Charles Leslie 'Les' Usher was the son of Thomas and Margaret Dorothy Usher. Born in Scollard Alberta, he grew up on the Usher family ranch in the Big Valley, AB area. He graduated from University School in Victoria B.C. in 1942, then completed the No. 1 Canadian Army Training Course. He served as 2nd Lt. in the field artillery during World War II. After the war, he returned to Alberta and completed an Agriculture degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

In the 1970’s, Les served as Deputy Minister of Culture under Horst Schmid, and Peter Lougheed. He last worked as Manager of Program Implementation with Agriculture Canada before retiring in 1993. Highlights career of public service include: Deputy Minister of Department of Youth in Alberta; President of 4-H Clubs in Alberta and Canadian Council of 4-H Clubs; Member of Board of Governors & Senate at UofA; National President of IPAC in 1976; President of Alberta Forestry Association & Jr. Forest Wardens; President of Alberta Institute of Agrologists – Edmonton; and People’s Warden at All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral.

He continued to ranch on the family ranch on weekends and created the Rumsey Ecological reserve on former Usher Ranch lease land.

He married Lillian May Popoff in 1955 and had two children, Laurel and Thomas. Les died on September 9, 2018.

Richard Scott near was born in Esquesing Township, (near Halton) Ontario on June 5, 1887 and arrived in Carstairs, Alberta in 1908. Over the next few years, he worked on farms, dairies and also the D.R. McIvor general store in Cowley, Alberta. He homesteaded in the Orkney, Ghost Pine Creek area in 1911, was appointed a Commissioner for Oaths for Sarcee Butte/Ghost Pine Creek and was also an Insurance Agent for the area during the mid 1910s and 1920s. He was a member of the Carbon Lodge No. 107.

Lewis L. Osborne completed his PhD at the University of Calgary in 1981. He worked at the Illinois Natural History Survey, a research institution located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from ca. 1987-1993. He was also a professor in the university's Department of Urban and Regional Planning prior to 1987.

Suzette Mayr is an award-winning author, poet, editor and educator who was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1967. As a Canadian of German and Afro-Caribbean background, Mayr often explores issues of race, identity and sexuality in her writing through the stylistic use of humour, cultural mythologies and surreal imagery.

Her novels include Moon Honey (1995 NeWest Press), The Widows (1998 NeWest Press), Venous Hum (2004 Arsenal Pulp Press), Monoceros (2011 Coach House Books) and Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall (2017 Coach House Books). Her novel Moon Honey was nominated for the Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book and the Georges Bugnet award for Best Novel. The Widows was nominated for the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the Canada-Caribbean Region. Monoceros was the winner of the 2012 ReLit Award and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award, longlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was also nominated for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction and the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.

A former President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Mayr has edited six literary anthologies, and collaborated with Calgary theatre company Theatre Junction and visual artists Lisa Brawn and Geoff Hunter. She has been a writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary and at Widener University, Pennsylvania. Mayr is currently is a Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of English, where she teaches courses in creative writing and contemporary literature studies.

George James Morley was born in Ontario in 1927 and operated a retail appliance store in Toronto. After moving to Calgary with his family, Morley became involved with a wide variety of volunteer organizations that complemented his broad range of interests. He had strong interests in Canadian war history and was the founding president of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, the past president of the N.W.M.P. Commemorative Association, and the director for The Red Coat Puppet Theatre; Morley authored the production “Westward Ride the Red Coats” that was performed in many Alberta schools.

Morley had a passion for comic art. His personal collection, that he began accumulating in the 1940s, includes clippings, comic books, and reference books, reference files on comic art and artists, and original artwork. Morley’s interest in war history is reflected in many of the strips he collected including G-8 and His Battle Aces, Navy Bob Steele, Flyin’ Jenny, and Captain Easy. He was also the founder and publisher of Strip Scene, a fanzine that celebrated the newspaper comic strip with articles, research information and artwork. Strip Scene was first published in 1977 and ran in print form for 25 issues through to 1984; long-time editor Carl Horak continues to maintain Strip Scene as a web presence.

Morley also carried this passion into his volunteer work with Calgary public schools as he worked extensively with students using his love and knowledge of comic art to encourage their own creativity. The George Morley Memorial Scholarship was established in his honour in 2004 to recognize students “with a high level of participation in the arts program."

George Morley died March 5, 2004.

John Whitney Pickersgill, Canadian politician, public servant and historian, was born in Wycombe, Ontario, in June 1905. Died November 15, 1997. Biographical information available in The Canadian who's who, 1992, p. 845, and The Canadian encyclopedia, v. 3, p. 1415.

Canadian lawyer and judge William George Morrow was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1917. Graduated in law from The University of Alberta and was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1940. Serving in the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, W.G. Morrow achieved the rank of Lieutenant, and was mentioned in D-Day despatches. In 1947 he married Genevieve Henry and they had four children, William Henry, Pauline May, Lee Walker and John Martin. He was created Queen's Counsel in 1953. He was called to the Bars of the Northwest Territories in 1959, British Columbia in 1961, and the Yukon in 1962. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in 1966, succeeding the first NWT judge, John Sissons. In 1976 he became an Alberta Supreme Court Judge. Justice Morrow was noted for his precedent-setting judicial decisions in northern Canada and for his common sense in the application of justice in cases involving citizens of the Territories. Died in 1980.

William George Morrow, 1917-1980, was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied law at the University of Alberta and was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1940. In 1947 he married Genevieve Henry and they had four children, William Henry, Pauline May, Lee Walker and John Martin. He was called to the Bars of the NWT in 1959, British Columbia in 1961 and the Yukon in 1964. He served as Justice of the Supreme Court of the NWT, 1966-1976, succeeding the first NWT judge, John Sissons, 1891-1969. He then became a Justice of the Alberta Supreme Court. William Morrow was regarded as a champion of native rights. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Calgary in 1975.

Dora Geneva Lent, Canadian artist and author, was born in Elmvale, Ontario, in 1904. Died October 1983. Biographical information available in A dictionary of Canadian artists, v. 3, pt. 1, p. 811.

Canadian bookseller. E. de Mille, née Orser, a sixth-generation Canadian, was born on August 1, 1919 on her grandparents' homestead at Tristram, Alberta. Attended high school in Alberta. Began working at Eaton's book department in Calgary in 1945, leaving as its head in 1956 to open Evelyn de Mille Books Ltd. By 1974, when the store was sold, E. de Mille established four other branches, making her the first woman in Canada to found a bookstore chain. In 1980 established Evelyn de Mille Technical Books, specializing in technical and reference materials. E. de Mille has always been actively involved in associations relating to bookselling and publishing, serving on the Board of Directors and as president of the Canadian Booksellers Association and as chair of the annual Canadian Booksellers Association conference in 1973. Other volunteer activities include working with the National Museums of Canada on creation of a publishing policy and as a director of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. E. de Mille has made generous donations to several Alberta organizations including a donation in 1985 to the University of Calgary Library of the collection Books on Books, to which she continues to add informative, interesting and rare items.

Canadian architect. Hugh McMillan worked with Rule Wynn & Rule (Edmonton) as a student, then as an Associate Member of the firm J.A. Cawston and Associates (Calgary) until 1960, when he went into practice with Allan H. Waisman and J.M. Ross under the name of H.W.R. McMillan and Associates (Calgary). In 1964, Jack Long joined the firm and the partnership name was changed to McMillan Long and Associates. After Long retired in 1969, the name of the firm was changed to Hugh McMillan Architects.