2005 Inductees

Grant Fuhr (Athletics)

He is the kid from Spruce Grove who went on to become one of the best goaltenders in NHL history and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. He is Grant Fuhr, and the City of Spruce Grove is proud to honour him with an Award of Excellence in Athletics.

At age 15 Mr. Fuhr joined the WHL's Victoria Cougars, where he was twice a first-team all-star. In 1981, Mr. Fuhr became a first-round Edmonton Oilers draft choice, recording a 23-game unbeaten streak that first season. He was an amazing playoff player, with a 92-50 record in 150 games. He led the Oilers to Stanley Cup titles in 1984, ‘85, ‘87 and ‘88.

Mr. Fuhr says, "After watching the Oilers as a kid, I was extremely fortunate to join a very special group of hockey players on a team that had great success."  Former team mates have said that they would not have been as successful without “Fuhrsy.” 
 
Mr. Fuhr went on to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and, finally, the Calgary Flames. He retired in 2001. 

This amazing goaltender won many awards and holds numerous records. His 14 points in 1983-1984 still stands as the single-season record for most points by a goaltender. He is proud to be the first black NHL superstar.

In 1987, Mr. Fuhr was named the NHL’s best goaltender and was runner-up to team mate Wayne Gretzky as most valuable player. In 1994, he was co-winner of the award for fewest goals allowed. With the Buffalo Sabres, he played an astonishing 79 games, 76 consecutively, records that still stand. In 1999, Mr. Fuhr joined a very elite club of goaltenders with 400 career wins.

In 2003 Mr. Fuhr was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2003, the Oilers retired his Number 31, only the fourth Oiler to receive that honour. In 2004, the City of Spruce Grove renamed the arena where Grant got his start the Grant Fuhr Arena. 

Spruce Grove is honoured that Mr. Fuhr has represented the community so well to the world.

Jennifer Heil (Athletics)

Jennifer Heil was Canadian freestyle mogul skiing champion when most teens are still in high school. At age 16 in 2000 this remarkable young woman captured the national title in both single and dual moguls. At 17, she became one of the youngest skiers to win a World Cup silver medal. She placed 4th in the 2002 Winter Olympics as the youngest member of the Canadian team in Salt Lake City, missing bronze by 1/100th of a point.

Jennifer loves just about any sport, swimming competitively with the Barracuda Swim Club. She began skiing at age two and thanks her “insanely enthusiastic” parents for that. While training for the 2002 Olympics, Jennifer wrote, “To me, there is nothing greater than passion….Passion is what sends me speeding through the mogul field and flying off jumps.” 

Taking a year off in 2004 to attend university and mend injuries, Jennifer then returned to competition and attained 17 podiums, making her total 30 – all by age 22. In 2004, Jennifer became Canada's first woman Moguls World Cup Champion, repeating in 2005. She also won her fifth national dual moguls title and gold at the World Championships.

 “Each day,” Jenn says, “I become challenged to become a better skier and a better person as I learn from those around me that have already succeeded….I hope that I will be able to plant the Olympic bug and the desire to strive for excellence the way it has been planted inside of me.”

Jenn is a great ambassador for Spruce Grove, choosing to finish high school here rather than the National Sports School in Calgary, because she is proud to be from Spruce Grove.  

Ken Howery (Community Service)

Spruce Grove has come a long way since 1891 when it was a hamlet with a general store, livery stables, blacksmith shop, hotel and Catholic church. By 1955, Spruce Grove was a village, a town in 1971, and a city in 1986. Perhaps no one has been more instrumental in making Spruce Grove the prosperous city it is today than Ken Howery, who served as a town councillor and, from 1971-77, as its fifth mayor.

According to one former colleague, Ken Howery was the one person most responsible for having the vision necessary to bring our city out of a slumbering existence to become a town with a positive future.

Spruce Grove’s growth under Ken Howery’s leadership was astounding. The town became a member in the Parkland Water Board and built the first water line from Edmonton to Spruce Grove. The Serplex community school was developed, bringing Spruce Grove the province’s A.V. Pettigrew Recreation Award.

Plans were made for major roadways and to ensure that there was land and utilities for expansion. Development agreements were completed for Brookwood, Woodhaven and Millgrove subdivisions completed, and school sites were secured. The town negotiated a very creative agreement for the development of land that would become Grove Meadows. It provided Spruce Grove with 25 per cent profit sharing as well as title to 60 acres of parkland, far more than the normal land requirements.
 
While the value of these agreements would not be well known to the average resident, Spruce Grove would not be nearly as prosperous if then-mayor Howery had not been so vigilant in his preparation of these early agreements.

Mr. Howery played a most significant role in leading the then Town of Spruce Grove during its more explosive period of growth and change. He was the thoughtful guardian of balanced, controlled growth. He worked diligently to ensure that the decision makers fully understood and managed the planning and development process. Ken had both the skills of leadership and the technical and managerial skills to oversee administrative processes.

