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Falling snow cast a sombre tone as students laid poppies on the graves of fallen soldiers in Jasper cemetery.
Pupils from Jasper Junior/Senior High School and Ecole Desrochers took part in No Stone Left Alone, a project that aims to mark the headstones of every war veteran buried in Jasper with a poppy for Remembrance Day.
And this year, 115 graves in Jasper cemetery were marked.
Jasper veterans, representatives from the municipal council and Reverend David Prowse spoke at the ceremony.
Paul Butler, deputy mayor, said: “We can’t have hope for the future if we don’t remember the past.
“Thank you for being here and for the work you do.
“Your acts of remembrance give me hope for a better and more peaceful future.”
Rev. Prowse told students about his time serving extended tours in West Germany and taking his children to cemeteries across Europe to find the graves of Jasperites who died in service.
He said: “When the kids were small they would say, ‘Oh Dad, not another cemetery,’ but by the time I had finished my second tour they certainly understood why it was we were there and why we paid respects at these cemeteries.”
Prowse led students the graves of three soldiers listed in the books of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Henry Andri Hanson, Alexander Collie and James Robinson.
He then led the group in prayer and the Act of Remembrance was read in both English and French before the students spread out over the graveyard to lay poppies.
No Stone Left Alone originated in Edmonton and was started by Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, whose parents both served in the Second World War.
Maureen Bianchini-Purvis placed a poppy on her grandparents’ headstones every Remembrance Day, but noticed that many soldiers’ headstones were without a poppy year after year.
No Stone Left Alone was born from her idea and Jasper was the first town to adopt the initiative outside of Edmonton.
Now, the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization working with the Canadian Armed Forces and Alberta Education to help raise funds for Canadian Veterans and their families.
