Discover Alberta Ancestors

Appreciation & Acknowledgement

This website would not have been possible without the tireless dedication of countless volunteers over decades of work. Our contributors have made numerous cemetery safari trips throughout Southern Alberta taking photos & notes, transcribing information into spreadsheets and working to get digital content uploaded onto the website. Our thanks to each and every volunteer. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the extraordinary effort of the following people:

  • Janet Morgan – 1st Chairperson – organized all cemetery recordings 1980- 1998
  • Judith Rempel – website collections, digitalizations early years
  • Judie Riddell – 2nd Chairperson Projects AFHS
  • Heather Williams – Projects Chairperson
  • Wendy Schultz, Cemeteries Project lead, 2021 to present
  • Webmasters: Gordon Lane, Judie Rempel, Dawn Kirkpatrick Turner, Angie Stropp, Jim Benedict

Below are a few photos from some of the many cemetery trips taken over the years. Thank You to all participants!

Our Cemetery Team Leads

Wendy Schultz & Heather Williams, July 2021

Some of our many volunteers

Back: Bob Fyvie, Florence Denning, Janet Morgan, Pat Rankin, Reta Coburn. Front: ?

Banff Volunteers

1986 Cemetery Trip

?, Philip Thorpe, Bob O’Brien (back), Barbara Thorpe, Dennis Shaver, Bob Fyvie, Jan Roseneder, Patty Davidson, Linda Hole, Rosemary Lyons (front)

Fall Trip to Didsbury Cemetery

Ruth Cole, Linda Hole, Patty Davidson, others

Heritage Park November 2021

Marion Peterson, Dorothy Clements, Katherine Carver, Louise Treharne, Gary O’Connor, Karen Palmer, Richard Young, Rosalynn Young, Marion Kelly, Greg Cave, Scott Morgan, Iris Morgan, Heather Williams, Roy Aggarwal

2021/2022 Cemeteries Web Team

Heather Williams, Roy Aggarwal, Wendy Schultz

Queen's Park June 2021

L – R: Heather Williams, Terri Scruggs, Katherine Carver, Wendy Schultz, Rosalynn Young, Richard Young, Jim Benedict, Roy Aggarwal, Marion Peterson, Louise Treharne, Suzanne Davidson, Dorothy Clements, Gary O’Connor, Jennifer Blain

Some Key Volunteers

Carol Lylyk, Bill Logan, Heather Jaremko, Spencer Field

Clearing Branches at Burnsland Cemetery

Dennis Williams

A Tough Job at Burnsland Cemetery!

Spencer Field & Carol Lylyk

The Great 6 Cemetery Gals

Carole May, Judie Riddell, Carol Lylyk, Linda Alderman, Heather Williams, Marlene Knott

Crowsnest Pass 2019

Dennis Williams & Heather Williams

2012 Arrowwood Cemetery CD

Heather Williams, Ted Lloyd, Olga Lloyd

October 2014

Heather Williams, Gary Hicks & Spencer Field

A Well-earned Coffee Break!

Janice Armstrong, Heather Williams, Dennis Williams, Louise Pannenbecker

Union Cemetery 2021

Suzanne Davidson, Katherine Carver & Karen Palmer

Reader Rock Garden 2022

Back Row L to R- Greg Cave, Sandi Miller, Katherine Carver, Suzanne Davidson, Karen Palmer, Doris McDowell, Wendy Schultz; Front Row L to R – Terri Scruggs, Ron Nelson, Heather Williams, Laura Schultz; missing – Louise Treharne

Rocky View Garden of Peace June 2022

Bob Loblaw, Debra Loblaw, David Schultz

Swalwell Cemetery Volunteers 2018

Left to right: Larry Empey, Karen Hall, Myrna Empey, Emma Lammle, Karen & Don Shierman

2022 – We finally finished the photos at Garden of Peace Cemetery!

(L to R): Katherine Carver, Wendy Schultz, Marion Kelly

Burnsland Cemetery 1993

Nancy Carson taking notes

John Casson at Eagle Valley Cemetery 2022

John & Ann Casson at Hainstock Cemetery Sept. 2022

Reader’s Garden Cafe Jun 24, 2023

After a warm morning spent getting photos at the Cemetery Hill cemeteries!

