Bill Atkinson:
CLASS OF 1969
Mt. Royal Collegiate High SchoolClass of 1969
Saskatoon, SK
University of Saskatchewan - Arts & ScienceClass of 1973
Saskatoon, SK
Bill's Story
Life
I graduated in 1969 from Mount Royal Collegiate and attended the University of Saskatchewan. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. I worked in the retail sector for the next two years and then joined the federal government. I worked in Saskatoon for Veterans Affairs Canada, transferred to Brandon, Manitoba in 1979 and then to Regina in 1983. In 1988, I transferred to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Branch, and in 1992, was promoted and transferred to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I currently reside. I am the Integrated Services Manager in the Corporate Management Branch and assigned to the Cereal Research Centre, a large wheat research facility located on the campus of the University of Manitoba. Personally, I married Valerie Booth (graduated in 1968 from Mount Royal) in 1971. Val was a Senior Client Services Manager with Convergys Customer Management Canada, a global customer contact and billing company, until August 2005 when she was laid off as part of a corporate downsizing; she worked briefly for Census 2006 as a manager, then a Service Delivery Manager for Faneuil, a customer contact company. She finally had enough of the contact centre industry and operated our home-based travel business full-time until Dec/07, when she obtained a position as the Marriage Clerk in the Manitoba Vital Statistics Agency. In 2011, she became the Manager of the Summary Convictions Court for the provincial Department of Justice, andis also a Staff Justice of the Peace. We have two children, Lori (38) who is a Customer Service Representative with Lifetouch (school photos) in Winnipeg, and a son, Rob (35), who works for Accurate Lawn and Garden, also in Winnipeg. Lori was married to Keith Karlsson on May 27/06. We also have an 18 year old grandson, Austin, and a 15-year-old step-grandaughter, Brittany, who is Keith's daughter. On Jan 19/09, we became grandparents again when Lori and Keith had a daughter, Maya. Val and I also became Accredited Cruise Counsellors in 1999 and operated a home-based business, Blue Skies Travel, until July 2012.
Military
My milita...Expand for more
ry career started, I suppose, with enrollment in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in 1965. I was a member of 702 Lynx Squadron. I rose to the rank of Warrant Officer Second Class during my 5 years in cadets, and attended two summer camps, several local training activities, winter survival camps, and several familiarization flights.
In 1970, I enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces, Cadet Instructors List, and was sent to CFB Penhold, near Red Deer, Alberta, for a Basic Indoctrination Qualification course, to become an officer. I graduated and was immediately offered a position in the Air Cadet Summer Camp, handling accomodations for transient officers, and working with military and civilian administration staff.
I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and served as Supply Officer with 702 Squadron from 1970-73. I was promoted to full Lieutenant the next year. I transferred to the Supplementary List of the Reserves, then returned in 1975 as Administrative Officer until 1977. I applied for transfer to HMCS Unicorn, Naval Reserve, in Saskatoon, but was transferred in my civilian job to Brandon, Manitoba, before the transfer to ship's company could be completed.
I stayed away from the military until 1982 when I was approached about activating my commission in the 26th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. I was tasked as a Reconnaisance Officer with the 71 Field Battery, based in Brandon, MB, and responsible for reconnoitering suitable field placements for our unit's artillery pieces. In April 1983, I participated in Exercise Limber Gunner which was my first taste of a live fire exercise involving infantry, artillery and air support from all across Canada - it was about as close to the real thing as I wanted to be!
I transferred to Regina in my civilian job in the summer of 1983, and was subsequently released from the Canadian Armed Forces. I have not pursued anything to do with the military since, other than becoming a member of the Air Force Association of Canada, and supporting my daughter's efforts when she enrolled in Air Cadets in Regina in the late 1980's.
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