until 1972. In 1972, he established Victor Post Photography.
From 1972 to 1986 the work at Victor Post Photography was done in the basement of Lena and Jack Post’s home. In 1986, Victor Post opened a photography studio on 8 Perron Street in St. Albert. Lena Post ran the business aspects of the studio and Victor Post managed the lab work. He hired people to help with taking photographs and lab work. The studio produced wedding and portrait photography. When on Perron Street, the studio had larger equipment than other local photographers on which to create oversize prints; this equipment included a large roller feed film processor and a large paper processor which produced 60 x 40 inch prints.
The Province of Alberta gave Victor Post many assignments to photograph dignitaries, official visits and events. His work as official photographer for the Provincial Government include:
In addition to his appointments by the Government of Alberta, Victor Post created scenic photography, Kirilian photography, aerial photography, and architectural photography. Included in his repertoire are photographs of famous people and politicians.
He was involved with various photographic professional organizations including the Royal Photographic Society of England, the Alberta Professional Photographers Association, and the Professional Photographers of Canada. He served on the board of the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Outside of photography and science, Victor Post had other interests. He received PADI certification for scuba diving, attended private and commercial aviation schools, studied classical guitar, and served as an auxiliary constable for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Another interest of Victor Post included ham radio. A friend, Dave Gervais, had peaked Victor Post’s interest in amateur radio in the mid 1980s. By 1986, Victor Post acquired a license for ham radio. He was a member of the Northern Alberta Radio Club, Amateur Radio Emergency Services, Amateur Radio League of Alberta and Canadian Radio Relay League. In 1989 when he discovered King Hussein of Jordan also was a ham radio operator, Victor Post hosted a reception for the king and acquired a Canadian amateur radio license for the king.
With regards to his personal life, Victor Post married Kathryn Brown in 1981. When Victor Post was an auxiliary member of the RCMP, Kathy was working for the RCMP and they had met through Victor Post’s father. Victor Post struggled with Crohn’s disease throughout his life and died from the disease in 2001.
Brutinel, Raymond, Brigadier-General
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.
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.
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.
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.