St. Albert doctor who started society to protect Big Lake dies at 81
Prominent St. Albert doctor Finlay Fairfield, who co-founded two medical clinics and launched a society to protect Big Lake, died in his sleep last week at age 81.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Fairfield graduated from high school at 15 and earned his medical degree from the University of Alberta in 1961.
While interning at Edmonton General Hospital, he met his wife, Peggy, who was training as an x-ray technician. She asked him to her Christmas dance and the pair married a year later, in 1963.
The couple had five children together but lost their eldest son, who was also named Finlay, to a car crash caused by a drunk driver in 1987.
'A man of vision'
After practicing for a few years in Edmonton, Red Deer and Wetaskiwin, Fairfield founded Grandin Medical Clinic in 1966 with his friend, Ed Gramlich. A second clinic, in Morinville, followed.
Love and chaos (not to mention dogs, gerbils and birds) filled the Fairfield home, recalled his son Tony.
"The Fairfield Funny Farm, we called it," joked his wife.
The phone rang at all hours of the day, with Fairfield being called to patients' homes.
Bob Lane, a longtime friend and patient, often arrived at the medical clinic to find Fairfield chatting with people in the waiting room.
"He communicated very well with people and was genuinely interested," Lane said in an interview with CBC's Radio Active on Tuesday.
Fairfield was establishing himself as a family physician in St. Albert at a time when residents lacked local access to specialized medical care.
The opening of Sturgeon General Hospital in 1970 allowed Fairfield to perform surgeries in town, instead of sending patients to Edmonton, recalled colleague Dr. Ken Chow, who has worked at the Grandin Medical Clinic for nearly 45 years.
"He always had a good idea of what was going to be needed in the future," Chow said.
"He was a man of vision and he translated it into action."
Fairfield also served for a time as chief of staff of the hospital and president of the Sturgeon Valley Golf Club.
Championing Big Lake
In 1991, Fairfield lept to action in a completely different field, travelling one day from Morinville to the Lanes's home to share an idea.
"He suddenly had this inspiration that he would like to do something about Big Lake," Lane said.
Fairfield gathered 23 people interested in preserving the wetlands southwest of St. Albert and together they formed the Big Lake Environment Support Society (BLESS) in January of 1991.
"People just thought of it as this big slough full of loon shit," Fairfield told the St. Albert Gazette in a 2011 interview.
"I felt people needed to be aware of its value as a natural resource."
Over the years, BLESS has monitored activity near Big Lake, funded research and enhancement projects and hired summer students to run nature programs for children.
In 2005, the Alberta government designated the area as a provincial park, naming it after lieutenant-governor Lois Hole.
Fairfield gradually retired from medicine over the past decade and settled in Sidney, B.C. with his wife.
"He never stopped smiling," Peggy said.
He leaves behind four children and seven grandchildren.