Henry Singer (Community Service)

It’s hard to imagine that any one person could accomplish as much in a lifetime as did the late Henry Singer. Born in 1907, Mr. Singer watched Spruce Grove grow from a tiny hamlet to the city it is today. Actually, there was little time for watching for a doer like Henry.

Henry Singer was married for over 60 years to Florence, and together they raised six children. Mr. Singer was a school bus driver for over 40 years. At age 74, he was made an honorary staff member at Woodhaven Junior High School for his dedication to the children he served.

Henry was an outstanding farmer and in 1971 the Singer family received the Alberta Farm Family Award. In addition to running the farm and volunteering as director at the Stony Plain Seed Cleaning Plant for 32 years, Henry Singer was a charter and lifetime member of the chamber of commerce, Lions Club and Spruce Grove Curling Club. He helped to build the Peace Lutheran Church, Spruce Grove’s first curling rink and the Spruce Grove Agrena. He was a director of the Serplex Society, Spruce Grove Agricultural Society, the Rural Electrification Association and a member of the Spruce Grove Recreation Board.

That was Henry Singer – school bus driver, fastball coach, active volunteer, curler, and, when he found time, a farmer.

In 1980, Spruce Grove named a ball diamond after Henry Singer. He coached fastball from 1943-1976, leading his teams to five provincial intermediate C championships over four decades. In 1982, he was among the first six inductees into the Alberta Amateur Softball Hall of Fame.

The Henry Singer Award given each year to a top athlete at Spruce Grove Composite High School is another way he inspires our young people today.

Judy Kesanko (Education)

When Judy Kesanko retired as a teacher after 22 years, little did she know how busy she would be. In 1997, she took a three-month contract with the Multicultural Heritage Centre to ensure that its field-trip program met the school curriculum. Her position became permanent and she became part of an award-winning team providing innovative agricultural, farm-safety and environmental school programs to hundreds of students. 

Judy Kesanko’s development and use of educational games and programs has earned her the Award of Excellence in the Education category.  

Some of her efforts have been directed at reducing farm injuries and deaths through utilizing safe practices while working, watching or playing. 

Judy and colleague Jeanette Smith designed their programs knowing that children learn better when having fun. Knowing that five children are killed on Alberta farms in Alberta each year, they developed several games to teach farm safety in a fun, interactive way.
 
City Slickers is one unique program for city children co-ordinated by Mrs. Kesanko. Since 1999, 1,000 Edmonton students each year have taken part, spending a day in the country. They learn about food production, watch a harvest and tour a local working farm. 

Mrs. Kesanko’s work has brought regional, provincial and national recognition. In 2002, the duo won the Injury Control Champion Award. In 2003, they were awarded the Canadian Agri-Food Award for Excellence at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. The following year, in 2004, they won the Parkland County Award of Excellence in Agriculture.

In 2003, Shirley McClellan, Deputy Premier and Agriculture Minister, congratulated Mrs. Kesanko with these remarks, “In an era when many families often live their lives far removed from their roots and where children don't really know where their food comes from, your wonderful City Slicker program brings so much knowledge and enjoyment to thousands of urban children each year.”

Judy Kesanko's contribution to education has not only benefited Spruce Grove students but students throughout Alberta. Spruce Grove recognizes these achievements as well with this Award of Excellence.

Dr. Locksley McGann (Innovation)

Ironically, Dr. Locksley McGann was born in Jamaica, where melting was far more common than freezing. Dr. McGann is recognized as a world leader and innovator in cryobiology, which is the study of the effects of very low temperatures on living organisms. He has studied how living cells respond to low temperatures, how cells and tissues can be preserved at low temperatures and the uses of these techniques. It’s for his scientific innovation and contributions in transplantation medicine particularly that Dr. McGann is being recognized.

In 1964, Dr. McGann moved to Canada with his family. After two years of post-doctoral work with a internationally-acclaimed cryobiology research group in the U.K., Dr. McGann came to the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Alberta. He and his wife, Margo, and family settled in Spruce Grove in 1975. Dr. McGann has held appointments at the UofA in the Departments of Surgery, Medicine and Food Sciences, at the University of Calgary in the Department of Surgery, at the Canadian Blood Services in the Research and Development Department and at the Jiamusi Medical College in China in Pathophysiology.

Dr. McGann’s Masters and Doctorate students have gone on to make their own valued contributions in science and medicine.

In addition to the application of his work in the banking of cells and tissues for transplant, Dr. McGann has done research in methods used to preserve skin for the treatment of severe burn victims, and articular cartilage for patients requiring joint resurfacing or replacement. His pioneering work has led to innovations in cryopreservation of stem cells. Dr. McGann is the founding and current Laboratory Director of the Canadian Blood Services Hematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory, which processes and stores bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells for transplant. Dr. McGann has also worked in conservation of biodiversity in threatened and endangered animals.

Dr. McGann, we may not understand what you do, but we recognize its importance to preserving life. Spruce Grove honours your achievements.