Beneath the towering slopes of Mount Edith Cavell, more than 30 Jasperites gathered for a touching ceremony to commemorate Cavell’s arrest during the First World War.
The 30-minute ceremony held on Aug. 2, was by retired Anglican rector David Prowse and included a monologue by Stephanie Marr, who played Edith Cavell.
“Her faith was the most important thing to her and you could see that in everything she did,” said Marr, who works for the Jasper Municipal Library and throughout the summer has performed monologues as Cavell.
Cavell was arrested on Aug. 5, 1915, after being betrayed by a German spy who asked her to help him escape Belgium and find refuge in neutral Holland.
Prior to her arrest, the 49-year-old British Red Cross nurse was credited with saving hundreds of soldiers lives, without regard for their nationality, by disguising them as patients at her training school and providing them with money and guides to escape to Holland.
She is credited with helping 200 British, French and Belgian soldiers caught on the wrong side of the trenches.
“When people talked about her they had nothing but the utmost respect for her, and everything that she did was based on doing her duty,” said Marr, in reference to Cavell’s responsibilities as a nurse.
That respect was evident among those in attendance as they recited The Penitential Rite and sang Abide With Me, the last song Cavell sang with her English chaplain, Stirling Graham, before she was executed by a German firing line in October 1915.
“I think we’re all called to do what is right, what is important and what is just,” said Prowse, about Cavell’s commitment to provide medical care to anyone in need.
In 1916, shortly after her death, Prime Minister Robert Borden and British Columbia Premier Sir Richard McBride directed the Geographic Board of Canada to select a Canadian peak to name after her.
A.O Wheeler, the first president of the Alpine Club of Canada, selected the snowy peak south of the Jasper townsite, known by the voyageurs of the early 19th century as “La Montage de la Grande Traverse.”
Five months after Cavell’s execution, it was officially named Mount Edith Cavell.
Not long after the mountain was named, the Church of England started holding a memorial service the first Sunday of August to commemorate the day she was arrested.
Her body was repatriated to England in 1919 and reburied just outside Norwich Cathedral.
In 1925, 10 years after her arrest, the first memorial was held at the base of the mountain and by 1935 the service was held annually in Jasper. In more recent years the service was held in town.
“It’s been daunting to play someone who was such an amazing person up until the very end,” said Marr, who performs at the corner of Pyramid Lake Road and Connaught Drive every Wednesday at 1 p.m.
“It’s been an amazing opportunity to be doing this for the past few months, but to be able to be a part of the memorial service was the most important one to me.”
Paul Clarke [email protected]
