The Mayerthorpe Story: From Ambush to Aftermath

DURING THE WEEK OF THE FOUR funerals and the National Memorial Service in Edmonton in March 2005, Margaret Thibault spent time on the chartered funeral buses and at home thinking about what could be done to honour the four slain police officers.

As the Coordinator of Victims’ Services for the areas of Mayerthorpe and Whitecourt, she had maintained an office in the Mayerthorpe Detachment. Although her job was to assist and support victims and witnesses of crime, Margaret was in daily contact with the RCMP in one detachment or the other. Over the years she had come to know all the members in both places and was a close friend to many of them — including some of those who died . . . and their families. And during the investigation after the murders, she proved to be a tower of strength for all the members working out of Mayerthorpe.

Corporal Wayne Oakes says, “She was tremendously helpful. She’s an absolutely wonderful woman.”

Margaret was well aware that the pain and grief in the two communities was almost unbearable. Residents of both towns deeply mourned the loss of the four good young men who had been their neighbours and their friends.

Many Mayerthorpe residents were also concerned that the name of their community would forever be tied to one of the worst mass murders ever to occur in Canada.

Margaret says, “I knew we had to take that heavy grief and turn it into something positive.”

One of them was Jurgen Preugschas, a local farmer who was very active in the Mayerthorpe Kinsmen and other community projects. More than just a farmer, Jurgen was an entrepreneur who owned and ran an enormous pork operation on his 3,000-acre spread southwest of town. Annually, he and his son Niko marketed some 20,000 hogs on three different farm lots. They leased one-third of their acreage for custom grazing and cropped the remaining land in barley, wheat, and canola.

Jurgen was a former chairman of Alberta Pork and in 2008 went on to become president of the Canadian Pork Council. In this position, he retains an office in Ottawa and travels around the world representing Canadian interests in his specialized field.

“I knew most of the members in the Mayerthorpe Detachment . . . and I was friends with a couple of the boys who were killed. It was an awful thing that happened.

“Margaret and I are good friends. We got together shortly after the tragedy occurred and talked about doing something to honour these four members.”

Margaret recalls, “At first we had no real vision . . . we hadn’t sorted out our thoughts. But I knew we had to take that heavy grief in the community and make something positive out of a very negative situation.

“Our little town had been thrust on centre stage for all the wrong reasons of a horrible tragedy. But that’s not who we are, and I didn’t want us to be remembered for that.”

Another person that Margaret contacted was Colette McKillop, a very active member of the Mayerthorpe community who owned and operated Grigg Insurance, a family business that had been handed down to her through three generations since 1947.

Colette and Charlotte Arthur were the two residents who made up the red and white ribbons that were distributed around town immediately after the tragedy had taken place.

Margaret Thibault says, “People from all over were sending money in cards and letters . . . to the town office, to the detachment office, to ‘K’ Division Headquarters in Edmonton. Many of them were addressed only to ‘The Town of Mayerthorpe.’ Most of the envelopes contained either five or ten dollars. But lots of people sent more than that. A few contained cheques for one thousand dollars or more.

“The cards and letters came from all across Canada . . . from every province, the north, the Northwest Territories, the United States, England, Ireland, Scotland. I distinctly recall one letter coming from Sweden. They came from people in all walks of life . . . including children.

“The money in those envelopes specifically addressed to the families of the four was given to ‘K’ Division for the family fund. Other non-specific or general donations were banked in a special account under the Victims’ Services umbrella.”

Colette recalls, “People were driving into town off the highway wanting to donate to a fund. It was as if they were expecting us to do something special.”

After some preliminary discussions with Jurgen and Colette, Margaret decided to call a meeting. She issued invitations to those two, and to Jim Martin and Joe Sangster of the RCMP, delegates from local businesses, plus government representatives from Mayerthorpe and area, Lac Ste. Anne County, the province of Alberta, and the government of Canada.

The first meeting was held on April 1, 2005, in the back meeting room of Shorty’s Restaurant just off “Main Street” in Mayerthorpe.

“We did a lot of brainstorming . . . the objective was to determine how could we best remember those who died,” Colette recalls.

