Pair honoured for work preserving history

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on December 13, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Lethbridge Historial Society vice-president Lorien Johansen, centre, is flanked by Carlton Stewart and Frank McTighe as they receive Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medals Saturday.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Two southern Albertans on Saturday were recognized by the Historical Society of Alberta for their contributions to provincial history.

Carlton Stewart of Lethbridge and Frank McTighe of Fort Macleod were given Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals at the Southern Alberta Ethnic Association.

The medals were presented by Lethbridge Historical Society president Belinda Crowson in a ceremony emceed by LHS vice-president Lorien Johansen.

Stewart was recognized “for his leadership roles in several organizations that have promoted the preservation of our history. His love of publishing has resulted in more than 50 books highlighting the history of the Lethbridge area. He has collaborated in the production of 50+ plaques commemorating Lethbridge’s built history,” said the provincial society.

McTighe, the owner, publisher, editor and reporter of the Macleod Gazette “not only covers current affairs but is instrumental in the retelling of our history over the last 140 years, meticulously reporting events accurately. He publishes a weekly column highlighting events that had occurred locally since 1882,” said the society.

Crowson told the audience “for many years they’ve had my respect” and on behalf of the city thanked them over sharing their knowledge and passion for the history of southern Alberta.

She said David Sarsfield of the City who loaned the flags for the ceremony couldn’t think of anybody better than Stewart to receive the medal. She added that Brian Hancock, who wrote her presentation from the city, made sure she knew McTighe was “one of the best people in southern Alberta to work with and one of the people in the media industry who actually gets the story correct.”

Stewart had praise for other people who have helped him on the projects he’s been involved with over the years.

“I started back in 1966, I worked for the Lethbridge Herald printing department and we printed the first book for Alex Johnson,” he recalled.

He didn’t join the society for a couple of years but as soon as he paid his membership dues, he was made a vice-president, Stewart said to laughter.

McTighe, a Calgary native who started his newspaper career in 1980 after studying at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, has been a fixture in rural Alberta for decades working at papers in Taber, High River, Nanton and Fort Macleod.

“It’s an incredible honour, completely unexpected. The work that I do is just in the course of my day-to-day life as publisher and editor of the Macleod Gazette. In Fort Macleod, we’re very proud of the history of our community,” he said.

The Gazette was the first newspaper in Alberta, started on July 1, 1882 by a couple of ex-Northwest Mounted Police officers who had a vision.

McTighe said before the ceremony the honour “is nice because it recognizes the value of the work that newspapers do. We’re doing the first draft of history so we’re in the history business as well as the news business.”

The weekly history column the Gazette does features news tidbits from past decades and McTighe says it is probably the most popular piece in the paper.

“People really enjoy reading about the history of the community. It’s certainly one of the most anticipated features in the paper every week.There have been times when I missed a week and boy, did I hear about it. So it’s a priority for me every week to get it done,” McTighe said.

“It’s fascinating work to do, it’s time-consuming because you get bogged down in reading things because they’re so interesting.”

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