Alberta Estonian Heritage Society Annual General Meeting, 2008
Helgi Leesment
Alberta Estonian Heritage Society held its annual general meeting on May 3, 2008 at the Snell Auditorium of the Red Deer Public Library. It had been preceded by the official launch ceremony of the Alberta’s Estonian Heritage website.
President Bob Kingsep ’s understated humorous style kept the meeting going at a speedy pace. The majority of the past Board agreed to retain their positions. Peter Asmus replaces Anne Cowick as Membership Convener. The AEHS thanks Anne for two years of volunteer service in the position she inherited at a time when the membership list grew complicated and was starting the conversion to a different software program. The current Board members list appears on the inside front cover of this issue of AjaKaja.
Members heard the review of an intensely busy past year:
An AEHS logo and pin were adopted. Major funding had been obtained from three sources to result in a professionally produced half-hour documentary film and a quality historical website, thanks to financing applications skillfully submitted by Dave Kiil. Treasurer Toomas Pääsuke made sense of the complicated finances, duly audited by Enn and Pärja Tiislar. The AEHS responded to an invitation by the West Coast Estonian Days committee in Los Angeles with the debut of the documentary DVD Alberta’s Estonians and a Readers’ Theatre production highlighting the pioneering tales of an Alberta family. Both were well received by the Estonian crowd in California. The DVD received excellent reviews at the EstDocs film festival in Toronto.
The Alberta debuts were hosted in turn by Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton AEHS groups with Estonian Charg é d’Affaires Rasmus Lumi in honourary attendance at each. Jaanipäev attracted a wide range of ages to Lincoln Hall. The first two Board meetings under new President Bob Kingsep were held in Tallinn (May 7, 2007) and Los Angeles (August 10, 2007), finally reverting to Alberta in the Fall - secretary Jüri Kraav dutifully attended and recorded all. Future plans include Jaanipäev celebration at Linda Hall in 2009, with the organizing committee already making arrangements.
To the sincere applause of AEHS members, Dave Kiil and Eda McClung were each awarded an AEHS “Oscar” as a token of recognition for their outstanding volunteer work in coordinating the two historical projects: the well-acclaimed documentary film and the newly-launched major website featuring Alberta’s Estonians. All members of the Alberta Estonian Heritage Society were thanked for their input of family photos and biographies for these two projects. Without that interest and effort, neither project would have come to be.
AEHS members are rightfully proud of their organization’s achievements in the brief three years since its inception.
Photo credits on this page: Helgi Leesment, Martha
Munz Gue
