Cold Lake’s first mayor is being honoured for the contributions he made to the city.
Remembered fondly for his years involved with education and helping to make Cold Lake what it is today, Fabian Milaney is being inducted into the Cold Lake Hall of Fame this November.
After learning about the hall of fame, Milaney’s daughter, Maureen McLeod, decided to put his name forward.
“I noticed that they named certain areas after people,” she said. “There’s a health building named after Dr. Savage, who was our doctor back in those days, and I noticed there was another park named after somebody else. I thought, ‘my dad should be recognized, too.’”
After submitting the nomination, McLeod anxiously waited to hear if her dad would be chosen.
“We were really excited when we found out it was going to take place in November,” she expressed. “All of my (family)… are planning to go up, we’re having some friends come, and we’re all very excited about it to say the least.”
Originally born in Ontario in 1908, Milaney’s family moved to the Cold Lake area in 1934. At the time, the population was around 300.
“His sister had homesteaded on what’s now the air base, and she was the one who encouraged them to move north,” McLeod explained.
Throughout his life, Milaney had a noticeable limp that he developed after surviving polio at the age of two.
Milaney was the first teacher at Ethel Lake School in 1936, and would later become principal at Cold Lake School in 1940. He found time to finish his Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Alberta by attending summer school. In 1944, he married his wife, Rose. During their 30 years of marriage, the couple had eight children.
Throughout his time in Cold Lake, he was a member of the Cold Lake Board of Trade and St. Dominic’s Parish Knights of Columbus. He also served on the executive of the Bonnyville School Division (now Northern Lights Public Schools), and was a freelance writer for the Cold Lake newspaper.
When construction started on the military base, McLeod said plans began to have the area recognized as its own municipality. During the first election in 1954, three people were elected and Milaney was among them.
“He wasn’t originally elected as mayor per say, he was elected as councillor and then the three councillors elected chose him amongst themselves as mayor,” she detailed.
One of Milaney’s passions was baseball. He was the official announcer and scorekeeper for the Cold Lake Cardinals in the 1950s.
“Every town had a baseball team, and they used to play each other. They were amateurs… There was a little announcers’ booth on the field in Cold Lake,” McLeod noted.
While at Cold Lake High School, he was also the curling coach and the team competed well at the provincial level.
The family moved to the Calgary area in 1960 where Milaney accepted the position for superintendent and principal in the Town of Forest Lawn.
Even though he no longer resided in Cold Lake, the city didn’t forget about the contributions Milaney made. He was officially presented with a key to the town by Mayor Doug Wold on July 1, 1980, and served as a honourary Parade Marshall for the Canada Day parade.
McLeod will be accepting the distinction in the place of her father, who passed away in 1984, on Saturday, Nov. 2 during the ceremony at the Best Western.
“My family is really thrilled. My dad really deserves this recognition, and I’m glad I was able to initiate the process,” she exclaimed.
