Fonds 291 Ray Menard fonds

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Ray Menard Alaska Highway collection. — 1942-1943. — 7 pp. of textual records. — 92 photographs.

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Biographical Sketch

Ray Menard was born on Dec 17, 1914, in Gleichen, AB, and spent his childhood there. After he married Wilda, he worked for International Harvester in Calgary and then got work in a munitions plant in Ogden. In December, 1942, Ray moved to Dawson Creek. His wife, Wilda, moved up in the spring and they lived for a time with Jack Schmidt and his wife in a small trailer. Their children, Karen and Jody stayed in Gleichen with their grandmother. Ray worked for Greyhound while he also built a small house for his family. The night of the Dawson Creek explosion, Ray and a friend were sitting n a restaurant in Dawson Creek when they noticed the fire. They still ordered dessert and then they heard a terrific explosion. He saw paper towels unravelling in the sky. The front glass window of the restaurant was shattered and the owner received cuts to his head and face. When they went back to their bunkhouse and saw that a tire from Rodacker’s Tire Shop had been thrown through the roof and cut one of the bunks in half. The explosion levelled an entire block of the town and every window for four blocks around was blown out. The U.S. army came down and took over to put the fire out.

Ray worked in Dawson Creek and along the Alaska Highway during 1942-44 servicing the International Busses that transported army personnel. The company he worked for was called AMA Trucking. It was comprised of a small office, an old livery barn and an old farm barn on the property. Part of his job was building an addition to the livery barn. It was a former blacksmith shop adjacent to the block containing his place of work that blew up. The army had stored 500 pounds of dynamite there.

In the fall of 1944 he moved to Grande Prairie to work for Mel Rodacker in his machine shop. He put his lathe in the Mel’s bare new building and started work. His first job was for a contractor working at the airport construction job. When the machine shop became Steel Industries, Ray was part owner. Later he sold his shares in the company and worked for Worker’s Compensation Board.

In 2008, he resided in a senior’s care center in Hanna, AB.

(Source of Biographical Sketch – interview notes contained in the fonds)

Custodial History

These photographs were taken by Dan Murray, a good friend of Ray Menard, and Ray gave them to Alice Fortier who donated them to the South Peace Regional Archives in 2006.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of 92 photographs taken during the time Ray Menard worked as a mechanic and machinist on the construction of the Alaska Highway between 1942-1943, including base camps, equipment and storage, winter road construction, summer construction, wrecks and spills, bridge work, and the Dawson Creek explosion. Included is a typed notation of photographs which have been identified and a newspaper article describing the Dawson Creek explosion and notes from an interview conducted by Linda White, his daughter.

Notes

This fonds has been identified as having Indigenous related content. Researchers may encounter language that is outdated and offensive. To learn more about Indigenous records at the South Peace Regional Archives please see our guide.