Like so much in Jasper, the history of Anglican worship began with the railroad workers, who arrived to lay tracks through what was then the town of Fitzhugh.
Those services took place in a tent as early as 1909, and were lead by a travelling missionary named Rev. Walter Leversedge.
It wasn’t until 1914 that the Anglican Church was properly established in town, when Rev. G. Provis oversaw the construction of a cedar log building with materials supplied from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
The building was made possible partly by two individual £50 donations. According to the church’s retired rector, David Prowse, both of the donors had specific names for the church in mind, and the resulting compromise is why it ended up being christened the Church of St. Mary and St. George.
“Although I think there may have been a little bit of minor dissension over it,” Prowse admitted with a smile.
In 1915, a tower was added to the church, and in 1922 that tower housed one of the church’s most memorable rectors—one Rev. Edwards.
Edwards and his wife were well loved in Jasper, and evidence of that still rings in old records and testimonies from the church’s past.
For example, during the depression of the late ‘30s the government established camps for the unemployed. Edwards felt the men should have services, so he hiked to one of the camps to suggest it. After proposing his idea at a bunkhouse he heard someone shout in response: “tell him to go to hell,” to which Edwards responded “lead on boys, I’ll come with you.”
The result of this interaction was an enthusiastic new congregation.
In 1927 the parish received a huge surprise when a mysterious benefactor from England donated $15,000 for the construction of a new church. An Edmonton architect was hired, and the first service was held in the new building on Dec. 22, 1928. It was consecrated a year later.
In 1932 the distinctive tower was added to the building, and it was named in memory of Edith Cavell, a nurse executed for helping allied soldiers escape German territory during the First World War. For years the parish held a memorial service at the foot of Angel Glacier in her honour.
In 1953, nearly a decade after the mysterious benefactor’s death, her identity was revealed to the church. She turned out to be Mrs. Marion Beatrice Smith of Bournemouth, England.
According to Prowse, the mysterious woman had a son who was studying to become an Anglican priest, and her donation—to St. Mary’s and St. George, as well as several other Anglican churches in western Canada—was in memory of him.
“Her son was intending to study for the ministry and come to Western Canada, but he died in Palestine during The Great War,” Prowse explained. “And on his body they found a new testament and a rosary made of olive wood beads.”
Prowse said the cornerstone of the Edith Cavell Memorial Tower contains that bible and the olive rosary, to honour the memory of Smith’s son.
But as long and interesting as the history of the building is, Prowse said the real history of the church is carried on through its congregation.
One of those people is Glenda Cornforth, who grew up in the church and has been a member her entire life. Cornforth explained that when she was a child the church was a huge part of the community: not only did it support theatre companies and women’s groups, but it also provided a community for the town’s children before there was a lot of organized sports.
She still remembers playing hide and seek in the cavernous old church building, and watching it being demolished after half of it was moved across the street to become the new parish hall in 1958. Cornforth could tell stories for days about old congregation members, or past church events.
She recalled the church organist, who in the ‘50s would bring her dog Lucky to every mass with her, to sit quietly in the choir room.
She also remembered when the church held a huge fundraiser by selling tickets to a “Chinese dinner,” only to have to cancel the whole things after all the food went bad due to lack of proper refrigeration. According to Cornforth, the organizer was in tears as she disposed of huge vats of food.
“We had to take all these giant vats of Chinese food out to the dump,” she said, squinting through laughter.
There are other major moments in the church’s history—including an ecumenical experiment that saw them briefly combine with the United Church in the ‘70s—but a standout moment of its recent history is the royal visit of 2005.
In May of that year, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Phillip visited for a service. Prowse remembered the day well. He said 150 people crammed into the church to attend the mass, and an additional 750 waited outside to glimpse the royal couple.
“His Royal Highness had quite a wit—he was a real class act,” Prowse recalled. “As we were going out the door of the church I introduced him to Ray, who was the people’s warden and when I introduced him to my wife Patty he turned to me and said, ‘oh, and your warden.’”
Cornforth read the church’s prayers for the people that day, and remembered sitting just a foot or so away from Prince Phillip. She said it was a great honour for the church to host the queen, and said she will remember her majesty for the rest of her life.
Prowse said that the following Sunday his congregation doubled in size, when a bus full of Singaporean tourists arrived to worship where the queen had worshipped.
These days, the church congregation sits at about 30 people. Cornforth said she isn’t sure what will happen to the building, but she is convinced that the church will continue to live on in some form or another. Her greatest wish for her church, she said, is for that to happen.
“I would hope the church would be able to continue on,” she said, struggling to find words. “I guess it’s filled a need in my life, and I like to think it would be there to fill a need in others.”
Trevor Nichols
[email protected]
