Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of
J. Alex Edmison
November 12, 2003 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of my father, John Alexander Edmison. Known as "Alex" (pronounced like 'Alec') all his life, he was an extraordinary person who lived in an extraordinary century. He was a born communicator who kept lifelong friends and who worked at keeping in touch. One of the 20th Century inventions that he was most keen on was the photocopier. How he loved to make endless copies of letters, pictures, documents...and send them to all his friends. One of his greatest pleasures was to work on the genealogy of the Edmison family. An old friend once quipped, while accompanying him on a fact-finding trip around Peterborough, that it was a "slow day for Alex if he hadn't done two cemeteries before breakfast".
Alex died in Peterborough on April 1, 1980, at the age of 76. He left his family with a wonderful legacy of what it means to be a humane human being - as my mother had placed on his tombstone, he truly was "A Friend to All".
Alex would have loved the easy communication of the Internet. He would have been thrilled at how I am able to be in touch with Edmison cousins whom I have yet to meet. When in a new city, he would immediately look up the name 'Edmison' in the phone book and give them a call. He would have loved having the ability to scan documents and send them around the world with a few clicks.
For this November 12, 2003 - this 100th anniversary of his birth - I want to share memories of JAE with those of us who knew and loved him, and invite those who only know of him, to get to know him a bit better through this wonderful medium. Please read, enjoy the old photos and click on the links as I look back on the life of J. Alex Edmison. Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to the larger photos. (note: More family genealogy will be added over time!)
In planning this 100th tribute to my Dad, I came across the text for the memorial service which the people at MacKay United Church in Ottawa had for JAE in 1980. It covers many of the interesting points of his life and so I have reproduced it here, adding some links to old photos or documents.
"The Edmison Family of Northumberland, England first came to Canada in 1818. This was Dr. Edmison's great-grandfather. Among Dr. Edmison's prized possessions were the family Bible and a grandfather clock ; prized possessions also, of the first Edmison in Canada and borne across the seas to the New World.
The Edmisons were among the first white inhabitants of the Peterborough area. John Edmison Sr., having procured land, returned home to England, married there and remained six years, and came back to Canada in 1832 as the head of a large family migration.Successive generations of the family filled places of worth and honour in local politics, agriculture, the professions and the church.
Dr. Edmison's father was Dr. John Hall Edmison. He joined the Home Mission work of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1911, and at the time of Church Union in 1925, was the chief executive officer for Home Missions for the Presbyterian Church in Canada, a work he continued in the United Church of Canada. It is worthy to note that Dr. S.D. Chown, one of the architects of Church Union, at the time of the funeral service for Dr. J.H. Edmison, was to write these words: "We all feel that the more Dr. Edmison was known, the better he was loved." In this the son was not different from his father.
Dr. Alex Edmison's life touched so many people with a good influence over a long period of time. He was tireless in this. Following the family tradition, his early education was at Queen's University, and then he went on to study law at McGill. Early in his university education, he became acquainted with penitentiary work at Kingston, and this sparked a lifelong interest in prison reform and rehabilitation. It was a considerable satisfaction to him in his later years to know that a rehabilitation house, in his family's native Peterborough, was named in his honour.
His accomplishments were many and his involvements were wide and significant. During WWII, as an officer in the Black Watch, he headed the Legal Aid Bureau, Judge Advocate General, Canadian Military Headquarters, London, England. Following this service, he was the Senior UNRRA Liaison Officer to the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, and in the course of his duties, witnessed very early the horrors which had taken place at Dachau. For his outstanding work in the resettlement of refugees, he received citations from General Eisenhower and General De Gaulle. The years which followed saw leadership roles with the John Howard Society of Ontario, distinguished service as Assistant to the Principal of Queen's University (in charge of public relations and endowment), a decade of service as a founding member of the National Parole Board and academic work as a Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. Much sought out as a public speaker, he crossed and recrossed the whole nation to address the Canadian Club and, at one point in his career, addressed audiences in 55 American cities in a single year in the interests of the resettlement of war victims.
Among his chief joys in life were to see Queen's Theological College survive and thrive, and to be actively associated with the growing strength of Trent University, Peterborough.
There was scarcely an important event in Canada in the last half century which he did not know and support, and in them all he had a vital interest. Yet, with all his national and international interests, our friend did not ever lose his warm and sincere human touch. Many of us would remember him as an exceptionally good friend, and we remember, in personal terms, all that he has meant to us.
One of his greatest gifts was his gift of encouragement. His friends in High Horizons know full well that, when he drew near for a brief chat, they were able to look beyond their ills and wheelchairs. And his encouragement to the members of High Horizons was a symbol of the help which he has given to many, many people across this fair land.
Another of his gentle and endearing qualities was his love of books, and the evident joy in which he shared these books. Over the years, many of us have received a gift of good books, with the familiar J.A.E. and a little message of friendship.
...this great humanitarian was one who saw great possibilities everywhere in life. He saw the possibilities which so many of us have missed. Once, for example, when Dr. Edmison was addressing the Canadian Club in Fredericton, New Brunswick, he quoted Bliss Carman, and had taken the trouble to visit the poet's grave. He addressed the Canadian Club with Carman's words:
For the grave-tree at my head,
With the quiet sun behind it
In the years that I am dead."
And he asked the good people of Fredericton where the Scarlet Maple was located. When they answered that Bliss Carman's grave had never received his expressed wish, our friend suggested that it was time to keep faith with this great Canadian and, before long, the University of New Brunswick graciously planted the appointed tree - one more symbol of the way in which Dr. Edmison saw the possibilities of life, pointed them out to us, and urged us toward their attainment.
His life was not without honours. He was made a KC in the late 1940's. In 1974 his Alma Mater, Queen's, honoured him with an LLD degree. His nation presented him with first a Coronation Medal and then a Centennial Medal. In 1976 he became a Member of the Order of Canada ."
