The Board of the Park Warden Service Alumni Society met today in Cochrane. At the top of our Agenda was the following statement.

We honour Gord Anderson who was not only a dedicated member of PWSAS but also a director for 3 years and a regional director for 2 years. Sadly, Gord passed away suddenly at the age of 81 on February 12th. The following is a brief summary of Gord’s career.

Following the completion of technical school in Saskatoon, Gord started as a seasonal warden in Banff in 1969. The next year Gord, his wife Sharon and their young son Travis moved to Jasper where they remained for the rest of their career. Gord and Sharon had a daughter Rundi who followed in the steps of her father and became a park warden, the first father/daughter wardens in Canada. For 28 years Gord held a variety of interesting positions including being backcountry warden and working in resource management where he participated in a two-year bear study with the Canadian Wildlife Service and the first prescribed burn in national parks. He also served as a liaison warden with Parks and the Canadian National Railroad, and worked in the enforcement and operations departments where he mentored many a new warden. Gord was dedicated to the warden way of life. For Gord and Sharon, who was a ‘silent partner’, the opportunity to raise their family as part of the warden community, in the mountains surrounded by nature and the wildlife was a highlight of their career. Rest in peace Gord!

The names of those on accompanying photo:

Zoom screen in background: Bradley Bischoff, Pete Clarkson, Alan Westhaver, and Bob Hansen.

L-R Perry Jacobson, Marie Nylund, Jim Murphy, Colleen Reynolds, Kathy Calvert, Dave Reynolds. Dale Portman is missing from the photo.

We wore our green Park Warden Service Alumni Society vests in honour of Gord.