In the past (pardon the pun), my Eagle column has dealt mainly with the history of the Cochrane area and told stories of many families who have lived here for generations.
Many of them came from the United Kingdom to settle this land. Cochrane is growing in all areas and yes, our traffic can be utter chaos at times, but people are choosing this town as their ideal home and many are still coming from England, among other far-away places.
Douglas and Marie White came from England quite recently, in 2007. Douglas lived in Manchester and Marie was from Widnes, near Liverpool. They were married in 1970. Dougie (as he is affectionately called) enlisted voluntarily in the British Army for a period of three years. After that, he worked for ITT as a driver delivering goods.
Marie had a long nursing career lasting 36 years. She started out as a general nurse at MRI (Manchester Royal Infirmary), then a night sister and finally a district nurse.
Dougie and Marie had two children: a daughter Lisa and a son Ian. Sadly, Ian passed away at the age of 30 in 2002. Lisa has two daughters: Katie, 16, and Emily, 14. Volunteering has always been a large part of Dougie’s life. While in England, he volunteered for the PTA (Parent/Teacher’s Association) where his children and grandchildren attended school. He was also on the school board of governors.
Dougie and Marie arrived in Canada with Lisa and her family. At first, they lived in Tuscany in Calgary. Dougie was volunteering at the St. Basil Elementary and Junior High School in Tuscany as a fundraiser, but Marie could see that Dougie needed a little more to do. One day, she saw an ad in the paper where they were looking for volunteers at the Calgary Aerospace Museum. Dougie has now enjoyed working there two days a week for the last five years. Last year, he logged 340 hours at the museum.
“My heart is in it,” said Dougie. “You have to have a passion for what you do.
“Grade 6 children come from various schools to learn the theory of flight. They are very interested in all we have to offer. We have a Lancaster bomber, a Saber jet and a Mash helicopter, the type that served in Korea.”
Dougie first became interested in airplanes when he started building remote control boat and airplane models. Later, he earned his glider pilot’s licence while he was with the air cadets in England.
When Lisa moved to Airdrie in 2013, Dougie and Marie decided to move to Cochrane. They had been to Cochrane many times walking their dog, Stella.
“We moved here because we fell in love with this place. The people are so nice and Cochrane has the small town feel,” said Dougie.
Marie added, “We shop locally as much as possible, but are concerned about the small shops taking a hit with the box stores coming in.”
In May of this year, Douglas White was honored by the City of Calgary when the CEO of the Calgary Stampede presented him with the ‘Calgary Volunteer of the Year Award’ at the 53rd annual White Hat Awards dinner.
“I think this award has topped virtually everything I’ve ever received,” said Dougie humbly. “I didn’t think I’d have a chance. There were 700 nominees at the dinner.”
Dougie plans to pursue his volunteering in Cochrane this fall. He has already talked to Constables on Patrol and has researched several other options.
With only five years of art lessons, Marie has proven herself to be an accomplished artist already. Her acrylic landscapes and flowers in her home gallery are amazing. She is definitely a talented lady and her creative side is also evident in knitting baby clothes and sweaters. The Whites found their dream town and plan to stay.
People are still moving to Cochrane. The traffic problem will be remedied eventually and we are lucky to have enthusiastic, caring people in our community.
