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Micheal Dawe

Michael Dawe

A fifth-generation Central Albertan with roots in Red Deer and Pine Lake, Michael Dawe received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and economics at the University of Alberta in 1976. He also enrolled as a student in the open studies program of the Faculty of Library and Information Studies at the U of A in 2000. In 1970, he became a member of the Red Deer and District Archives Committee. In 1979, he became the city's first full-time archivist with the Red Deer Archives. He became a founding member of the Archives Society of Alberta (ASA) in 1980 and was an executive member both of the ASA and the Alberta Archives Council from 1980-96.

Dawe is a founding member of the Red Deer Heritage Preservation Committee. He was a member of the Alberta Municipal Heritage Advisory Boards from its founding in 1981 until 1999, and served as the board's secretary from 1995-99. He is a past secretary of the Legal Archives Society of Alberta and was the Alberta delegate to the Heritage Canada Foundation in 1987 and was a delegate to the International Congress of Archives in 1992. Dawe served as a trustee of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Board from 1983-95 and was chairman of the board in 1994-95. He helped to found the Red Deer Regional Hospital Foundation and served as the foundation chairman from 1994-97.

He was named honorary patron of the foundation in 1999 and continues to serve as a trustee on the foundation's board. He served as a member of the Alberta Health Care Association Long-Term Care Committee from 1991-93 and was on the hospital association's Board Chairs' Conference Committee in 1990. He served as a member of the Alberta Health Innovation Fund Advisory Committee from 1999-2001. Dawe was elected as a member of the David Thompson Health Authority in October 2001. He was appointed to the new board of David Thompson Health Authority in February 2003.

He is now a member of the Red Deer East Rotary Club, having joined in 1983. He was club secretary from 1983-88. Dawe has been the club's program committee chair since 2000 and was chair of the Rotary Integrity Award selection committee from 1996-2001. Dawe was chair of the Westerner Exposition Association's Volunteer and Membership committee until February 2005 and remains a member of that committee. He is also a member of the Westerner's Archives Committee. He was a director on the Westerner Exposition Board from 1991-2001. He was a member of the Red Deer Housing Authority from 1981-86, a member of the Home Care Management Committee of the Red Deer Health Unit from 1983-89, a director of the Kerry Wood Nature Centre Association from 1986-96 and chair of the Board of Referees for the Alberta Central .Region of the Employment Insurance Commission from 1994-2003.

Dawe authored Red Deer: An Illustrated History in 1989 and wrote a new edition in 1996. He wrote Rock of Our Ages in 1993 and A Histo¬ry of the Parkland Savings and Credit Union in 1995. Dawe co-authored One Hundred Years of Progress with Judith Hazlett in 1991 and wrote portions of For King and Country in 1995 and Out of the Blue in 1998. He is also a freelance columnist for the Red Deer Advocate and the Red Deer Express.

  • In 1984, he was made an honorary life member of the Red Deer Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society.
  • In 1986, he was named the native son for the Central Alberta Pioneers and Old Timers Association.
  • In 1994, he was named Alberta Citizen of the Year by the Council on School Administration for his historical work with local schools.
  • In 1996, he became the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at Red Deer College.
  • In 1999, he was inducted into the Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School Hall of Fame.
  • In 2002, Dawe received the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions and was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2005, he was awarded the Alberta Centennial Medal.
  • In 2006, he was made an honorary life member of the Archives Society of Alberta.
  • In 2007, he was made an honorary Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International by the Red Deer East Rotary Club.


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