Serving as a mascot of the No. 2 Wireless School during the Second World War, her official duties included leading military parades and graduation parades — even the 1942 Calgary Stampede Parade.
Photo courtesy of SAIT Archives
Wearing her own bespoke blanket, Midge poses at the front doors of the Main Building (as Heritage Hall was called before 1985) with Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Lloyd Willigar of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
One of the thousands of pilots and crew members from Commonwealth and Allied countries who trained in Calgary, Willigar won Midge in a Christmas charity raffle.
Midge lived on campus in her own stable and had the run of the school grounds, often feasting on cookies and apples from the enlisted men's mess. She became a Calgary celebrity, even after LAC Williagar was posted overseas.
In April 1942, Willigar was killed on a bombing mission over Germany. In 1945, Midge was honourably discharged and shipped to live with LAC Willigar's mother in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, where she led the Victory in Europe Parade.
"If These Halls Could Talk"
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Oki, Âba wathtech, Danit'ada, Tawnshi, Hello.
SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.