David Beale retires after 40 years of service to the Town of Bonnyville 

The Town of Bonnyville hired David Beale in 1982 to work in the FCSS department, and up until his retirement, 40 years later, he only ever worked in that department. 

The Town had to create a 40-year milestone for David because nobody has made it that far staying with the same department or has reached that milestone at FCSS. 

“There have been several versions of the FCSS since I’ve started there. We were initially very much into senior support, I was the only male on staff, and that’s usually been the case. It was very rare that there was another male on staff,” said Beale. 

Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, he moved to Saskatchewan in 1980 and settled in Alberta in 1982. His job before was as a quality control technician, but it wasn’t fulfilling enough for Beale, as he said it was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. 

Hired as a counselor at the FCSS, he shared that one of his first-ever duties, and still something he does today, is to be Santa Claus. Yet throughout the years, Beale stayed to take on many more roles. 

He found himself happier and more complete in the FCSS, caring about other people’s quality of life in Bonnyville and finding ways to improve it overall. Beale is known to have no fear in doing what’s right and, when new issues arise, getting to solve them immediately and finding people to support the cause along the way. 

Beale has been around for multiple changes the FCSS has made and watched the Town itself be developed over the years. 

Beale has been a part of programs like the off campus program when it originally started as an FCSS program. Then in charge of school EA officers and counselors that were also FCSS employees. He has since then gone through title changes, such as FCSS director and then later on to FCSS director of community services.

His job having few breaks or downtime was just that kind of deal, always having to be on alert and accepting that people were going to ask questions and for your help at any time of day. You could even get stopped in the grocery store, and that’s okay, Beale said. 

“I wanna make sure that everyone knows that I didn’t do any of this alone. I’ve always worked in teams or been a part of boards. We always formed teams to tackle tasks, throughout all of my years I will still say don’t do anything alone. Always build a team, and that is how this kind of work should be done. Being the lone ranger in this kind of work is not how it’s done,” said Beale. 

“I’ve been through so many different mayors, and councils and boards and CEOs and people who have come and gone, and the good fortune to have good teams, being able to work and having the joy of all these positive relationships formed over the years, the cooperation that we were able to have any time dealing with the FCSS, there was never a situation where the M.D. and the Town disagreed about topics with the FCSS.”

The program that has continued since Beale started the job was Meals on Wheels, which began in 1975. The FCSS paid more attention to early childhood care, and family community services in the 80’s moving into the 90s. Daycare programs are being discovered, and the FCSS, since the beginning, still has a preschool and daycare program. 

One of Beale’s memories that he enjoys is being able to be involved in the Women’s Crisis Center in Cold Lake and attending as a board member for the women’s center as a male which is uncommon, and he got to attend a convention being the only male out of 400 women.

In 1988, the Parent Child Center was built and ran by the Bonnyville Daycare. The FCSS was located in the old library. In 1997, the daycare operators came to the town asking for financial aid, and they moved the FCSS program into the parent child center, and at the same time David was then appointed to a new role as director and would go on in that position up until retirement.

In 2010, he was in charge of planning and building a new daycare, getting licensed, and then becoming the director of it for three years.

Beale is known to preach volunteer work and that every individual can find a way to participate and give back to the community. Listening to his own advice, he sits on the volunteer board at the Bonnyville Museum and volunteer at the Fort Kent community hall. 

He will continue to go camping and keep up with his love for computers and be with family while staying in the Lakeland. 

“Thanking my employers, the Town, and the M.D of Bonnyville for putting up with me, and bringing me on board, trusting my decisions. It’s been a great career, and no regrets, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds,” said Beale.