Just in case anyone who lives in St. Albert has forgotten, let’s take a minute to remember the wonderful legacy of two people who many consider to be St. Albert's first citizens. Meaning ‘first’ as in great, very accomplished and perhaps, most fondly remembered. We’re talking, of course, about Ted and Lois Hole.
Ted was an astute farmer and a well-respected St. Albert resident. Lois’s accomplishments are even more well-known. In her lifetime she received many awards including the Order of Canada, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Edmonton business and professional woman of the year and St. Albert’s own citizen of the year. She was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Humanitarian Award and she was honoured in her lifetime with many honorary positions and doctorates. She authored numerous books and was even the 15th lieutenant-governor of Alberta. Lois and Ted were proud community members and respected by everyone that they met.
Unfortunately, Ted and Lois Hole are no longer with us here in St. Albert, although their legacy lives on in all the lives they touched and the wonderful community they helped build with their gentle wisdom and their profound respect for their neighbours.
Imagine how proud they would be today, in 2012, knowing that their old farmstead, the land that they nurtured and toiled to harvest, the acreage that they tilled and seeded and loved, the home that they lovingly built for their growing family, is now being considered for development into a strip mall, and something (something even more exciting, I’ll wager) yet to be announced?
Yes, we’re sure their beaming faces are looking down from above and they’re filled with pride at the proposed changes to the land that helped to define our community as a place of natural growth and respect for all, changes that apparently may include yet another liquor store and what we’re sure is a much-needed convenience store. These changes may also take advantage of some interesting zoning that may bypass the community having much say in what types of additional businesses will be placed there in the future.
In fact, to honour Ted and Lois on the occasion of their family’s crowning achievement of their local legacy, may we suggest that this development be called the Ted and Lois Hole Memorial Strip Mall. We just can’t imagine how proud they would be.
Steven and Lisa Delaronde, St. Albert