Margaret says, “We discussed what we could do . . . what we should do to remember the boys properly. We wanted to find something that would address their honour and their bravery . . . something beyond the horror of the tragedy we had witnessed. We wanted to erase the horror, the dark side of the episode, and the sad memory of the event.

“In the give-and-take of that meeting, I saw the best qualities of people come out. There was such goodness in those around the table. Their motivation was very clear. You could see they were thinking: ‘Four wonderful young men are dead. We can’t let that be the end of it.’

“They all wanted to take steps to keep their memory . . . their goodness alive in a positive way . . . and always with dignity.”

Colette agrees. “Sometimes when you get people together, their egos can get in the way and they become difficult. But there was none of that in our meeting. They were all totally unselfish and co-operative. It was absolutely a dream working with all of them. And it was wonderful to be a part of it.”

Margaret makes it clear: “We also wanted to protect the good name of our community. We said from the start we would not be defined nor defeated by the shootings.”

When the meeting ended, everyone went away to think about the best way to achieve this goal. The next meeting was scheduled for May 6.

The first order of business at this gathering was to elect an executive. The positions were filled as follows:

The assembly adopted an official name for their group: The Fallen Four Memorial Society.

Then a discussion ensued in which members of the Society put forth their suggestions for ways to remember the fallen four.

Some liked the idea of a perennial garden, others wanted to plant four trees in a designated area, someone suggested they commission individual busts of the fallen four to be displayed in a building close to the detachment office.

It was soon decided that whatever the society did, they wanted the commemoration to stand alone. They didn’t want it housed in an arena or in a new swimming pool, or at the town hall, or even in the RCMP detachment building. The focus was to be on the fallen four alone.

And the committee wanted the commemoration to be in an open area that was accessible to everyone. They didn’t want it tucked away in a location that was difficult to find or a site to which it would be awkward to gain entry.

Prior to the fourth meeting, Margaret’s son Tony, who is an artist, conceived the idea of a park. He drew a design that showed a circular area with four statues of Mounties standing around the circumference of the circle in various poses. The four different poses represented the individuality each fallen officer had in life.

Margaret Thibault, Sgt. Jim Martin, and Colette McKillop in the Fallen Four Memorial office at Mayerthorpe, May 2009. (The Fallen Four Memorial Society)

Margaret liked his concept. With more discussion, they came up with the idea of having one more statue in the middle of the circle to honour all the police officers across the country who have died in the line of duty.

The group liked the idea of having bronze statues raised in a public park to honour the fallen four.

“We loved the idea right away,” says Colette. “We knew right away it was perfect. It was a place everybody could use and appreciate . . . not only members of our community but people from outside, too. It would be a positive place for people to come and visit.

“We had received so many gifts and cards and letters. They showed us that it wasn’t just our little town that was suffering. All those items we received were symbolic of how Canadians felt about the RCMP and were sent to demonstrate they were sharing in our grief. With these statues, people could come and see what their thoughtfulness had created.

Jurgen Preugschas, whose business travels had taken him around the world, was very much in support of raising the statues. “In various countries, I had seen statues of people erected to commemorate unfortunate circumstances.

“I felt in our small town the RCMP were important and I wanted to show our respect by honouring them for what they gave our country and our community.

“One hundred years from now, people can come and see what these four men did . . . and remember their sacrifice.

So the basic idea was immediately accepted. After that, the concept needed to be refined and detailed, and an appropriate property needed to be acquired for the park. The committee looked at several locations, but none of them were deemed to be entirely satisfactory.

Finally, Jurgen, who had let it be known that the society was looking for a property, was approached by his friend Gil Greenwood, who owned a couple of empty commercial lots around town. One of them, a six-acre parcel, was adjacent to the RCMP detachment office. Greenwood agreed to sell the land to the society for a modest price, and the purchase was made in July 2005.

It is worthy of note that as the park and the visitors’ centre began to take shape, Gil Greenwood contributed much of the sale price of the property back to the building fund.

The acreage had to be converted from commercial zoning to parkland, and the committee had to go through a lot of paperwork to have the designation changed.

