By Brenda Romanchuk
St. Paul Journal
“It is sad that John came so close to achieving a life long goal and did not get a chance to fulfill it.”” These words, spoken after the recent death of John Dahmer, MP elect, were those of the Honorable Ernie Isley, but also express the sentiments of many residents in the Beaver River Riding.
John Dahmer
John Dahmer, age 51, passed away during the early morning hours of November 26, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. His battle with bone marrow cancer was short, ending less than a month after he was admitted to hospital. John Dahmer is survived by his wife, Donna, and three children, Jolayne, Bill and Jacqueline.
Born and raised in Red Deer, Alberta, Dahmer moved to St. Paul in 1975. He resided there until 1986 when he and his family relocated to a farm near Elk Point.
The early years of Dahmer’s work history were spent in educational field, as a teacher, principal and guidance counsellor. He came to St. Paul with Alberta Manpower in the role of a career counsellor, and was instrumental in the developing of Career Centres in this area. Prior to taking leave for his election campaign, Dahmer was Director of Lakeland College for the St. Paul, Two Hills and Elk Point region.
Always active in the community, Dahmer was a member of the Masons, Lions and Kinsmen clubs. He coached hockey and basketball teams, and was the driving force behind many of those teams reaching provincial playoffs in competition.
“We first met coaching in sports.’’, said Isley of his long friendship with Dahmer. ‘“‘That was in 1966, and we’ve been friends ever since.” Isley is Alberta’s Minister of Public Works, and his relationship with Dahmer extended past sports into politics over the years.
Extensive involvement at provincial and federal government levels, led Dahmer to his recent bid for the position of MP of the newly created Beaver River Riding. Although hospitalized for the last 3 weeks of the campaign, Dahmer won the election with 13,768 votes, 7,240 more than his closest competitor. Unfortunately, Dahmer died before the official ceremony of swearing him in as an MP could be conducted.
Prayer services for John Dahmer were held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 29, at the St. Paul Regional High School. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, at the Elk Point High School. Mr. F.R. Upham and Rev. Samuel Donaldson will officiate, with interment in the Elk Point West Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, Donna Dahmer has asked that people donate to the W.W. Cross Cancer Institute, or the John Dahmer Community Involvement Scholarship Fund, which has been set-up through Lakeland College. Randy Ladrett, of Lakeland College, states donations to the scholarship may be made through the College’s Vermilion office. The scholarship is a memorial to John Dahmer’s commitment to the community.
Aside from memories and the scholarship, Dahmer’s home town residents will have another way to remember him. Outside the Elk Point Library there is an 800 sq. ft. Historic Mural. This is a visual history of the Elk Point area, and if you look closely at the harvesters in the 1930’s threshing scene, you will see one of them is John Dahmer.
‘He wanted to be part of that scene, as a way of remembering where he came from and his roots.’’, stated Billie Milholland, Dahmer’s Media Relations Agent throughout the recent election campaign.
November 23 1988
Dahmer wins by 7280 votes
By Brenda Romanchuk
St. Pau! Journal
ELK POINT - Anxious...hopeful...ecstatic...relieve d. That was the sequence of moods evident at the Elk Point campaign headquarters for Progressive Conservative candidate, John Dahmer, during Monday’s election night. Beaver River Riding constituents voted Dahmer in as their representative with 13,772 votes, 7,280 more than his closest opposition.
In some way the jubilance was low key, as those supporters in attendance were having a victory celebration with no victor present. Dahmer has been hospitalized and absent for the last three weeks from the campaign trail due to illness. He and his family watched the election results on television in his room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.
It was partially Dahmer’s absence during the campaign that contributed to his workers’ anxious pre-election moments. Billie Millholland, Dahmer’s Media Representative, explained that, “When Dahmer first got sick we didn’t know what to do, it’s such a big, new constituency and we were all new workers.” ‘Though we all pulled together and it worked out,”, she said, “‘ you still never really know what’s going to happen until the votes are in.”
Their anxiousness was short lived, because soon after the polls closed, phones began ringing as scrutineers called in numbers. The mood quickly changed to expectancy, as supports watched the results marked on a wall chart,-showing their Progressive Conservative candidate in the lead. Within an hour it became apparent Dahmer would be representing the Beaver River Riding in Ottawa.
“‘He’s ecstatic, we both are!”’, exclaimed Dahmer’s wife, Donna, who phoned several times from the hospital. “John is sitting up in bed and cheering!”’, was her comment, when told the final results from this constituency.
Dahmer could not come to the phone. According to Milholland, he has developed a cold and is on added antibiotics, which have made him lethargic and kept him confined to bed. ‘““He (Dahmer) has joked that his doctor must be a Liberal.”’, said Milholland with a smile.
Milholland and John Tilton, Dahmer’s campaign manager, were both smiling, but admitted they were mainly relieved and exhausted. Their candidate’s untimely illness and subsequent absence, placed a great deal of pressure on his inexperienced workers.
“It was a hard campaign.”, stated Tilton, ‘Sometimes it seemed like it was going on for years, and now it seems to have gone by too quickly.”
Though neither Milholland or Tilton expected the victory to be by such a large margin, they both felt things started to swing more in their favor during the last few days of the campaign. Milholland felt the controversy over Free Trade had a lot to do with it. In her opinion, once people in this constituency began to realize how important Free. Trade is to Alberta, they knew they had to go out and support the Progressive Conservatives with their vote.
Dahmer’s campaign team felt that this election conveyed a message to the Federal government that Canadians want more information on Free Trade and other issues. They hope it is a lesson the Government has learned well.
“For now the work starts,’’, states Tilton, ‘‘especially for John Dahmer. As much as we tried, there were some areas in the constituency we just couldn’t reach.”’ Milholland also commented that as soon as Dahmer has recovered, they have a lot of knowledge on concerns unearthed during the campaign to pass onto him.
“Tt is such a big, diverse riding.”’, Milholland said, “‘How do we reach all those people and find out what is important to them?’ “For Dahmer it will initially be a learning process,’’ she added, “and he has a big job ahead of him.”
When questioned as to whether Dahmer’s health may hinder his representation of Beaver River Riding in Ottawa, Milholland answered that Dahmer’s illness has been magnified. According to her, they have no indication that Dahmer won’t recover.
So, for now, constituents will await Dahmer’s expected recuperation and his return to the Beaver River Riding. For although he was referred to by some as being the “Invisible Candidate” in this campaign, the voters definitely made his presence known at the polls on election night.
