A Jasperite is attempting to create an endowment in honour of Jasper native accountant Allen McQueen. 

Eleanor Bye is attempting to raise funds for an endowment in honour of McQueen, who passed away suddenly last year. The scholarship currently goes to accounting students at Grant MacEwan College, however Bye wants to ensure the fund doesn’t dry up.

“While the scholarship exists, there is the possibility to enlarge the legacy to an endowment, which would carry this financial support for deserving students in perpetuity,” Bye wrote.

Bye is working with Grant MacEwan College to ensure the McQueen grant continues to support students of accounting. Every year, two accounting students would receive $500 in award money: one grant went to the student with the highest mark, the other to a student chosen through a draw that was passing the course. 

Bye once received the grant, and has contributed to the fund.

The grant is scheduled to continue, however more funds are needed to keep the legacy going.

An additional $5,000 would be matched in grant money to ensure the scholarship survives, however donations must be received by June 30th, 2009 in order to qualify. 

McQueen was born in Jasper on January 1, 1936, the second son of Ralph and Bertha McQueen.

In 1969, he graduated from the University of Alberta in the faculty of Commerce, and articled at Ernst and Ernst. By 1971 he was a chartered accountant and began building a career and eventually began teaching at Grant MacEwan College, where he became a popular professor, but never forgot his Jasper roots. An avid train enthusiast who followed his father’s passion for the engines, he retired in 2001, and organized several reunions for his Jasper friends. He passed away on May 30, 2008 from a heart attack.