In October 2005, Megan Sangster and Haley Martin, who were both eleven years old and Grade 5 students at Mayerthorpe’s Elmer Elson Elementary School, conceived the idea of Kids 4 Cops. Their organization wrote letters and went on radio and national television in Edmonton challenging all students from every school in Canada to donate a loonie towards the Fallen Four Memorial.

In this endeavour, they were helped immensely by Megan’s mom, Heather Sangster, and Pat Lakeman, the detachment’s longtime office manager. These two women worked with the girls, helping them to form and register their society. They also set up and scheduled their fundraiser activities and their radio and TV appearances.

Megan and Haley were daughters of Mayerthorpe RCMP officers and had been close with the three local detachment members who were killed at Roszko’s farm.

Haley says, “There was a lot of work involved . . . especially at first . . . writing speeches and setting up exhibits for shows and fairs. But we had a lot of fun, too. Opening the cards we received from all over the country was really fun.”

Working with Katherine Lakeman, Katie Mattson, and Megan’s older sister Laura Sangster from Mayerthorpe High School, Kids 4 Cops raised approximately $200,000 towards the building of the Memorial Park. Their contribution to the success of the fundraising was so significant that their group was integrated into the society as a subcommittee.

It was this type of community effort and the assistance of hundreds of other avid volunteers that enabled the society to raise the funds required to create the Memorial Park.

After the land was purchased, the word began to spread that the society was going to build a park. PCL Maxam, a mammoth worldwide construction firm with offices in Edmonton, got in touch with Joe Sangster. Joe took the name of the firm to the society, and it was contracted for the job. PCL is the company that, while working on a building project near University Hospital in Edmonton, hoisted four large black ribbons high in the air on one of their cranes during the time of the RCMP National Memorial Service.

PCL assigned Matthew Greenwood as the supervising manager for the park and he worked closely with the group as the project developed.

Meanwhile, Margaret, Jurgen, Jim Martin, and Joe Sangster were travelling around the province, looking to hire a sculptor.

“Our committee wanted a Canadian to do it,” Colette says, “and, if possible, an Albertan.”

The sculptors they settled on were a husband and wife team named Don and Shirley Begg, who run Studio West Ltd. in Cochrane, Alberta, just west of Calgary. Their studio and foundry building encompasses 16,000 square feet on one acre of land. Inside the huge edifice there are three overhead bridge cranes that are used to move and position the extremely heavy statues that they create there.

The Beggs have many famous statues to their credit. One of their most imposing works is the 2,600-pound (1,180-kilogram) statue of Colonel James Macleod that graces the lawn outside of RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa. Macleod, who is portrayed mounted on his horse, was an early commissioner of the Northwest Mounted Police and the founder of Fort Calgary. The names of all the members of the RCMP who have died in the line of duty since the inception of the Force in 1873 are inscribed on the base of Macleod’s statue.

Another famous personage the Beggs have cast in bronze is Lord Strathcona (Donald Smith), who drove the last spike for the CPR at Craigellachie, British Columbia, in 1885. They also created the bronze of General Andrew Hamilton Gault, who founded the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry in 1914. His statue stands to the west of the magnificent National War Memorial located in Ottawa’s Confederation Square.

Initially, the Mayerthorpe committee commissioned Don and Shirley to produce fifty copies of On Guard, a sixteen-inch bronze Mountie in full uniform that the society could sell to help raise funds for the Memorial Park.

Margaret Thibault’s group was already sold on the Beggs’ artistry even before they produced the miniatures, but the authenticity and meticulous attention to detail they detected on those bronze miniatures confirmed the validity of their selection.

Early on, the sculptors recommended that the Mayerthorpe statues be created at life-size plus 10 percent. Apparently this would give the figures more impact. Shirley Begg says, “It gives the statue more presence.”

At the beginning of the process, the artists looked through countless family photograph albums of each fallen member, as well as official photos provided by the RCMP.

During their discussions with various family members, Shirley recalls, “There were many tears over many cups of tea.”

Jim Martin and Staff Sergeant Scott Beck from the Cochrane Detachment worked closely with the Beggs, providing uniform items such as belts, boots, breeches, and a Stetson. Don and Shirley also travelled to Calgary to confer with the artisans there who make the Mounties’ boots and hats.

