By John Richthammer

Last week The Northern Sun News reported that on November 23, 2011 community members approached local officials in Municipal government to rename the Red Lake Airport after long-time area resident John Edwin Johnson Fahlgren. This week we explore the life of the man many in the region knew as Ed.

Ed Fahlgren was an extraordinary man of humble roots. He found great success not only in his own journey of life, but also in his visionary and progressive contributions to northwestern Ontario. The Red Lake District benefitted most from his leadership.
Ed died at age 87 on January 9, 2001 in Red Lake.

John Edwin Johnston Fahlgren was born in Kenora, Ontario, in 1913. The second eldest of seven children born to a Swedish lumber contractor/fisher and his wife, Ed completed high school, studied accountancy, and worked in sales for Kenora paper mills and lumber companies.

He was hired by Starratt Airways & Transportation in 1934 as credit manager/auditor for the Hudson area, and became agent in Red Lake two years later. After meeting William and Margaret Cochenour on their nearby mining property, Ed was soon hired as their accountant/office manager. The childless couple took an instant liking to Ed and for the rest of their lives provided him with love and opportunities as if he were their son.

Ed married Helen Amethyst Woodside of Port Arthur, Ont. in 1941, and they became the parents of John, Bart (who lived only briefly), Ted, Peter, Susan, and Douglas.

Ed Fahlgren in a portrait by John Richthammer

Ed rose steadily within the Cochenour company, becoming president and general manager in 1965. Ed’s pragmatism and undeniable panache stood him in good stead developing the town of Cochenour, its mine, airport, community halls, hospital, curling rink, church, hockey arena, nursing home, swimming beach, baseball diamond and soccer field.

At work, Ed expected employees to be as prepared and dedicated as he was. He was neither sufferer of fools nor waffler, but was also fair. While Ed’s eyes glinted mirthfully when he was delighted, they also glared – witheringly – when he was annoyed or puzzled. The family still speaks of his eyes becoming “two glacier chips of ice that essentially froze you on the spot.”

Ed spent decades lobbying government; municipally, as Chair of the Improvement District of Balmertown, and President of the local Chamber of Commerce; and provincially, as President of Mines Accident Prevention Association of Ontario, Director of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and Governor of Lakehead University.

Ed’s diplomatic skill and tireless devotion were decisive factors in wresting funding from a miserly government to build institutions such as the Red Lake District High School and to pave Highway 105. Ed personally lobbied premiers and prime ministers. He was so driven to convince Ontario Premier Leslie Frost of the necessity of paving Highway 105 that he waited in the Premier’s office for one week from its daily open and closing.

Whenever Frost appeared, Ed lobbied until finally the Premier was convinced of the project’s necessity, and the highway was paved. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker so admired Ed that he tried to entice him into his cabinet. Ed declined, his heart irrevocably housed in the north.

He also held executive positions in social organizations such as the Grand Lodge of Canada, and was founding president of the McKenzie Island Gyro Club. As long-time director of the Cochenour family trusts, Ed annually presented sizable donations to hospital and other community endeavours.

The esteem in which Ed was held across the north was tangibly recognized when he was called from retirement in 1978 to chair The Ontario Royal Commission on the Northern Environment. He was particularly concerned with the plight of aboriginal peoples displaced and disadvantaged by forestry and mining. Ed fielded protracted criticism over this second-lengthiest and, at $11 million, costliest Ontario Royal Commission. He authored a huge report, economic atlas, and five-volume tourism study. An unprecedented 100 of his 120 recommendations were implemented.

At the historic Cochenour family cabin, into which he moved after Helen died in 1986, Ed comfortably assumed the role of country squire, and gracious host. He relished his family, gardening, boating, and was deeply touched when a hospital room, and a technical scholarship were named in his honour.

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