With much regret, I am informing Echo readers that I can no longer write archived, history-related weekly columns as I have done for the last ten months – and previously for many years.

The Dziuba, Dumanowski, Garszczal, and Mikosz families provide brief but valuable sketches of what caused them to leave their Polish homeland during WWII…

The “Siberian Six,” I silently called them, six people in four families living here, friends of my parents, all with a remarkable story to tell although it has been somewhat muted…

Gerard and Annie Peck, as previously noted, moved from Oyen to Calgary in 1938 where they retired.

David Peck and his wife Edith, the inspiration of this story, unlike his parents, generated few if any local news stories while raising three children on a farm near Lacombe…

The year 1937 began with the customary New Year’s Eve dance in Oyen - music provided by the Excel Orchestra while the OK Orchestra was entertaining at Cereal…

This is an ongoing summary of news events concerning the Gerard Peck family in 1936. Mrs. Annie Peck led prayers at the “World Day of Prayer” in Oyen in early March.

Mr. and Mrs. Peck holidayed in England from May to the end of August 1929. In the meantime, their eldest son Hubert, ranching near Cochrane…

The creation of this museum moment, as described in these pages last week, was straightforward and unfettered – who originally belonged to several donated wedding accessories…

Why do we bother having museums? They require thousands of hours of volunteer labour, and their funding is often precarious.

These were some of the early settlers who passed away during the last half of 1966 as reported in the Calgary Herald and the Oyen Echo.

A few years ago, my wife Laura and I hosted a film team at our farm near Sedalia, AB. The team was from The Military Museums in Calgary, and they were on a mission…

AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM. LEST WE FORGET.

Not all veterans served overseas. According to New Brigden’s history book ‘Still Making Memories’, Fred Tye from New Brigden was among the thousands of service men…

William Mitchell from Monitor, Alberta served as an airplane mechanic in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Edwin Johnson from Esther, Alberta served in the Canadian Army during WWII. According to information from the history book Sage Brush and Sifting Sand…

Howard Everett (Babe) Howard from Monitor, Alberta served in WWII. According to information from the history book A Treasure of Memories Vol. II…

The word “remembrance” means present consciousness of a past event. It can unexpectedly and paradoxically bring forth beneficial memories, those that are disturbing, or a combination of both.

“Feeling forgotten,” I have observed, often occurs among people living in small communities many kilometers from a larger community or city.

Some may say there is probably no historical significance in one of this district’s pioneer settlers being “a painter and decorator by trade,” in the words of his daughter...