Her death marks the end of an era.
Well-known and loved Banffite Dorothy Carleton passed away peacefully at the Bow-Crest Care Centre in Calgary on June 30 at age 98.
A war bride who came from England to Canada in 1946 where she spent the early years living and raising her family in Banff’s wild backcountry with park warden husband Ed, Dorothy has been described as an “amazing, positive, vibrant and compassionate” person.
“She was a living legend of the Rockies and had a life well lived,” said Scott Ward, a retired national park warden who knew the Careltons well after working with Ed for 10 years.
“Her whole family is iconic in the parks system. She meant a lot to us. She was a wonderful person and we will miss her.”
One of the Second World War’s famous war brides, Dorothy met her husband Ed after he travelled from Canada to England to fight as a Calgary Highlander sent to assist with the British war effort.
Dorothy was born in London, England in 1919. During the Blitz, she was an air raid marshal, assigned to comb the streets in the dark to ensure that lights that might attract German bombers were not seen.
Ed was wounded in combat, and while in England the couple started a family with the birth of Michael in 1945.
When Mike was a little over three months of age, and with Ed already back in Canada working, Dorothy packed up her youngster and headed to Canada, travelling with other war brides from Liverpool to the famous Pier 21 at Halifax on a steamship.
A long rail journey to Alberta followed and it was after Ed spotted a federal government posting for wardens in the Didsbury post office that their new life truly began.
“It was 10 days on the ocean and 10 days on the train,” Dorothy, then 97 told the Outlook last year, harkening back to her arrival in Canada, and the tiny town of Didsbury, where they were met by Ed’s family.
“It was a culture shock, that’s what it was. As we approached the mountains, they looked like a solid rock and I thought, ‘How would we ever get through them?' ”
Dorothy’s story can be found in musical form in the popular Bow Valley band The Wardens’ song "War(den) Bride" from the album Bear 66.
Ward penned the song, noting Dorothy was at the gig the first time they performed it.
“She didn’t know we’d written a song about her and we performed it as last on the set. She got a big standing ovation and she jumped on the chair and was pretty happy,” he said. “Her life was good fodder for a song. She was an icon.”
Having arrived in Canada, Dorothy’s life became one of change and contrast. As a veteran, Ed landed a job as a warden, Dorothy had to adapt to life in one-room cabins and Brian (born 1951) and Terry (1954) joined the family, born in Banff’s hospital.
The English rose was truly in Wild Rose Country, where she learned to ride a horse, cook on a wood stove, haul water, survive Canadian winters and raise a family; often while Ed was out patrolling for long stretches at a time.
The contrast between Dorothy’s life in England and in the Canadian wilderness, for example, was brought home in 1948 when, after Ed had worked in Lake Louise, they arrived in a 4x4 Power Wagon at a warden cabin at Bow Summit.
“Ed said, ‘this is it’ and I said ‘what? You’ve got to be kidding.’ It looked like a little shed or something. It was quite a shock to me. I’ll be honest, I shed a few tears,” Dorothy told the Outlook last year.
“But it was Ed’s job and I had to support him. And it had running water, from the creek, it was lovely water and made great tea.”
The family would relocate three more times; first to Stoney Creek, then to Buffalo Paddock just outside the Banff townsite, and finally to the Castle Mountain district.
Over her time in the backcountry, Dorothy learned to bake bread in a barrel oven, an oven inserted into the chimney of a wood stove. “And my first batch of cookies burned,” she said.
Among the locations the Carletons lived, Stoney Creek was Dorothy’s favourite and during her time as a warden’s wife she learned to snowshoe, cross-country ski and saddle a horse.
When Ed would be out patrolling, Dorothy stayed behind with the kids.
“I studied my mom’s Robin Hood cookbook. Making bread was quite an event and my first batch ever went to the deer,” she said in the interview with the Outlook last year.
“Laundry was done with a big round tub and scrub board and bath night was a big night.”
After spending most of a day heating water on the stove, first it was the baby, the other lads, then Dorothy and Ed.
“We’d wash one another’s back down. And there were always lot of chores. Chopping wood, carrying kindling into the cabin to get the fire started,” she recalled.
Wild raspberries were made into preserves, elk meat was a staple and the boys spent time fishing and bringing their catch home for mom to cook up.
Today, when people joke about bubble wrapping children and helicopter parents watching their offspring’s every move, the Carleton boys, like their mom, were at home in the wilderness, often riding off to distant lakes to bring home a fish dinner.
Trips were made to Banff for supplies on Ed’s one day off a month and, when the kids were in school, Dorothy was the official driver, Castle Junction to Banff, twice a day (1955-61).
“We sure looked forward to weekends,” she said. “Of course, (at early cabins) there was outside plumbing, quite a ways from the cabin. And the kids used to love going for a ride in a pram, it put them to sleep with all the bumping through a pasture.
“I was always doing something, I never got bored.”
Through the family’s time in the backcountry, Ed would be fighting fires, rescuing climbers and enforcing fishing and hunting laws.
[embed]https://youtu.be/fa34p6dbAV8[/embed]
At Mount Eisenhower Junction (now Castle Junction), before the highway went through, tourists would stop at the cabin and at times Dorothy would help with administrative duties – selling hunting and fishing licences, talking with backcountry travellers, even operating a phone switchboard between cabins and office.
In the worst of times, when disaster struck and someone was injured or killed in a climbing fall, Dorothy would be on hand to make tea and console survivors.
Through the years, of course, there were many highlights, from learning new skills to, after years of oil lamp use, finally being able to turn a light on at the flick of a switch at the Buffalo Paddock house in 1961.
“That was a real thrill,” Dorothy recalled.
Living in Banff, clothes were dried on a line, “and it was delightful to see those clothes blowing in the breeze.”
At one time, though, that clothesline was torn asunder when the family’s more or less pet bull elk, Bill the Bull, who was attracted by potato peelings, was spooked into the line and ran off with sheets and clothes in his antlers.
Bear, cougar and many other wildlife sightings were fairly common occurrences, though the family never had issues with wildlife, and life was both hands-on and strenuous.
Thinking back, though, Dorothy told the Outlook that she would never trade her time in the wilderness, or all the memories, for anything.
“I was happy, life was quite different from living in town. You had to be self-sufficient and use your old noggin. You didn’t have many friends, and you didn’t see them all the time, but when you did, it was so very special.
“It was an interesting life, very different from life in England. I’m so glad I had that experience in the backcountry. Wardens don’t live like that now. It was a very good life. It really was.”
Ed passed away in 1994 after 49 years of marriage.
As someone who had always lent a hand, filled her days and worked hard, Dorothy continued to be an important cog in the Banff community until her death on June 30. In 2012, she was honoured with a Banff Community Foundation SHINE award for all her volunteer work.
The Park Warden Service Alumni Society was also sad to hear of Dorothy’s death.
“It is always sad to lose a good friend,” according to a statement from the group. “Dorothy Carleton touched the lives of so many people over the years.”
The society said members were blessed to have had Dorothy as a dear friend and mentor.
“Dorothy may be gone but certainly will never be forgotten,” the society wrote. “Until we meet again Dorothy – Happy Trails to you!”
Parks Canada officials say they wanted to express their sincere condolences to the family and friends of Dorothy – who has been referred to as “Parks Canada royalty”.
“Dorothy was a remarkable woman who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with her husband, Park Warden Ed Carleton, in Banff's backcountry,” said Sheila Luey, acting superintendent of Banff National Park. “Her spirit and strength were truly inspiring.”
[embed]https://youtu.be/giKxDelIHW0[/embed]
