Aside from the monuments honouring the Famous 5 together,
each member except Henrietta Muir Edwards has received their
own recognition in their home communities. Emily Murphy is
remembered in Edmonton, where she spent most of her adult
life. Her former house near the University of Alberta is a
Provincial Historic Site. A river valley park is also named
in her honour, and a statue of her is erected near the
park's west entrance.
Louise McKinney is honoured in her birthplace of
Frankville, Ontario, where a cairn recognizing her
accomplishments was unveiled in
1964. She is also remembered
in her hometown of Claresholm, where a memorial plaque was
installed outside the local post office in June 1947. The
local historical society also keeps a garden in front of
their museum, named after Mrs. McKinney. A major riverfront park
in Edmonton, to be completed in 2004,
will also be named in her honour.
Irene Parlby, who was a prominent community member in the
Alix District northeast of Red Deer, was the last of the
Famous 5 to pass away. On June 28, 1967, two years after her
death, a bronze plaque and landscaped park were dedicated to
her honour on the north side of Diamond Lake, near Alix. Her
last country house (named "Manadon" after her husband's
family's home in Devonshire) has been preserved and her
lovely gardens maintained.
Two of Nellie McClung's former houses have also been
preserved. Her former residence at
803 15th Avenue SW in Calgary, where she lived from 1923
to 1932, was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in
1978. Her Victoria home has also been restored and offers
guided tours.
Aside from the Senate plaque and the Famous 5 monuments
in Calgary and Ottawa, there are no such markers dedicated
to Henrietta Muir Edwards. This should not be taken to
indicate that she was the least important of the Famous 5,
but rather that her achievements have been least recognized.
Perhaps in future she will attain the same level of
recognition according to her achievements as the other four
women. |