Super Ordinary Heroes: True Stories of Big-Hearted Albertans.

David W. Leonard is Project Historian—Northern Alberta, Historic Sites
and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, the author of
Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909, and the co-author of
The Lure of the Peace River Country: A Fost

Coming from a background of community newspapers, it may not be surprising that the authors of this compendium wanted to focus a book on people who do not get large headlines for undertaking important, and in some cases courageous, acts on behalf of other people. Such stories often do not get beyond the community media. The authors have selected 13 people and groups for profile, the objective being to reveal that much of the heroic in our society is undertaken by everyday people. The stories are compelling and are detailed here in a personal as opposed to analytical manner, all of them occurring somewhere in Alberta in the past decade or two.

Some of the individuals actually did gain recognition across Canada. Barb Tarbox, for example, drew considerable attention for her crusade against smoking prior to her death from cancer. Most, however, like the St. Paul families who welcomed 10 children from Chernobyl into their homes for a visit, have not received much recognition. This book will help rectify this, and serve as encouragement for others to provide published accounts of their personal everyday heroes.