“Details are very important to us . . . the marksmanship badges, the RCMP buttons and collar badges. We want that to be precisely accurate.”

Their next decision was to determine the various poses that each of the fallen four would assume. Don and Shirley discussed this together at length and finally came up with a recommendation that was approved by RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa.

Their idea was to portray the fallen members in the four positions of readiness looking outward from the four quadrant points of the compass. The stance assumed by each member would be determined by his seniority. Each man’s rank, name, and regimental number would be engraved on the bronze base of his statue.

Brock Myrol would stand facing south towards his hometown of Red Deer. As a recent graduate of Depot Division, Brock would be portrayed in the “stand easy” position, adjusting his kit and preparing for duty on his troop commander’s orders. His feet would be twelve inches apart.

Anthony Gordon would face west toward the Whitecourt Detachment, where he served. Anthony would stand in the “at ease” position, ready to be called to attention. His body is stiffened with his hands behind his back. The right hand is in the palm of his left hand, right thumb over left thumb. His fingers are extended and pointing towards the ground. His head and eyes are to the front, elbows in, and his shoulders back. His feet are twelve inches apart.

Leo Johnston would face north toward his hometown of Lac La Biche, Alberta. As the second-longest serving member of the four, Leo would stand “at attention,” ready for orders. His heels are together and in line, feet turned out in a “V” at a thirty-degree angle. His arms hang straight down from his shoulders, elbows close to the side, wrists straight. His fists are clenched at his sides with his thumbs placed at the seam of his trousers, pointing to the ground. His shoulders are back and square to the front. His head is up with his eyes looking straight forward.

Peter Schiemann would face east toward his hometown of Stony Plain, Alberta, and his birthplace of Petrolia, Ontario. As the most senior in experience of the four, Peter would stand in the “salute” position, a formal stance of respect and courtesy. From the attention position he has brought his right hand up for a salute. His arm is bent at the elbow. With his open right palm to the front, his fingers are extended and close together, with his thumb close to his forefinger. His fingers, wrist, and elbow are in line. His saluting hand is positioned so the brim of his Stetson is between his pointer and middle finger, and that part of the brim of the Stetson aligns with the outside corner of his right eye.

With all the research and planning at their disposal, the Beggs then discussed with each other the images they were about to create. When they came to a mutual agreement of that vision, the sculpting began.

Shirley explains, “We have a rather unique approach to our work. We sculpt together. I start from one side, Don starts from the other, and we work towards each other. We like to think we use four hands to make our vision come to life.”

Don says their method works well for them. “We’ve been doing this together since 1970.”

Then it takes another two weeks to make a rubber mould from which they form a hollow wax pattern with a ceramic core.

Their final four to five weeks is spent casting the bronze from the clay model using what Don calls “the lost wax method.”

The Beggs were also responsible for designing and casting the eleven doves that flew free from the top of the twenty-four-foot (78.6-metre) obelisk that would stand in the middle of the circular area from which the four Mounties faced outwards.

While the sculpting process was in progress, the society’s work in Mayerthorpe continued to move forward. In March 2006, the Alberta Lottery Fund gave the Memorial Society a grant of $300,000 for their park project. On February 8, 2007, the society turned the sod to officially initiate the building of the Mayerthorpe Fallen Four Memorial Park. In March, the Society was successful in applying for a major grant from the Canada, Alberta Municipal and Rural Infrastructure Funding program.

By October of 2007, the Visitors’ Centre was completed. This one-storey building is 3,000 square feet in size. One third of its space is allocated to an information centre where there is a digital guest book and a fifty-two-inch television that displays a power point scroll. Memorabilia such as books, tee shirts, pins, and mugs are on sale here. Another one-third of the building is used as a museum for the fallen four. Among the items displayed here are hundreds of cards and gifts from around the world that were sent in sympathy to the Mayerthorpe Detachment. These include teddy bears and dolls, woodcarvings, special moulded glass items, beautiful handmade quilts, and unique paintings.

One of the paintings that adorns a wall in the museum was done by a local artist, Deanna Jackson. It depicts four RCMP officers in red serge and Stetsons integrated with another Mountie on horseback, an RCMP bugler, and the Canadian flag.

