Correction
This story originally said that John Beedle was a long-time director at the Devonian Botanic Garden, based on information from his obituary. He was actually a director with the Friends of the Devonian Botanic Garden society.
The man who helped make St. Albert the forested gem it is today has died.
Some 175 people are expected to meet at the St. Albert United Church Oct. 30 to remember horticulturalist and parks planner John Beedle. Beedle died peacefully at the Sturgeon Community Hospital surrounded by friends and family Oct. 23 at age 93.
Beedle is best known in St. Albert for his 29 years (1962 to 1991) with the city’s parks department, much of which was spent as the city’s parks planner. Both John Beedle Park and the John Beedle Volunteer Centre are named in his honour.
Beedle is the reason why St. Albert has the tremendous number and variety of trees we have today, said former St. Albert mayor Richard Plain, a close friend of Beedle’s for 70 years.
“We were fortunate in St. Albert to have one of the leading proponents of the green lifestyle living in our community,” Plain said, one whose green thumb has bettered this community for generations to come.
Beedle’s dedication was second to none, and all who knew or worked with him will miss his kindness and enthusiasm, St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said in an email.
“Our community has lost a horticultural legend.”
The gentle gardener
Beedle grew up on a farm in Jarvie as “John Bedell,” said his nephew Brian Bedell. A fan of genealogy, Beedle would later legally change his last name to the one St. Albert residents are familiar with to better reflect his family’s roots.
Speaking to the Gazette in 2010, Beedle said he took an interest in nature as early as age 5 when he saw his parents tossing shingles off the roof near a pansy. He grabbed some of the shingles to build a tent to protect it.
Beedle left home at 14 and worked various jobs (including a stint at a greenhouse in Kelowna) before settling in St. Albert in 1962. Beedle said it was his brother Ken who suggested he speak to town parks planner André Gate, who hired him after grilling him for an hour and a half about every plant in the city’s greenhouse.
Beedle took over Gate’s job in 1968 and implemented the city’s boulevard tree program, which saw about 500 trees planted a year. Beedle told the Gazette that he personally planted about 5,000 of them and supervised the planting of about 25,000 more.
“The result is the canopies we see today,” Plain said, with (according to city spokesperson Cory Sinclair) some 61,000 trees now on St. Albert public property.
Beedle made sure to plant a wide variety of hardy trees and shrubs for disease resistance, which has given St. Albert one of the best plant collections in Canada, said friend and plant pathologist Ieuan Evans. One of those trees (which has since been removed) was a Siberian pear with excellent fruit in Heritage Lakes. Evans and Beedle teamed up to propagate the tree, which is now sold as the Beedle Pear throughout western Canada.
Beedle was also indirectly responsible for establishing the official flora of St. Albert. While a town committee picked St. Albert’s official tree, shrub and flower in 1966, the council of the day neglected to actually accept their recommendations – something no one noticed until Beedle asked about them in 2010. City council officially adopted the flora in May 2011.
Beedle was a founding member of the St. Albert Garden Club in 1982 and for decades served as a judge at area horticultural shows, Plain said. He was also a long-time director with the Friends of the Devonian Botanic Garden society and co-founded the St. Albert Botanic Park with Plain in 1989.
Giver to all
Beedle was always busy fixing or planting things at the botanic park, said park president Patricia Bell. You’d rarely find him at home, as he’d always be out doing a favour for someone, often blasting about town in that beat-up old car he’d fixed with bungee cords and cookie sheets.
“If you mentioned to him your tree broke a branch, the next thing you’d know he’d be at your house cutting the branch off for you,” Bell said.
Beedle was a humble, self-effacing man who was generous to a fault and always helping others, Plain said.
“I’ve never ran across someone who didn’t like John,” he said, but he’s met hundreds who have been helped by him.
Niece Leanne Bedell said Beedle was like a father to her growing up in St. Albert, and credits him with instilling in her a love of music.
“I remember him always singing around the house,” she said – Beedle was a member of the Edmonton Light Opera Society and took part in 26 productions in 13 years – and plunking keys on the piano with her in the basement.
Brian said Beedle always had a big grin on his face when he hung out with him and his six siblings.
“He seemed to enjoy the bedlam that was around him.”
Brian said he would remember Beedle’s smile and sense of humour, noting that the two of them shared a few laughs when Beedle woke for a few minutes the night before he died.
Beedle never married, so in some ways his descendents are the thousands of trees and plants he helped grow, Plain said.
“John’s legacy is in those trees, in those forests, in the parks ... They live on though John is no longer with us.”
Beedle was predeceased by his parents Nellie and Herbert; siblings Herbert, Billy, and Jean; and survived by his brother Ken, sister Muriel, and several nieces and nephews.
Beedle will be buried in the Jarvie Cemetery following a service at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Donations in his name can be made to the St. Albert Botanic Park or other charities.