Seated L to R: Sharon White, Nancy Carson, Wendy Schultz
Standing L to R: Ann Casson, John Casson

Sandi Miller at Queen's Park Sep 2022

Sharon White & Nancy Carson at Union Cemetery 2023

CTV Video Shoot, Queen's Park June 2024

L to R: AFHS Volunteers Jim Benedict, John Casson, Dorothy Clements, Roy Aggarwal, Nancy Carson, Heather Williams, Karen Palmer, Wendy Schultz
AFHS volunteers have a long history of documenting cemetery burial information, going back as far as the mid to late 1970’s, even before the Society’s creation in 1980. Over the years, many members have stepped up to lead teams of intrepid volunteers around Southern Alberta cemeteries to photograph grave markers, record inscriptions, and help fill in the blanks for genealogists searching for information on persons of interest in and around the Calgary area. The latest volunteer team lead is AFHS member Wendy Schultz, who took the reins over from our always-amazing Heather Williams in early 2021. Since that time, Wendy and her team of volunteers have managed to update over 100 cemeteries and over 200,000 persons as of Summer 2023. Quite an accomplishment!

In August of 2023, while AFHS was at a cemetery field trip in Okotoks, several local media outlets including CBC News were on the scene to conduct interviews with some of the volunteers present, which included Ron Gilmore, Wendy Gilmore, Melanie Gilmore, Roy Aggarwal, John Casson, Ann Casson, Wendy Schultz, and Laura Schultz. CBC put together a great 3 ½ minute video which you can view here. The video does a great job of showcasing the work being done and is a wonderful PR piece for the Society. And we’re just getting started!

Cemetery Expedition Volunteers, 1980 – Present

Aggarwal, Roy
Alderman, Lynda
Allen, Penney
Armstrong, Janice & Art
Backhouse, Helen
Banack, John
Benedict, Jim
Blain, Jennifer
Caradonna, Nancy
Carson, Nancy
Carver, Katherine
Casson, John & Ann
Cave, Greg
Chambers, Bev
Clarke, Kay & Glenn
Clements, Dorothy
Coburn, Reta
Cole, Ruth
Davidson, Patty
Davidson, Suzanne

Dennett, Carrie
Denning, Florence
Drinkwater, Millie
Empey, Myrna & Larry
Field, Spencer
Firman, Marion
Fyvie, Bob
Groeneveld, Tony
Gutsche, Nola
Hall, Karen
Hicks, Gary
Hodge, Pat
Holdaway, Linda
Holdsworth, Linda
Hole, Linda
Houlgate, Maureen
Irving, Bert
Jamieson, Kay
Jaremko, Heather & Andrew

Kelly, Marion
Kinghorn, Ellen
Knott, Marlene
Lammle, Emma
Lane, Gordon
Laughton, Lorna & Dennis
Lawrence, Al
Lloyd, Ted
Loblaw, Bob & Debra
Logan, Bill
Lylyk, Carol
Lyons, Rosemary
Martin, Barbara
May, Betsy & Bev
May, Carole
McDowell, Doris
McKenzie, Bruce
McKenzie, Wayne
Metcalfe, Joyce
Miller, Sandi

Morgan, Iris & Scott
Morgan, Janet
Morrow, Frank
Mumford, Sudie
Myers, Lil
Nash, Arlene
Nelson, Ron
Neville, Claire
O’Brien, Bob
O’Connor, Gary
Palmer, Karen
Pannenbecker, Louise
Peers, Allan
Peterson, Marion
Quinn, Susan
Rankin, Pat
Reid, Karen
Rempel, Judith
Riddell, Gerry, Judie & Bob
Rosender, Jan
Roy, Marlene
Schultz, Wendy, David & Laura
Scruggs, Terri
Senger, Pat
Shaver, Dennis
Shierman, Karen & Don
Stewart, Lorna
Stobbs, Doug
Stobbs, Marlene
Stropp, Angie
Sutherland, Cheryl
Theroux, Lorna
Thorpe, Phil & Barbara
Tracz, Elaine
Treharne, Louise
Turner, Dawn Kirkpatrick
Waldroff, Donald
Whiye, Sharon
Williams, Heather & Dennis
Young, Richard & Rosalynn
We also gratefully acknowledge the City of Calgary Park and Recreation (Cemeteries) Department. The tens of thousands of Calgary cemetery headstone photos would not have been possible without their assistance and cooperation.
Discover Alberta Ancestors