History - Bill Swift

Bill Swift - Probably only his mother ever called him William, grew up in the Tofield area where he attended elementary and high school. After receiving his B.A from the University of Alberta in 1924, he attended the Calgary Normal School, then taught in Provost, Viking and the Olds Agricultural School. During these years he qualified for a degree of M.A. (Education) and M. Education from the University of Alberta.

In 1930 he became the youngest school inspector ever appointed in Alberta in the area then known as the Frontier area around Athabasca, For the next seven years, he was a Norman School instructor in Camrose Edmonton and Calgary; for the last two of these years he was principal of the Calgary Normal School. From Calgary he was appointed Chief Superintendent of Schools, Then Deputy Minister of Education, and finally Chairman of the Universities Commission.

Bill held many office: President of the University of Alberta Alumni Association, Member of the University of Alberta Senate and Board of Governors, President of the Education Society of Edmonton, Chairman of the Notional Council on School Broadcasting,President of the Canadian Education Association, Delegate to UNESCO and to the International Conference on Education in Geneva.

Bill Swift was President of the Rotary Club of Edmonton in 1964-1965 and became District Governor of Rotary District 530 for the 1970-71 Rotary year. District 536 at that time included all of Alberta, a bit of B.C. in the Peace River Bolck and some of Spouth West Saskatchewan. The District was renumbered to 5369 in 1991. The District later became sufficiently large that it was deemed difficult to manage and ir was decided to split the district into two Districts 5360 in the south and 5370 in the north.