City of Camrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 and

Silent auction funds speak volumes

Lori Larsen, Camrose Booster

Pictured left to right are Battle River Community Foundation treasurer Neil Lunty accepting a donation of $3,000 from Aaron Leckie (City of Camrose Planning and Development manager) on behalf of the Alberta Development Officers Association (ADOA). The funds were raised from the silent auction during the annual ADOA conference held in Camrose in September. The conference hosted over 160 municipal employees from across the province. The funds will be put into BRCF general community funds.

Lougheed feature artists

Lori Larsen, Camrose Booster

Feature artists Suzi Osness, left, and Fran Schlosser, right, explain the thought process behind their work to exhibit attendee Anna Fonteyne from Wetaskiwin. Suzi and Fran’s installation is part of free art exhibits, featuring different artists throughout the year offered at the Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre. By Murray Green

The Covenant Health St. Mary’s Hospital Camrose, Camrose Foundation Board was fortunate to receive donations totalling $5,230 from the Battle River Community Foundation in September.

The following donors are recognized for the extremely generous contributions to St. Mary’s Hospital: Norma Banes Fund $800 towards general equipment.

Peggy Lohner Fund of $600 towards Palliative Care programs and projects.

Doris, Libby and Rev. Walt Ritter Fund of $800 towards Chapel support at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Sherlyn May McKay Fund of $1,680 towards general equipment.

Lorna and Tony Zimmer Fund of $700 towards staff education in the Heart and Stroke Department.

Vandenberg Family Fund of $650 towards general equipment at St. Mary’s Hospital.

The Battle River Community Foundation exists to support organizations in East Central Alberta, which benefit the local communities and have a positive impact on the future.

Grants from the Battle River Community Foundation are primarily made possible through the generosity of individual donors and organizations that have created endowment funds. The principal of these endowment funds is kept intact and the income is made available annually to support local projects and organizations.

Since it was founded in 1995, the Battle River Community Foundation has granted over $8,216,000 to support charitable activities in the Battle River Region.

Murray Green, Camrose Booster

St. Mary’s Hospital, Camrose Foundation Board chair Judith O’Shaughnessy received funds from Battle River Community Foundation board member Kirstyn Rau.

Chiefs cancel game, Crush earn two points

By Murray Green

The Camrose Crush were awarded two points when the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs were unable to dress enough players for the North Central Hockey League game on October 29.

The Chiefs have since decided to withdraw from the league for this season. Camrose is in first place with a 5-0 record.

The next home game for the Crush is on November 12 when they face Westlock at 8 p.m. in the Max McLean Arena.

Other home dates are on November 26 when they take on Morinville, December 10 they host Lacombe and January 28 Bonnyville is in Camrose.

Crush notes

Camrose forward RJ Reed was named North Central Hockey League player of the week with two goals and four assists against Bonnyville on October 24.

Profitable Camrose business…

- Excellent reputation - Leading product - Growing clientele - Desirable location Purchase requires a fairly signi cant investment.

Will provide training to the right individual.

In-person, con dential discussions only, to quali ed prospects.

For appointment, call Jim, 780.385.8558

Supreme Court makes bad decision

By Jackie Lovely, MLA

As an elected official, I am very fortunate to have a platform to discuss my views, as well as the views of my constituents. With that in mind, I am choosing to use my platform to discuss an issue that has me and so many others both sad and angry–that being the Supreme Court’s outrageous decision to strike down a law that requires repeat sex offenders to be automatically added to the national sex offender registry for life. In their ruling, the Supreme Court decided that the mandatory registration of sex offenders with more than one conviction goes too far and will no longer be required. This decision is disheartening, an insult to victims and their families, and an affront to all decentminded Canadians. Let’s be perfectly clear: the Supreme Court’s woke decision will make our country less safe, full stop. It will also adversely affect women, who are overwhelmingly the victims of sex crimes. This issue hits close to home for me personally and for our constituency at large, as many of us are still thinking about the tragic deaths of Mchale Busch and her 16-month-old son, Noah McConnell. As you may know, Mchale was from Camrose and was well known at our skating rink. She and Noah eventually lived together in Bashaw, and in September 2021, McHale, her partner Cody, and Noah moved to Hinton. Later that month, Mchale and Noah were killed in their apartment by a neighbour who we now know was a repeat sex offender. Mchale and Noah’s deaths weren’t only tragic, they were preventable.

Buyer Incentives on now on last 2 homes!

Blain Fowler, BRCF Ambassador, talking with Ronelle Kiziak, Philanthropist.

