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The first meeting to plan the Ukrainian Pioneer Centennial Celebration (1981 - 1991) for the Athabasca area was held in the basement of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Athabasca on October 11, 1990. Those present were: Bill Chrusch, Walter Yowney, Annie Yowney, Dr. Peter Styblyk, Nick Evasiuk, Myron Husak, Adele Husak, Pearl Siminik, Nick Demko, Margaret Demko, Alex Krawec, Helen Krawec, Lionel Cherniwchen and Slawko Barody. The first organizational meeting minutes include the note that a special cairn commemorating the centennial would be erected somewhere on the Athabasca riverfront.

An Order in Council in 1970 conferred existence upon Athabasca University (AU). AU received cabinet approval as a permanent institution in Nov., 1975. In 1976 the Town of Athabasca began a quest to have AU relocated to the town. Alberta Advanced Education and Manpower decided in 1978 to relocate AU and the Town of Athabasca intensified its bid. A news release dated March 5, 1980 announced that Athabasca had been chosen as the site for AU. In September, 1982 the first sod was turned. The university officially opened in 1984.

Mrs. Evelyn McDonald and Mary Olson chaired the Athabasca Youth Talent Explosion committee, a subsidiary of Edmonton’s Klondike Days Exposition, where successful acts would be featured at Edmonton’s Klondike Days Exposition. Evelyn and Mary coordinated the local event, soliciting donations and participants, booked the event and created print materials.

In the spring of 1874, in support of the fur trade, a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) scout surveyed the terrain between Fort Edmonton and the elbow of the Athabasca River, 100 miles to the north, to assess an alternative route to Lesser Slave Lake. Chief Factor Richard Hardisty reported the results of this preliminary survey to his superior, Donald Smith at Fort Garry, indicating that a passable road could be made. It was completed by 1877 and the Athabasca Landing Trail became the main route to the Peace Country. In 1877, the HBC built a log storage shed which doubled as a temporary dwelling and the elbow became known as Athabasca Landing. In 1882, steamboat captain Louisson Fosseneuve demonstrated that the Athabasca river rapids north of Pelican Portage could be navigated by scow and portage. Each spring while the river thawed, Cree and Métis labourers were hired at the Landing to construct scows to transport goods down the Athabasca River to Ft McMurray. European and Métis crews also piloted steamboats between Lesser Slave Lake and Athabasca Landing. The HBC built a retail store, warehouse, and factor’s residence in 1886-87. By Municipal Amendment Ordinance, 1901, the Town of Athabasca Landing was incorporated by Proclamation on September 19, 1911. The first Canadian Northern Railway train from Edmonton arrived on May 25, 1912 and a class B train station was completed by December, 1912. The word Landing was officially deleted from the name of the town on August 5, 1913.

Athabaska Landing School District 839 was formed in 1903. The name was later changed to the Athabasca School District 839. The Athabasca School Division No. 42, which included 86 school districts, was formed by Order in Council on October 22, 1938. In Jan. 1959 the County of Athabasca No.12 was formed combing the M.D. of Athabasca No.103 (formed in 1947) and the Athabasca School Division No.42.

Robert Atkin, 1903- ca. 1980s, was born in Sheffield, England. His family emigrated to Edmonton in 1922 where he and his father and brother found work with the CNR. He became a member of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees and Other Transport Workers in 1927 and later served on the executive. He was also an executive member of the CNR Pensioners Association, Branch 9, Kelowna, British Columbia, the Edmonton Labour Congress, and the Industrial Federation of Labour of Alberta. He ran unsuccessfully as the East Edmonton CCF candidate in the 1950s. He married and had two daughters.

Mr. Atkins is a long-time resident of Edmonton.

Eileen Cowan, 1920- , of Calgary, Alberta was a violinist who played in the Calgary Junior Symphony under Grigori Garbovitsky. In 1934, at the age of 14, she won the senior violin class at the Alberta music competitions held in Lethbridge. Her married name was Eileen Atkinson.

Biographical sketch is unavailable.