Margaret Thibault says, “It’s so moving. The first time I saw it, I burst into tears.”

The remaining third of the building is set aside as a boardroom that is used by the society but also available as a community meeting place and a staging area for local weddings and other celebrations.

By June 10, 2008, the statue plinths were completed and the central obelisk installed. On July 3, the fallen four statues, each weighing 800 pounds, were manoeuvred onto their plinths.

This was a grand affair attended by 3,000 enthusiastic citizens. The luminaries on hand included the mayors of Mayerthorpe and Whitecourt; members of provincial and federal Parliament; RCMP Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney; Ed Stelmach, the Premier of Alberta; and the Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.

Those most touched by the ceremony were the family members of the fallen four and the men and women who had served with the four Mounties and remembered them fondly.

Since that day, over 15,000 visitors have come to see the park and the statues and to pay tribute to the fallen four. Over 9,000 people have signed the guest registry in the park. Drivers travelling along Highway 43 can see the monuments and the obelisk from their cars. It’s an easy exercise for them to pull off the road and spend a few minutes among the statues.

But it’s more than just the casual drop-ins that are fuelling the interest in Mayerthorpe’s Memorial Park. Travel Alberta did a survey indicating that to date seventy percent of the guests at the park went there as a target destination. Only thirty percent were drive-by visitors.

Colette McKillop says, “Travel Alberta told us that the results of this survey are incredible. And I can see why. I mean, we’re not Niagara Falls or Jasper. It’s amazing. We started with just a plain prairie field. And we’re just tiny little Mayerthorpe.

“The most beautiful thing is that these visitors will no longer remember Mayerthorpe because of that Quonset hut. They leave here with the wonderful statues of the fallen four foremost in their minds.

“We’re so pleased that the interest has been strong and we hope that it continues to grow.”

Surely Colette need not be concerned about that. There’s every possibility that as time goes by, this site will become an attraction for Canadian families to visit . . . a historic place where parents and grandparents can bring their little ones and tell them about the sacrifice these four men made in the service of their country.

Another worthwhile Mayerthorpe memorial that continues to flourish is the annual charity hockey game between the Mounties and the Wranglers. The idea for the first game originated in a conversation among Jim Martin, Clayton Seguin, and Al Starman. All three of these members played for a local senior team named the Wranglers. The three Mounties wanted to form an RCMP team to play against the Wranglers so they could raise some money to make improvements to the arena.

They approached Lyle Johner about playing a fun game, he agreed, and the contest was scheduled for March 7, 2005. Martin formed a team that included himself, Seguin, Starman, Joe Sangster, Julie Letal, and Cindie Dennis (now Christians).

Opening ceremonies at the fallen Four Memorial Park in Mayerthorpe, July 4, 2008. (The Fallen Four Memorial Society)

Martin says, “Cindie was a really good sport. She wasn’t much of a skater and she certainly wasn’t a hockey player, but she gave it everything she had. From that first year right down to our most recent game, Cindie always gets the biggest applause from the fans.”

Peter Schiemann agreed to play. He had no hockey equipment and had to borrow everything but he was willing to give it a try. Leo Johnston was prepared to help out in any way he could.

Jim remembers, “When that happened, the hockey game was the last thing on my mind. No one even thought the game was going to go. But somehow it did.”

With all the Mounties coming into town for the funerals, Martin was able to get a number of them to borrow equipment and play for the RCMP team. Chris Pittman, who had lived with Peter Schiemann, came back and suited up for the RCMP team.

When word got out that the game was going to be played, the interest in the venture spread like wildfire. Every media outlet in Edmonton covered the game live. CTV was there with their cameras. Radio station 630 CHED brought in Rod Phillips and Morley Scott, the announcers of the Edmonton Oilers, to broadcast the game play-by-play.

Jim says, “Playing that game was one of the best decisions we ever made. It pulled the community together. The place was jammed to the rafters. There wasn’t even any place for people to stand. That really tugged at my heart because it showed us that so many people cared.

“All the families of the fallen members were in attendance. There was a beautiful candlelight remembrance service before the game. It was wonderful.”

