Notable Albertans

We need an intro for this section, and then a drop down menu for the list of Albertans.

Edgar Peter Lougheed was born on July 26, 1928, at Calgary, Alberta. Peter Lougheed led the Alberta Conservative Party to power in 1971 for the first time. He opposed the federal government price controls on oil and the 1980 National Energy Program (NEP). Lougheed supported the 1982 constitutional amending formula. He resigned in 1985 after the Western Accord eliminated the NEP.

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W. O. Mitchell was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan on the 13 March, 1914 and moved to Alberta in the early 1940s. He passed away on 25 February 1998. Mitchell attained his teaching certificate in 1942 at the University of Alberta. He moved to High River to write Who Has Seen the Wind that received rave reviews. Mitchell wrote Jake and the Kid for CBC Radio. He published some of the most respected Canadian novels and plays.

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Mrs. Hole was born in 1933 in Buchanan, Saskatchewan and moved to Edmonton in her early teens and completed her secondary education at Strathcona Composite High School. She passed away on January 6, 2005, in Edmonton, Alberta. Lois Hole authored six best selling gardening books, and a collection of life stories. She held many public offices from school trustee in St Albert to Chancellor of Athabasca University. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999, and Alberta’s 15th Lieutenant Governor.

Only ten years old, Aysha is an accomplished musician. She was horrified at the scene from the Asian tsunami and mobilized the concert, "Higher Ground" with the help of her flute teacher, Shelley Younge and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra to raise $600,000 for aid.

In Texas, John Ware became a skilled cowboy. He earned the respect of ranchers in Alberta in 1882. He married Mildred Lewis in 1892, and established a along the Red Deer River in 1902. His funeral was the best attended in Calgary when he died in 1905.

Jann signed with A & M Records in 1992, for, Time For Mercy that won two Junos. Living Under June, went platinum six times in Canada winning three Junos, with the single Insensitive a world wide top ten song. She produced her 2003 album Love Is the Only Soldier.

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Gretzky set 61 separate regular season and playoff records, 60 of which he still holds in 2003. From 1979-88, he played for the Oilers, scoring 583 goals. Gretzky assembled the Canadian gold medal team for the 2002 Olympics. He is considered one of the best athletes of the twentieth Century.

Taylor established a line between his Edmonton telegraph office and St Alberta in 1885. He was a co-founder of the Edmonton Electric Light Company in 1891. He founded the Edmonton & District Telephone Company in 1893, and sold the 400 subscriber company in 1904.

In 1920, Clark worked for the Research Council of Alberta researching the extraction of oil from the oil sands. He received the patent for the oil extraction process in 1929. In 1949, an oil extraction plant was built at Fort McMurray demonstrating the technology used today.

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The Famous Five included Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Nellie McClung, and Irene Parlby who challenged Canadian law that excluded women from voting and holding public office. At the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council in London Canadian women were recognized as "persons" and had the right to vote.