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This article first appeared in the "Valley Lives" column in the August 3, 2022 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
Alan Heginbottom
A life giving back
By Hunter Cresswell
Alan Heginbottom traveled the world but called Wakefield home.
He was an expert on permafrost and cruised the globe to study it but in his retirement he focused on helping out close to home. He was involved, either at the forefront or behind the scenes, with the Quebec Association for Independent Living (QUAIL) House, Scouts Canada, Church of the Good Shepherd Anglican Church of Wakefield, Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, Wakefield Food Pantry, and other community organizations.
Heginbottom died suddenly of a suspected heart attack at the Wakefield Memorial Hospital on July 4. He was 79. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Gillian Heginbottom, 51-year-old son, James Heginbottom, two granddaughters, siblings, nieces, and nephews.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Gillian told the Low Down when asked how she's doing after losing her husband.
Born in Shropshire, England in 1943, Alan met Gillian at the University of London where he studied geography and she studied biology.
"We met in a peat bog in Scotland," she said, laughing at how unromantic the setting was.
They were students in a field course studying the flora of Scotland but soon started going on neat dates in pubs around London.
"There was just a spark between us," Gillian said.
They married in Gillian's hometown of Somerset, England in 1966 and moved to Montreal where Alan completed his masters in geography at McGill University while she taught biology.
But his passion was permafrost - any ground that remains completely frozen for at least two years straight.
"Anywhere in the world where there's permafrost, he visited," Gillian said. He was interested in studying how it held up to pressures such as vehicle traffic or pipeline construction.
Once he went on an expedition to Svalbard, Norway to study the bodies of miners who died of the Spanish flu.
He also was the first person to map permafrost in Canada in 1995 and helped create the International Permafrost Association's permafrost map in 1998.
The Canadian Permafrost Association posted about Heginbottom's passing on social media on July 21.
"The CPA is saddened to announce the passing of Alan Heginbottom on July 4, and offers its sincere condolences to Alan's family," the association posted on Twitter.
Alan and Gillian moved into a Chemin des Caves home in Wakefield in 1969.
"We didn't fancy that Ontario side because it's flat," Gillian said, explaining that they moved from hilly counties in England so they wanted to live amongst the Gatineau Hills.
Once Alan retired in 1995 he continued volunteer work as a scientist emeritus but also started getting more involved in community organizations.
He drew from his experience as a Boy Scout in England to breathe new life into the Wakefield scouts which had fallen into disuse for years before he took over. He led the projects to repair the Wakefield Anglican church after major floods. And he was a supporter of the QUAIL House - a support home for developmentally challenged adults in Chelsea - and its residents.
Former QUAIL House president Gail Hawley McDonald said that Alan "took every opportunity he saw to contribute."
She said she remembers Alan most for his friendships with QUAIL House residents and his guidance.
"I always looked to him for advice, counsel, on things related to QUAIL. If I needed other advice, he would have been the first person to talk to," Hawley McDonald said.
He also served on Wakefield's municipal council for a year before the village was absorbed into the municipality of La Pêche.
"But he never took it further because his French wasn't good enough. He said he couldn't listen fast enough," Gillian said. Wakefield resident and Alan's friend Joan Garnett called him "England's gift to Canada."
"Through travel related to his work, and extensive personal voyages by train and automobile, he came to know and deeply appreciate Canada and loved to show his adopted country off to overseas visitors," Garnett said.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, make memorial contributions to the Church of the Good Shepherd Anglican Church of Wakefield or the Wakefield Memorial Hospital Foundation.