He brought thousands of people into the world, and opened the eyes of many to the beauty of Big Lake.
Now he is gone, but Fin Fairfield’s mark on St. Albert shall endure for decades to come.
Former St. Albert resident Finlay Munroe Fairfield died peacefully at age 81 in Sidney, B.C., on Jan. 15, 2020.
Fairfield was cofounder of the Grandin Medical Clinic and creator of the Big Lake Environment Support Society. His name is etched on St. Albert’s community recognition monument, and a plaque at the BLESS viewing platform bears his name.
Long-time friend and founding BLESS member Bob Lane said Fairfield still kept tabs on Big Lake and St. Albert after he left town in 2015, and that they had spoken fairly recently.
“He was an awfully good friend.”
True family doctor
Born in Winnipeg, Fairfield graduated from the University of Alberta as a medical doctor in 1961 and initially practiced in Red Deer, Edmonton and Wetaskiwin, said his daughter P.J. Fairfield-Carter. After marrying Margaret “Peggy” McLean in 1963, the two moved to St. Albert in 1966, where they raised five kids in their home at 10 Greystone Place.
“He was just dedicated to his family,” Fairfield-Carter said, and would always have time to coach hockey or take the kids to school despite his medical duties.
Fairfield loved the outdoors, and spent many a holiday out at the family cabin near Moose Lake, Fairfield-Carter said. He hunted birds for many years, but eventually – perhaps due to her nature-loving influence – turned from hunting to bird-watching and painting.
“He just loved beauty,” she said, and would spend hours watching the birds and the sunset.
Fairfield cofounded the Grandin Clinic with Ed Gramlich in 1966. Doctors in those days played important leadership and support roles at the Sturgeon Hospital, said long-time coworker and friend Jim Bell.
In 2011, Fairfield told the Gazette that the hospital’s emergency room “leaked like a sieve” in those days, and that he and other doctors did everything from anaesthesia to surgery. He guessed that he helped deliver thousands of babies there.
Bell said Fairfield held frequent staff and family picnics at the Grandin Clinic, treating everyone there as part of his family.
“His kids knew my kids,” he said, and one of Fairfield’s kids even babysat his children.
“It was just like one big family environment.”
Lane said Fairfield took that same family-friendly approach with patients like him, and was always interested in them as friends and people.
“It wasn’t all medicine with him.”
Fairfield retired as a doctor in 2012, but returned to the Grandin Clinic for its 50th anniversary in 2017.
BLESSer of Big Lake
Fairfield-Carter said Fairfield started BLESS because she complained to him about the state of the environment.
“I honestly think he took it as a challenge: ‘I’m going to show you that you can make a difference,’” she said.
Lane said Fairfield came up with the name and concept for the group one day around 1991 while driving back from Morinville and stopped off at his house to run the idea past him. They organized an initial meeting at the Grandin Clinic and started “Octoberfest” dinner fundraisers to fund the construction of the BLESS platform and shelter.
BLESS went on to become St. Albert’s pre-eminent environmental organization and took a lead role in getting Big Lake recognized as a provincial park. It received an Emerald Award in 1996 and was appointed as the lake’s official steward in 2002.
While he was frustrated that officials decided to build Ray Gibbon Drive so close to Big Lake, Fairfield-Carter said her father was grateful so many people rallied behind the lake over the years.
“He was so happy the community was able to see what was there.”
Fairfield-Carter said her father leaves behind a legacy of nature and life in the form of the many people he helped deliver as babies.
“He showed us all how to work hard and love each other,” she said, and the importance of family and community.
Fairfield is survived by his wife Peggy, brother Hugh, step-brothers Gerry and Harry, children Tony, P.J., Hugh and Terry, and seven grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son Finlay Robert, parents Finlay Robert and Jean, and sister Marilyn.
A memorial service will be held Jan. 25 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Church in Sidney, B.C. The family requests that people send donations to BLESS in lieu of flowers. Fairfield’s cremated remains will be interred in the St. Albert Roman Catholic Cemetery later this year.