Can anyone be a Philanthropist? be a Philanthropist? ABSOLUTELY LY! !

Philanthropy is a marvelous quality that we all have within us. It’s a generosity of spirit, a desire to help, and a firm belief that you can make a real di erence in your community regardless of how much or how little you have to give. Ronelle Kiziak, philanthropist, has the spirit. She is shown in conversation with Blain Fowler, an Ambassador for the Battle River Community Foundation. She was asked, “Why have you chosen to give back to your community through the Battle River Community Foundation? She replied, “I chose to give back through the Foundation because I know that 10% of my donation will go back into the community that I call ‘home.’” She went on to say, “Programs such as Reading University are near and dear to my heart. As a mother of two young readers myself, I wholeheartedly believe in the mission statement of Reading University. ‘For children, mastering the basics of literacy is the key to unlocking all the other learning that lay ahead.’”

The Battle River Community

Foundation can help you fulfill your philanthropic dream – big or small – right here at home. We can help you make your dream a reality. Philanthropy resides in everyone, and together we can make it flourish right here in our own backyard. Contributions received before year end will receive a charitable donation receipt that can be applied against your 2022 income taxes. Contact one of our Board Members or Ambassadors or call the o ice today, and let’s get started!

Kevin Gurr 672-7701 Rob Hauser 679-6542 Sharleen Chevraux 385-0974 BOARD MEMBERS Stephen Kambeitz 679-0444 Carol Rollheiser 678-7712

Leon Lohner 672-5760 Neil Lunty 781-8170 Ben Paulson 781-4568 Kirstyn Rau 673-1133 Dana Andreassen 679-0449

Imogene Walsh 679-6358

AMBASSADORS

Blain Fowler Jim Hampshire Brandon Kroeger Corey Kudrowich Judy Larson James Mayer

672-3142 384-2237 672-2515 679-5085 385-3568 679-7770

Karin Naslund David Ofrim By Reesor Darryl Schultz Garrett Zetsen 373-2114 679-7490 672-5709 672-7957 672-1195 Foundation O ice, 4906-46 Street, Camrose • 679-0449

All contributions are greatly appreciated and will make a significant difference in YOUR community!

Ironwood Estates has your name

on your next home!

Call Listing Agent Graham Wideman 780-679-8384

By Lori Larsen

The Camrose Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society has introduced a Special Interest Group (SIG) focused on military history.

Norm Prestage, one of the founding members of the Camrose Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society, will be assisting attendees on their quest to research and discover military family history.

“Most people in Canada have some relative who was in the military,” said Norm. “Canada has been involved in a lot of wars in our time as a county, that is not to mean we are a war like country, but Canada has had military presence during wars since 1812.”

Norm’s goal is to help people find their service records for their relatives which he claims is easy in some cases but in many cases can be challenging.

During an introductory presentation to the Camrose Genealogical Society, on October 13, Norm covered the basis of what this Military SIG will entail and provided a brief history of the process and discovery of his own family military background research.

Norm comes from a long lineage of military service including; his great grandfather, grandfather, father, godfather and himself.

“Many of my family have been in the Canadian military and that is what caused me to start doing research into military background,” explained Norm. “Some of it has been easy but I have run into some roadblocks.”

Norm’s grandfather, who passed away when Norm was five, served in the First World War and was given three medals. “I was given one of his medals. I am unsure where the other two are,” said Norm. “Fortunately in the First World War they inscribed the man’s service number and name on the edge so I had an easy time finding his records.”

As Norm will attest, quite often while conducting research on family history, a person will stumble upon something that they may not have even been looking for which has the potential to lead them down other interesting genealogical paths.

“I found out, accidentally, that my great uncle’s brother had won the military medal in the First World War and my godfather was in motor torpedo boats in the Second World War.”

Unfortunately, however, that posed a bit of challenge

in Norm’s quest. “If a person dies in the Second World War, you can get the medals from Library and Archives Canada (w ww.bac-lac. gc.ca) and Ancestry (www. ancestry.ca/)has quite a few too. But if they survived it is almost impossible to get the records. You have to prove that you are next of kin. He is my godfather so that may suffice. And you also have to prove that they are dead.”

In his research Norm did uncover some interesting facts about the time his godfather spent on torpedo boats including the fact that he was on boats that sunk three times. “He died when I was 15 he was probably about 45. I remember him having nightmares every night and then he died of a heart attack out on the golf course. He had a bad war experience.”

