I spent the first 16 years my life on the family farm north of DeBolt, attending Edson Trail and Ridgevalley Schools. We moved to Grande Prairie in 1968 where I attended grade 11 during the last year of the Grande Prairie High School. In 1970 I was in the first graduating class of the brand-new Composite High School.

After attending the GP College and then the U of A, I received my education degree in 1977.

I began teaching in Kindergarten at Avondale and then grade one. I spent my teaching career teaching Kindergarten through Grade 3 at Avondale, Hillside and Alexander Forbes, where I retired from in 2011.

After 34 years of teaching, I downsized my class size by becoming a nanny to our 4 granddaughters for 4 years. Jeff and Tanya added one more beautiful daughter. I retired again to just be a grandma.

Retirement has been wonderful. More time for family and friends, as well as time to slow down and enjoy life.

We have enjoyed some amazing trips since retiring.

• 2 cruises through the Caribbean
• A couple trips to Mexico
• A cruise through the Panama Canal
• Bus trip around China and cruise on the Yahtzee River
• Bus tour of Ireland and visited relatives
• Visited relatives in England
• Nagel Bus tour of eastern Canada

Our passion now is Pickleball. Many days each week you will find us on the courts bright and early in the morning. I enjoy walking, doing qigong, tai chi and essentrics.

I have enjoyed being a NWARTA Director, meeting so many wonderful people.

I was born in Quebec City, where lived for 23 years. After finishing a BEd at Laval University, I came to Grande Prairie to teach in French Immersion and stayed for all my career, got married and raised two children.

I retired in 2018 and continued to be a substitute teacher at the École Montrose where I last taught. I joined the NWARTA when I retired and became an executive member in 2023. As a director, I am pleased to plan different learning and wellness activities. I enjoyed participating in those activities and I am looking for new ones to develop as well.

I began my teaching career with the Grande Prairie Public School District in 1974. After teaching at Hillside Elementary and the Grande Prairie Composite High School I began a career as a school administrator at Avondale Elementary, followed by terms as principal of Hillside, Ecole Parkside and I V Macklin Public School.

After retirement in 2004 I worked for the Grande Prairie Public School District in communications and Alberta Education conducting school evaluations in the Peace River zone.

After a couple of years working as a substitute teacher, I have enjoyed time with family and service to my church and community in a variety of capacities. I feel privileged to have the opportunity now to serve on the NWARTA. Executive.

I am an associate member of NWARTA.  I do have a connection to the teaching world through my husband, Martin Hanam. I retired in December, 2020 after a 40 year career as an adult educator/district home economist/farm direct marketing specialist with Alberta Agriculture. I wasn’t sure what retirement would bring but quickly learned to enjoy the time I can spend gardening, walking and biking the many terrific trails of the Grande Prairie region and enjoying new experiences as a director with NWARTA. It’s been wonderful making new friends from the traditional education sector and having the time to visit "aggie" friends and family across Alberta and Canada. Our two westie dogs as well as, Martin and I, all appreciate the new reality of two daily walks in the daylight, a really positive change from months of dark, winter walks during our working years.

I have been a member of NWARTA since my retirement from GPPSD in 2019. Having my morning coffee with my book is an awesome way to start the day. I was in education for about 30 years after an 18 year career as an Interior designer. My only regret is not starting teaching sooner. I appreciate the opportunities NWARTA provides to meet old friends, connect with former colleagues and make new friends. I especially appreciate the opportunity to continue as a director with the NWARTA executive. It's been a fun and engaging experience with a great executive team.

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Looking back at the past 16 years of Maxine’s retirement has made her a true believer in the saying “time flies when you’re having fun”. One project that Maxine had saved for retirement was to trace her Dad’s Ukrainian roots using a small collection of papers, names, dates, and relationships with relatives. With retirement finally there, she had no idea of where or how to get started as the information had never been compiled or organized.

Her first step was joining the Grande Prairie Alberta Genealogical Society. After taking a beginner genealogy course and rubbing shoulders with the cumulative experiences of the like-minded members, she had the experience she needed. Volunteers gave her one-on-one assistance in reading and interpreting old Latin and Slavic documents, where Maxine found clues about her family’s history.

Later she joined the East European Genealogy Society from Winnipeg. Brian Lenius, a founding member, had published a genealogical gazetteer, containing information on how documents and records were written and organized under the old country system and even old maps of ancestral villages. This invaluable publication kept her focused on the correct path and guided her in many areas throughout her search. Other volunteers from this organization translated old letters unlocking family information that relatives had collected.

Finally, a few years later, she felt that she had achieved a level in her research that allowed her to start thinking of booking a trip to retrace the steps of her Ukrainian ancestors. In September 2016, a trip to her ancestral villages in Poland and Ukraine was marked in the calendar. With a lot of expertise, pre-planning, and collaboration with Brian Lenius and Lisa Haji Abbasi, both from the East European Genealogical Society, they began their month-long adventure.

Their flight landed in Rzeszow, Poland where they met their Polish driver and interpreter. With a GPS and detailed cadastral map of Maxine’s paternal Grandfather’s village, that Brian had customized, they drove through southeast Poland to the exact location.

From both sides of the road, they could only see large tracts of reforested trees, but they had a feeling that they were in the right spot. They set out with a map in hand down a small trail into the forest and to their relief, they found evidence that the little village of Tomsy once existed there. Brian explained that historically when borders were adjusted after WWII, some small villages were destroyed as families were relocated. It was nevertheless a special moment for Maxine to walk on this old family ground.

Brian also helped them sort through old church and village records in the Archives of Przemysl, Poland and later in L’viv and Ternopil, Ukraine where they successfully located additional family history, that was unavailable online.

Once in Ukraine, they were immersed in the traditional culture. Maria, their new driver and interpreter, met them at the border of her century-old home and farm in the village of Didyliv, just outside of L’viv. There they experienced life much like their ancestors’, eating the food that was largely grown and prepared locally, and observing the hard manual labour of villagers gathering harvests from their strip farms nearby, providing self-sufficiency that was impressive to see.

Maria skillfully drove them on old highways full of water-filled holes, some half the size of her mid-sized car, towards Maxine’s paternal Grandmother’s village near Sokal. Noticeably to them was the abundance of oversized deciduous trees planted all along the fields and highways. A puzzling sight as they drove past, was people hitting the tree branches with long poles. To their surprise, these people were harvesting walnuts, a common fall activity, from the plentiful trees.

Thanks once again to Brian’s mapping expertise, they located a home and garden property in the village of Perwiatycze that they believed to be Maxine’s Grandmother’s birthplace. She will always remember this surreal and special moment as they took photos in the rain.

Now sitting back at home in her recliner, Maxine is amazed that her retirement hobby of researching family history could culminate into such a memorable experience of visiting the birthplace of her grandparents and the land of her ancestors!

After a satisfying career in the classroom and on the sub list, I moved into retirement.  I have focused on all things fibre since then: knitting, sewing, kilt making and theatrical costumes.  The most memorable productions that I have been associated with are: Oklahoma, Les Misérables, Momma Mia and The Grapes of Wrath.  I also dabble in genealogy, always on the hunt for my elusive ancestors.