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In this issue . . .
As we enter 2025, our first issue of Relatively Speaking explores memories of food and sustenance and the traditions that connect families throughout the years, whether past or present.
Céleste Plamondon-Zurbrigg, whose great-grandfather founded the hamlet of Plamondon, relates her forebears’ relationship with Métis homesteaders and the bounty of the land in the prairie and woodlands of east-central Alberta, while Janine Carroll recalls her chance re-encounter with her mother’s childhood as a 15-year-old helping with the harvest – and the memories of her grandfather’s farm that
encounter generated.
Sharing quotes from Sioux Chef Sean Sherman and others, John Althouse relates his Ukrainian and Volga German food traditions and the importance of acknowledging the universal qualities inherent to all food traditions. And sharing their own memories, Sharon Aney and Pam Cooke welcome us into their Ukrainian and Indigenous feast traditions, respectively, for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving, while Ging Wei Wong recounts his father’s contribution to the legacy of Edmonton’s Chinese market
gardens—so integral to the city’s food history. And referencing another kind of sustenance, in Suzanne Maynard’s account of her great aunt from Montreal we earn about this remarkable woman’s life of Christian service as Sister St. Irene with the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Mary Leah Milligan de Zwart relates the poignant story of her uncle who died in action with the RCAF, and her family’s Dutch connection that led to a photo of the gravestone marking his burial place, while in another chance discovery, David Scott sends out a request to the AGS membership regarding a photo of his father and a fellow author’s WWII ancestor.
And to wrap up the theme of food and provisions, two descendants of Sheridan Lawrence share their memories of the legacy left by this northern Alberta pioneer who “created a family operation so vast it ran from fur trading to operating a power plant ...” .
So much of the appeal of each Relatively Speaking is due to the dedication of volunteers, to whom I am most grateful. But it would not be the engaging journey it is without the authors. Thank you for another amazing collection of stories.
Kate Wilson, Editor
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