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Authority record

Mills (family)

  • ATH
  • Family

Mr. and Mrs. Oran Mills moved to Athabasca in 1913, where Oran Mills served as the first station agent for the Canadian Northern Railway. While living in Athabasca, their fourth son, Donald, and their only daughter, Eva, were born. Two other sons were named Lawrence and Wellington.

In 1914, Oran Mills was manager of the Northern Transportation Company, Limited at Athabasca Landing. In about 1915 the family moved to a farm near Westlock where they lived until about 1937. Mr. Mills died in a road accident near Perryvale, AB in Sept., 1946. Eva married Bill Forsyth from Pibroch, AB in June, 1940. Later they moved to Mission, BC.

Guay, John Wilfrid

  • ATH
  • Person
  • 1925-2012

John Guay's father, Wilfred, moved his family to the Perryvale area from Peace River in [1933]. John was the eldest son of 7 children born Aug. 23, 1925 in Donnelly, Saskatchewan. He was responsible for the farm work. He joined the Canadian Army in WWII and was wounded in Italy. He worked for the City of Edmonton Transit System from 1946 to 1979. In 1948 he married Margaret Busby of Edmonton with whom he had 3 children. They retired to Perryvale where John pursued his hobbies: building working models of a 1915 75hp Case steam engine, 1919 Model T coupe and a Civil War black powder cannon. He built a stagecoach for Athabasca's 75th Anniversary in 1986. He was a member of the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association and helped to salvage and restore the streetcar in Fort Edmonton Park. He was also an oldtime fiddler. John Guay died March 10, 2012.

Frederick Lawrence Rein

  • ATH
  • Person
  • 1904-1974

Frederick Lawrence Rein was born in 1904 in Ontario. He married Violet Wilson in 1938. They farmed in the Perryvale area on his parent's homestead. They raised five children. Fred died in 1974.

Day, Cloe Irene

  • ATH
  • Person
  • 1910-

Cloe, born in 1910 in Nebraska, was one of five children born to Clyde Payne and his wife, Nettie Jackson. The family moved from the USA in 1928 seeking a drier climate for Cloe's tuberculosis. Cloe attended Normal School in Edmonton and began teaching in July, 1930 at Calling Lake, AB. Cloe married Jack Day in 1931. They had two children, Pat and Chester. They separated in the early 1940s. Cloe taught in many schools, retiring in 1970.

Panisiak, Sophie and Wasyl

  • ATH
  • Family
  • 1899-1988

Sophie Panisiak (May 4, 1900 – March 22, 1982) immigrated from Poland to Athabasca in 1930 with her first husband, Mike Struski (1890 – January 8, 1963) and their four children: Berny from Mike’s earlier marriage, Jessie born October 1922, Joe born March 1924, and John born April 1926. They arrived Sept 10, 1930 and spent ten days at the Immigration Hall in Athabasca. Mike purchased S-30-67-23W4, and farmed there until his retirement in 1958. Two more children were born; Sophia in 1932 and Walter in 1934. After Mike’s death, Stophie stayed on the farm until she married Wasyl Panisiak in 1964.

Wasyl Panisiak (October 23, 1899 – January 18, 1988) was born in Ukraine and arrived in Canada on April 1, 1928. He was employed on a farm for a year until his wife Aksana arrived in March 1929. They worked on farms in Manitoba and Saskatchewan until they heard of good land in the Athabasca area and moved there, arriving April 10, 1930. They stayed at the Immigration Hall until Wasyl acquired a quarter section in the Larvert School District, SW 20-68-23W4. They had no children. Wasyl farmed for 34 years until Aksana passed away. Wasyl married Sophie Struski in June, 1964 and the Panisiak farm was sold to Ed Chouinard. Wasyl and Sophie lived on an acreage in the South Athabasca area until they moved to Little Manor in Athabasca in 1976.

Marion (Lewis) Ward

  • ATH
  • Person
  • 1898-1984

Marion Lewis, 1898-1984, was one of four children born to Thomas and Elizabeth (Oliver) Lewis. Thomas built a stopping house on the Athabasca Landing Trail in 1907. The Lewis' managed the stopping house until the railway reached Athabasca Landing in 1912. Marion married Percy Ward in 1925. Percy, 1895-1985, was one of two sons born to Charles and Charlotte Ward who settled in Lewiston, later named Perryvale, AB. Percy and Marion Ward raised eight children.

Percy Ward

  • ATH
  • Person
  • 1895-1985

Percy Ward was one of two sons born to Charles and Charlotte Ward who settled in Lewiston, later renamed Perryvale, AB. Marion Lewis married Percy Ward in 1925.

