Life as third generation Estonians: Brendan, Karl and Travis Robertson

Our parents Christine and David: Our mother is Canadian with Estonian parents and was born in Vancouver, BC. Our father, David, is Canadian, with Scottish parents and was born in Winnipeg, MB. Our mother speaks fluent Estonian and attended evening Estonian school in Vancouver. Our parents met in Swan River, Manitoba, and we now live in Leduc, Alberta, the five of us, and a chocolate lab named Mocha.

Our maternal grandparents are from Saaremaa. Christine’s father, Villi Lepik, escaped to Finland in 1943 and later joined fellow Estonians in Vancouver in 1951. Villi built his first house with brother Paul in 1954, his first low-rise apartment in 1956 and Lepik Construction built their first concrete high-rise in 1961. Villi married our grandmother Anne Ojamaa in 1958. Christine mother’s family was from Tartu.

Our parents started Alta Flights (Charters) which is now going into its 23 rd year of operation.  At its peak, they operated 53 airplanes in Edmonton, Calgary and leased aircraft around the world.  Dad is president of Alta Flights and spends most of his time buying and selling aircraft.  They’re down to about 30 aircraft and the business involves flying crews up north to work on oil rigs, aerial pipeline patrol, cargo, hot shot, and executive flights.  For fun, people charter planes to go golfing, fishing and wine touring.  Dad also likes to fly for QJets, a private company in which people have bought time shares.  Alta Flights flew Estonian President Meri and his entourage during his visit to Alberta in 2000. Mom is no longer active in the day to day operation of Alta Flights.  She is now in her second year of office with the Black Gold Regional School’s Board of Education which involves education and setting policy.

So what’s it like being a third-generation Estonian?

Brendan: I was born in 1989 and I just turned 19. We’ve lived in Leduc all our lives, attended a few Estonian functions (Midsummer Night - Jaanipäev, Independence Day) and got to know some other Estonians in Edmonton.

When I was in Grade 11, I applied to do my Grade 12 on the High Seas. I was accepted to a private-school program called Class Afloat, offered through West Island College, Calgary. The school is a 188 foot tall ship and the college accepts 48 students per year. Besides sailing around the world, we studied the grade 12 curriculum, watched out for pirates (one of our regular duties), along with scraping rust, painting, and raising and lowering the huge, billowing sails.

We started off in Vancouver, BC, sailed to Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain, Copenhagen, Belgium and Poland to name a few. We interacted with local schools in every port and had an amazing experience! We arrived in Poland in June 2007 and had our graduation ceremony at Gydinia, on the northern coast. My family came out to the grad after which we travelled to Estonia for a quick visit.

It was my first visit to Estonia and we spent time touring Tallinn, Saaremaa and Parnu with my cousins. It was very beautiful but I was surprised at how few people spoke English. The old town in Tallinn was great with all its shops and cafes. We visited family in Kuressaare and saw where grandpa was born. Remnants of the past are still on the farm and my cousins have a herd of sheep. Swimming in Parnu was the greatest. We couldn’t believe how warm it was and how far out you can walk before it gets deep.

My first year at university was in Victoria where I studied Fine Arts. I have always enjoyed film making, but you don’t specialize in that until much later. University of Victoria was OK. During my year I got to do a lot of rock climbing and road racing (biking). However, I missed Edmonton and my family. So for my second year, which is this year, I am at Grant MacEwan College in International Business. I love the business courses and I’m studying Chinese as my second language. I’m not sure what my goal is, but I’ve decided a degree in business will be an asset no matter what.

Karl: Besides school, my life tends to revolve around track and field. I am in grade 12 at Leduc Composite High School and seem to be doing alright. In December I will be writing my SAT’s – a mandatory exam if you want to go study in the

United States . I have already applied to a few universities in the United States who are ranked as a Division 1 track school. My first choice is to go to High Point University in North Carolina. I have another friend who is already going to school there, and says it is awesome! I am hoping to get a track scholarship which will help pay for the schooling and I want to major in Business.

I usually run every day, even when we travel. Two summers ago when we were in Poland and Estonia, I found 400 m tracks and carried on with my workout (there is a nice one in Tallinn and one right beside the Kuressaare Castle). If there are no tracks, then I usually run 10 km. I also like to kite-board and snow-board.

Travis: Travis is in grade 5 and enjoying school. He got to travel to Orlando with his mom and dad this October. Dad attended a big aviation conference called the NBAA while mom and Travis got to spend time with Mickey Mouse in Disneyworld, had a chance to swim with a dolphin in Discovery Cove, saw Shamu in Seaworld, and enjoyed an air-boat ride on the swamps looking for alligators. Travis is very friendly and we think he’d make a great greeter at Wal-Mart!