Forget-Me-Not

Your Personal Historian is Al Fowler

Personal Historian padre Albert G. Fowler is a busy man with a wealth of experience. An ordained minister of the United Church of Canada, a former military chaplain and a military historian, he has been a freelance writer for many years.

Born to a military family in Kingston Ontario in 1942, Fowler graduated from Mount Allison University in Sackville New Brunswick with a BA in English in 1966. He continued studies at Pine Hill Divinity Hall (now the Atlantic School of Theology) in Halifax Nova Scotia, winning the Japanese Stephen Nakata award in Biblical interpretation and graduating with a Master of Divinity degree in 1969. After ordination and two years in a rural New Brunswick parish he joined the Canadian Forces as a chaplain in 1971.

Fowler served the military across Canada for 27 years in land, air and sea environments. He worked with the Jamaican Defence Force, US Army Rangers and spent time at sea on a US Marines' troop ship. His service included six months with a French speaking unit, 12 RBC, serving the United Nations in Cyprus.

In 1989 the military returned him to Carleton University where he completed a Master of Arts degree in Canadian History. After three years as a University Chaplain at Royal Roads Military College he published a history of Canadian military chaplains. Peacetime Padres has been used as a reference book for chaplains in Canada, South Africa and Australia. In 1995 Fowler was awarded the Order of Military Merit (OMM) an honor given to those who have demonstrated dedication and devotion beyond the call of duty and commitment to Canada.

After retirement from the military in 1996, Fowler served for six years at Garden City United Church in Victoria. Presently, he is fully retired from pastoral duties but continues to serve as a volunteer on Provincial and National church committees. An active storyteller, he has just chaired the 2009 AGM and Conference of the Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada. Also active as a technical and production volunteer in local cable television, he has produced several historical moments, his next major long range television project is a documentary of early missionary work with the Tsimshan First Nation on Canada's west coast.

During the summer of 2009, Al Fowler talked to many people who either did not want to be forgotten or who wanted to get the stories and wisdom of their aging ancestors on paper. He established a new company, Forget-Me-Not, to help you capture your own wisdom and stories or those of your immediate ancestors.