“There was a lot of kidding around . . . I even think the RCMP team won. But that didn’t matter. There’s no doubt the Wrangler guys were lenient with us. They allowed us to score some pretty soft goals. It was just a lot of fun.”

In August 2005, the famed RCMP Musical Ride came to Mayerthorpe to help ease the community’s pain and thank them for their support. Many families from the town and beyond came out and joyously watched the thirty-two riders on their splendid black steeds execute their intricate manoeuvres.

But it was the RCMP hockey game against the Wranglers that became an ongoing annual event. In 2006, the game drew another sold-out crowd. This time RCMP members from all across Canada came to play. The Mounties had a roster of twenty-five players. The Oilers broadcast crew did another play-by-play.

Martin recalls, “We had a moment of silence before the game and a service where four children were escorted on the ice by local celebrities to light four candles on stands at centre ice.”

In 2007, the Fallen Four Memorial Society took over the sponsorship of the game. They initiated a sports memorabilia auction in conjunction with the game to raise money for the Memorial Park.

The next year, the crowd was as big as ever. Craig MacTavish, the Oilers’ head coach, handled the bench duties for the Mountie team. The Fallen Four Memorial Society had another sports memorabilia auction and all the proceeds went towards the park building fund.

When the Mayerthorpe arena burnt down in 2008, the game committee decided to hold the game in Edmonton at Rexall Place, the home of the Oilers. Northlands Coliseum donated the use of the facility and covered the cost of the ticket service. Craig MacTavish was back at the helm of the RCMP team, along with his assistants, Charlie Huddy and Pete Peters.

Donations for the auction of sports items arrived in droves. Don Cherry had one of his on-air garish jackets framed and signed and donated it to the cause. The Oilers contributed a full package that included four tickets for a game in the head coach’s private seats, autographed team jerseys, and a private tour of the Oilers’ dressing room. Sydney Crosby signed one of his jerseys and sent it to the auction. All of the Canadian NHL teams donated hockey sticks signed by their players. A travel agency donated a four-day holiday at the Fairmont Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

Over two thousand fans attended the game, and the Memorial Society collected $25,000 for their building fund.

Jim Martin says, “In the future, we hope to have our arena rebuilt in Mayerthorpe and move the game back there. And we’ll keep playing the game as long as the people come out and support it.”

Those series of games are a marvellous example of how something wholesome and beneficial arose from a tragic event that shook the very soul of a small Canadian community.

The night before the RCMP game at Rexall Place, in a nationally broadcast game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators, the CBC devoted one of its Coach’s Corner segments to the Fallen Four and the game to be played in their honour in Edmonton.

In that part of the telecast, details of the 2005 tragedy were recalled while photos of the four slain Mounties were shown on camera. And later, Don Cherry, in his traditional gaudy jacket and snazzy, high-collared shirt, reminded the listening audience, “We gotta get out there and support the Mounties.”

Even detractors of the irreverent broadcaster rate his segment of that program as one of Don Cherry’s better moments on television.

Residents of the municipality know that the sad and infamous chapter in their town’s history will not be forgotten. But the Memorial Park, and, to a lesser extent, the annual hockey game have helped the people of Mayerthorpe put the tragic affair behind them and move on with their lives.

Ex-mayor Albert Schalm says, “The community has healed now . . . we’re back to normal. The Memorial Park helps but the entire community has done a lot of things right. They’ve dealt with their pain in a considerate, sensible way and we’ve maintained a good relationship with the detachment.”

Rev. Wendell Wiebe agrees, “Many towns might have collapsed because of the tragedy. But our people banded together with love and respect for each other and we found the strength to carry on.”

The RCMP team at Rexall Place, March 1, 2009. Front row L to R: Adam Cook (CTV celebrity coach), Jim Martin, Adam Schedlosky, Alex DaSilva, Don McDermid, Clayton Seguin, Troy Heystek with his daughter Emma, Mark Hennig, Joe Sangster, Lindsay Carter, Bill Robinson. Back row L to R: Eddie Bourque, Devon Bateman, Steve Bereza, Cindie Christians, Trevor Josok, John Kirkman, Blaine Rahier, Gabe Graham, James Murray, Travis Harkness, Doug Lee.