Determined to unearth more about his godfather’s military past, Norm searched for an obituary or death certificate. “I do have a photograph of his gravestone. This is still a work in progress.”

Norm’s maternal grandfather served in the First World War and was wounded three times. “My paternal grandfather was about the same age and I often wondered why he never went. I had no service number because I hadn’t thought he had gone.”

As a result of doing a little poking around on the Archives site one day, Norm soon discovered that in fact his paternal grandfather had served.

“I typed in his name and low and behold he was there. He had joined the same battalion as my other grandfather, afterwards, but he was kicked out after a number of weeks for medical reasons. Then about a year later he applied for a different battalion and he was kicked out again for medical reasons,” said Norm.

Norm’s wife Cheryl’s (Torscher) family has also been the topic of military history research for Norm.

“Her Uncle Joe Torscher served in the First World War,” said Norm.

While researching Joe’s military history, Norm discovered he had done his basic training for the army in Camrose, then joined the Air Force and did his training in Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Sidney BC.

“Then he went overseas around the middle of 1943 (Second World War) and then died in 1944. He was lost in a crash and his body never found. He wasn’t there very long, which is kind of sad.”

In honour of Joe’s military career, Norm has spent the past five years collecting memorabilia and assembling some into a display shadow box. One precious piece is a copy of Joe’s original diary he kept during the war.

“I have a copy of the diary Joe kept during the war, which was totally illegal,” smiled Norm. “It’s not so much about what he was doing with the flying (military wise) but about going to a show or getting drunk. Just everyday life.

“On the first page of the diary he wrote that he was leaving his parents at the train station in Medicine Hat and that after they left he shed a tear and wasn’t ashamed of it.”

For Norm genealogy is not just about researching names and dates but unveiling stories. Stories of his ancestry and the interesting characters that make it possible.

Most people who begin the process of looking into the past of their ancestors would agree, what is turned up not only reveals the stories of the past but can sometimes shape the pages of tomorrow.

For anyone interested in researching their family military history, join Norm and others at a Camrose Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society Military SIG meeting, taking place on the third Tuesday of every month held at the Camrose and District Centennial Museum (4522-53 Street) beginning at 7 p.m.

The Camrose Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society regular meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at the Camrose Public Library boardroom at 6 p.m. The November 10 meeting will be held at the Camrose Railway Station Museum and Gardens (4407-47 Avenue).

Lori Larsen, Camrose Booster

Camrose Branch of the Alberta Geneaological Society member Norm Prestage showcases memorabilia he has collected from honouring his wife, Cheryl’s, uncle Joe Torscher.

By Lori Larsen

The Camrose and District Music Festival will be returning on April 3 to 6, 2023, after a hiatus of two years brought on by the pandemic and the efforts to maintain the well being of everyone.

“We are back,” said Festival president Charlene Brown. “And with a new motto...Refreshed, Revamped, Share your Music.”

In the spring, members of the board for the upcoming festival, including the Jeanne and Peter Loughhed Performing Arts Centre general manager Nick Beach, University of Alberta Augustana Campus director of music John Wiebe and Brown, along with others, gathered to discuss and plan getting the Music Festival going again.

“The group then invited teachers to come out and discuss what they wanted to do differently and what would remain the same,” explained Brown.

After deliberating about how the 2023 Music Festival could be delivered differently this time the board decided to go with two streams, a competitive stream, which is the traditional format for the Music Festival, and a new noncompetitive stream.

‘The non-competitive idea stemmed, in part, from discussion with the teachers who indicated that in the past some had refrained from entering students in the festival because they felt that the competition side didn’t necessarily focus on the things they wanted for their students.”

In hearing what the teachers had to say about the importance of the experience over the competition and wanting to broaden the Festival to be more inclusive the board decided on the two streams.

“The Festival will still have the traditional structure using the Provincial Music Festival as its basis,” said Brown. “Participants will still enter the same way as always but now it will have a non-competitive side. That way we can provide a different kind of experience and make sure that going to the music festival provides a positive experience.”

Brown said that on the competitive side registrants will still enter using the Provincial Music Festival syllabus and be eligible for awards and recommendation to the Provincial Music Festival. However, on the non-competitive side participants will be encouraged to be more creative and will not be performing for class wins or awards.

Non-competitive participants will instead be given more time with appropriate clinicians in order to be given beneficial feedback.

“They will still have the opportunity to perform their piece, or whatever they are bringing. That is very important for music educators, that students have goals and performing, is the goal itself. Getting feedback and having the opportunity to work with them a little bit will be the bonus to the non competitive side of the festival.”