Welcome to Ronning Street Neighbourhood Park in the heart of Terwillegar Park Estates. It’s interesting to know that the roads that connect us and lead to this place are named after respected Edmontonians who contributed greatly to our community. Here are their stories.
George Roy (1846-1932)
George Roy was born in Quebec but spent most of his years taking on opportunities as Canada grew westward. He was a teacher and newspaper editor in Ontario, at one time lived and worked in Detroit, and then took up as a pioneer settler in the sparsely settled West.
On his way to seek his fortune, George and his party were detained at the Manitoba border until they received permission from Louis Riel to continue on to Fort Garry, now known as Winnipeg. In 1870 he took a job as a clerk with the newly formed Manitoba government. In 1885, George Roy moved to Edmonton where he served as the first registrar of lands in Edmonton and held the position for more than 20 years. He was the Federal Government’s civil servant in Alberta and built one of the first private residences in Edmonton.
Alex Romaniuk (1927-1988)
Edmonton-born Alex Romaniuk was an internationally ranked wrestling judge, teacher and volunteer. He started competitive wrestling in 1939 in elementary school, and as a student at the University of Alberta he won the WQAA championship for his weight class every year from 1948 to 1951. He also found time to play for the Golden Bears Football Team (1948) and the Edmonton Eskimos (1949). He later coached wrestling at the university and coached the Canadian team at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
Alex gained international recognition as a builder of the sport of wrestling. He chaired the Alberta Wresting Association for 15 years and the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association for five years. Not content to be a world leader in the organization of his sport, Alex was also an internationally renowned wrestling official and held the highest level of certification awarded by the international body. He officiated at the World Wrestling Championships in 1965, 1967, and 1989, as well as the Pan American Games in 1967 and the Olympic Games in 1968. He also played a key role in bringing the 1978 Commonwealth Games to Edmonton.
On top of all this, Alex was a highly regarded educator for 28 years and was supervisory principal for the Edmonton and Jasper Place school boards.
He was recognized for his contributions to his community and the sport of wrestling from organizations around the world, including the Centennial Medal from the Government of Canada in 1967 and the Olympic Gold Star at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Alex was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (1974), The Edmonton Boxing and Wrestling Hall of Fame (1976), the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame (1981), and the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame (1985).
Robert Henry Routledge (1915-1970)
Robert H. Routledge was a World War II veteran and physical education teacher. From 1939-1941 he supervised the provincial health recreation program. After serving in the war, he attended the University of Alberta and received a degree in Education. He began his teaching career in 1948 at Victoria Composite High School.
He was a key figure at the inauguration of the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association in 1956 and was a constant guiding force for its policies and activities. He sought to involve as many boys and girls as possible in sports programs: to stress courtesy and sportsmanship above winning; to consider first the health, fitness, intellectual and emotional growth of the participants.
Robert progressed to Provincial Recreation Supervisor, to high school physical educator, to Assistant Supervisor of Physical Education with the Edmonton Public School Board and finally to Professor of Physical Education, University of Alberta, with his doctorate pending at the time of his passing (April 25, 1970).
The Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association presents the annual Robert H. Routledge Award to recognize teachers’ outstanding service to the students of Alberta schools in the promotion and operation of an athletic program.
Dr. R.A. Rooney (1890-1961)
Dr. R.A. Rooney was a World War II veteran and professor of dentistry at the University of Alberta. He was born in Ontario and came to Alberta in 1906. After completing his education in the United States, Dr. Rooney returned to Alberta, moving to Edmonton and entering private practice in 1911. During WW II, he helped form the Canadian Dental Corps. He joined the University of Alberta in 1942 and taught there for 15 years.
Chester Alvin Ronning (1894-1985)
Chester Alvin Ronning was a veteran of both world wars, an educator, politician and diplomat. He was born in Fancheng, China in 1894, the second of seven children. His parents were Lutheran missionaries who served in China for 11 years. The family left China in 1899, narrowly missing being caught in the Boxer Rebellion, an uprising targeting Christian missionaries.
The Ronnings spent time in Norway and the United States, then travelled through Canada on their way back to China and bought land for a future home in Bardo, near Tofield. They spent the next six years in China but returned to that homestead in 1907.
Chester graduated from the University of Alberta in 1916 with a B.Sc. degree in Education and achieved a Master of Arts degree during the 1930s. He taught in Edmonton schools, and after serving in the First World War, he taught in China but returned to Alberta in 1927 when he became principal of Camrose Lutheran College, a position he held for the next 15 years. Chester also served as a member of the Alberta Legislature from 1932 to 1935.
During the Second World War, he carried out intelligence work for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He began his diplomatic career at the Canadian Embassy in Nanking, China where he remained from 1945 to 1951.
He was Ambassador to Norway and Iceland from 1954 to 1956 and served as High Commissioner to India from 1957 to 1964. He was also head of delegations to the Geneva Conferences on Korea in 1954, on Laos in 1961 and 1962, and as special envoy to Hanoi and Saigon in 1966, where he attempted to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War.
He was awarded Honourary Degrees from the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Waterloo, and Simon Fraser, and St. Olaf’s College in Minnesota.
He wrote the book, A Memoir of China in Revolution: From the Boxer Rebellion to the People’s Republic. He was designated an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967 and became a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1972.
Chester Ronning was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 1983, the same year he celebrated his 90th year at a banquet in the Great Hall of the People, and at his birthplace of Fancheng.
Sources
Naming Edmonton: From Ada to Zoie
University of Alberta – Sports Hall of Fame
Alberta Order of Excellence
Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association
Provincial Archives of Alberta