| HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | William Dalton Kirkland was born in Edmonton, September 5, 1915 to Grace Keeler Nettleton Kirkland and Dalton Archibald Pearson Kirkland, the middle child of three. His father was manager for Birks in Edmonton from 1929 to 1946. His brother Harry Nettleton Kirkland died in a bombing mission over Rennes in France on February 26, 1943.
William Dalton Kirkland attended Oliver School and Victoria High School and graduated in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1937. In 1952, he became Superintendent of Edmonton Power and Water Treatment Plants, being responsible for the first major gas turbine installation in Canada in 1959-1960. From 1970 until his retirement in 1974, he was General Manager of Edmonton Power. He was an honorary member of the Rotary Club, charter member of the Edmonton Electric Club, life member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta.
William Kirkland married Claire Féguenne on November 8, 1946. They settled in Edmonton and had five children: Audrey Marguerite (1948, married Martyn), Harry Dalton (1950), Peter William (1953), Norman Robert (1957) and Paul Clare (1960). William Dalton Kirkland died January 31, 1985 in Edmonton. |
| SCOPE AND CONTENT: | The fonds consists of personal papers and correspondence of William Kirkland, press clippings and other records related to power plants in Edmonton, photographs of family members and friends, of Leduc oil wells, of the Edmonton Power Plant and the Clover Bar Generating Station in Edmonton, and of Alberta Power Commission (1970), and documents related to W. Kirkland’s membership in the Rotary Club. These records include also a Kirkland family tree and information on the Kirkland estate. The technical drawings document the steam generator of the Edmonton New Steamway Co. The fonds also includes records related to Harry Nettleton Kirkland and Dalton Archibald Kirkland, as well as correspondence and other records of Claire Kirkland. |