Officials and students at Muriel Martin Elementary School celebrated the opening of a memorial this week for a former principal who died a year ago.
On Thursday the school dedicated a new outdoor classroom to former principal Norm Elicksen, who died on the first day of school last year — Aug. 27, 2009 — just five months after having been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He was 60.
“This is a way of celebrating his life and what he believed,” said current principal Peggy Bergmann.
Along the front of the school, what used to be a bare concrete pad is now an oasis of foliage and flowers thanks to several planters and a special tree planted in Elicksen’s honour. The school’s walls have several murals painted by local artists.
There are also several benches and five picnic tables with umbrellas. The total cost of the project was around $30,000, paid through grants and fundraising, Bergmann said.
“Upon [Elicksen’s] passing we realized what a huge impact he’d had on many of the families in the school,” Bergmann said.
“His whole thing was, learning should be enjoyable, it should be a wonderful experience for children,” she said. “We thought this could be a way of integrating what we feel is important in education with his philosophy of growing children.”
Last year would have been the fourth year at the school for Elicksen, who had been a principal of four different schools during his 20-year career with the St. Albert Protestant school district.
“He worked hard at every school he was at,” said former superintendent Joe Demko. “It’s good that they’ve done something for him.”
Elicksen’s wife Thelma and son Chris both attended the dedication, but neither could be reached for comment.
“At the end of it she said, ‘he would have been so proud of this,’” said Bergmann of Thelma’s reaction. “‘This is just what he would have loved.’”