Backstrom, Shirley

  • ATH 08.26
  • Person
  • 1934 - Present

Shirley Backstrom (neé Coleman) was born in Amber Valley, Alberta on July 7, 1934 and her parents were Isaiah and Velma Coleman (neé Adams).
Shirley’s great, great grandmother was Jane Bowen, born February 18, 1844 in Alabama, USA. She was half Black and half Cherokee. Her maiden name was thought to have been Thigpin, but discovery of her marriage license shows that her family name was actually Gregory.
The family myth is that great, great grandmother was the daughter of a chief; however, the most likely scenario is that great, great grandmother’s father had enslaved her mother, as the Cherokee Nation is known to have kept Black slaves at that time.
Great grandfather Columbus Bowen’s parents were “Big Daddy” and Jane Bowen. Descendants of this family have been unable to establish Big Daddy’s actual name. This is understandable given the fact that Big Daddy was most likely a freed slave. Slaves were sold from one owner to the next and took on the names given them by their respective owners.
Columbus was the first of eight children born to Big Daddy and Jane in 1870 in Pine Flats, Butler County, Alabama. The remaining children were twins Martha and Mary, Lulu, Silas, Ollie (known as Aunt Miss), Frank and Nellie.
Columbus’ wife, Martha Watts, was born in 1872 in Butler Springs, Alabama and he and and Martha were married in 1887 in Butler Springs. They moved to Montgomery, Alabama where four of their eight children were born: Minnie, Etheline (Ethel), Forest and Columbus (Lummie).
They left Alabama via Lee County, Texas for Guthrie, Oklahoma. They had four more children:
Willa, Ilean, Herman and Lovetta. It appears they remained in Guthrie for approximately 11 years from 1899 to 1910. Their second daughter, Ethel, born in 1888, received her teaching certificate from the State of Oklahoma in 1910. They moved yet again to Chandler in Choctaw County, Oklahoma to join a group who were immigrating to Canada.

The family arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1911 where Martha unfortunately passed away in 1912. Columbus moved his family to Pine Creek, Alberta, Canada (NE 15-66-20-W4) in 1912 where he and his cousin Willis Bowen would eventually settle. Pine Creek later became known as Amber Valley. Ethel taught school in Amber Valley at the Toles School, District #2895.

Ethel Bowen married Percy Adams in Vancouver, BC. Percy was from Cape Town, Africa, born in 1894. They moved to Amber Valley. They had two children, Shirley’s mother Velma Adams, born in 1916 in Amber Valley, and uncle Chris Adams, born in 1918, also in Amber Valley. Percy Adams was a porter on the Northern Alberta Railway from Edmonton to Fort McMurray for many years.

Velma Adams married Isaiah Coleman (born 1910) in 1932. They had six children: Corene, Shirley, both born in Amber Valley, and Ronald, Rodney, Jeanette and Carol, born in Edmonton, Alberta.
The family lived in Edmonton from 1935 to 1946 and then moved back to Amber Valley, the children attending Toles School until 1951. When the family moved to Edmonton, Isaiah Coleman got a job as a porter on the Canadian National Railway going from Edmonton to Prince Rupert.

Shirley married Sylvester Hinton of Amber Valley on April 30, 1951 and they lived in Edmonton. They had four children: Nadine, Terry, Randolf and Leon. September 7, 1957, Shirley and the children moved to Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.

Shirley lived in Fort Smith for 11 years, moved to Pine Point for 12 years, then Hay River for 11 years for a total of 34 years in the Northwest Territories. She was the Supervisor at the Information Centre at the Alberta-Northwest Territories border for six years. While living in Hay River, she worked as a highway transport officer at the weigh scale from 1982 – 1991. Shirley was Secretary for the Union of Northern Workers Public Service of Canada, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis Workers from 1983 – 1990.

While in Fort Smith, two foster children were added to the family. Wilbert Boucher was two years old when Social Services asked if she could keep him until they found a place for him. He was born on June 03, 1963. In 1966, Shirley got Shawnee Mary Ruth when she was six weeks old. She didn’t find out until Shawnee was six months old that she was Wilbert’s biological sister.

When Shirley lived in Pine Point, NWT, she was the Secretary for the Mothers for Minor Hockey Club, Secretary for the Legion, and Craft Teacher for the Sanavisik Guild, teaching knitting, crochet and ceramics.

Shirley joined the Royal Purple in Pine Point on February 1, 1968 and held dual membership in Pine Point and Hay River until 1988 when Pine Point closed down. She received her 25-year-pin in 1992 from the Hay River Lodge. She received her 30-year-pin form the Athabasca Lodge. She received her Life Membership Pin from the Athabasca Lodge on April 15, 2000 and her 35-year-pin from the Barrhead Lodge in 2002. She received her 40-year-pin from the Lac La Biche Lodge in 2007.

Shirley moved from Hay River, NWT to Colinton, Alberta in July, 1991. She was a member of the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre (ANFC) since March 1991 and was elected to the Board of Directors in June 2007. She became Vice-President in 2008 and Board President in 2010. In 2010, Shirley represented the ANFC at meetings held in Edmonton, and youth and Elders gatherings in Jasper. She attended an Elders retreat at MacEwan University in 2011.

Shirley started the Drug and Alcohol Program at Athabasca’s Landing Trail Intermediate School, the Hutterite Colony School, and Rochester School in September 1993 for the Elks and Royal Purple of Canada. She ran the program until June 2010. The last year of the program she had 273 entries from participating students. Shirley also worked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program in the Athabasca and area schools. The Elks and Royal Purple donated education kits on teasing and bullying as unacceptable behaviours to Smith School, Rochester School, the Hutterite Colony School, Whispering Hills Primary School, Landing Trail Intermediate School and the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre.

The Vagina Monologues Athabasca

  • ATH 18.04
  • February 25, 2017.

The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler, was produced by a group of locals for the benefit of PRAAC, (Prevention of Relationship Abuse Action Committee) from the official script for the 2017 V-Day Campaigns. Twenty-two actors were involved and rehearsals were held at the NCoR train station in Athabasca started in January, 2017. The show was performed on Feburary 25, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Nancy Appleby Theatre in Athabasca,

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