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Edgar Stanford Russenholt
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Publicist, author, weatherman.
Born at Uxbridge, Ontario on 18 May 1890, second-youngest of four children of Norman Russenholt (1858-1932) and Margaret Jane “Maggie” Lowe (1861-1893), his family came west in April 1898, settling first at Hartney and later homesteading near Bowsman.
In the early days of the First World War, he enlisted in the 44th Battalion, earned a battlefield commission, was invalided home after Vimy Ridge and later wrote the Unit’s war history, Six Thousand Canadian Men (1932). The book was described in the Canadian Historical Review as surpassing all such chronicles from “the standpoint of pure history, almost a model of critical analysis.”
In the 1930s and 1940s, he worked in publicity, advertising, and public relations. Among the organizations for which he worked were Winnipeg Hydro and Manitoba Hydro, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ducks Unlimited, and the Canadian Wheat Pool. During the Second World War, he served with the Winnipeg Grenadiers (Reserve) and retired as Officer Commanding in 1947.
As CBWT television’s first weatherman, his signature line “Ah, yes, the heart of the continent” was a daily reminder of how he felt about his community. He later used The Heart of the Continent as the title of his published 1968 history of Assiniboia. He also wrote histories of the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company and Winnipeg Hydro. His Follow the Trail (1945) and Meri-Ka-Chak - His Message (1947, with Hamilton Borradaile Chipman) for children were immediate successes and fifty-thousand copies were sold in nineteen countries. His unique story-telling talent moved listeners and readers to both laughter and tears.
He was married twice, first on 4 December 1917 to Ethel Thompson Kennedy (1895-1928), and second on 1 July 1931 to Kathleen Josephine Vanstone with whom he had three children: Lynne Russenholt (1932-2015, wife of Donald Ross Macfarlane), Edward Clark “Champ” Russenholt (1933-2020), and Ben Russenholt. In 1958, he moved to “Happy Acres” near Headingley where he became active in community affairs and was a staunch member of Headingley United Church. He continued, as he had for half a century, to research Canadian history and to write, broadcast, and speak out on the need for conservation and management of Canada’s vast natural resources.
He was a charter member of the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists, First President of the Historical Museum Association of St. James-Assiniboia, and a committee member of the Manitoba Centennial Corporation. He spearheaded such community projects as the development of the Omand’s Creek Recreation Area, Grant’s Old Mill, and the St. James Assiniboia Museum. He also served with pride and dedication as a member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (1967-1970) and the Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba (1970-1973). He was a Liberal candidate for the Winnipeg South Centre constituency in the 1962 federal general election but was defeated by incumbent Gordon Minto Churchill.
In recognition of his community service, he was named St. James Citizen of the Year (1970) and Honorary Life Member of the St. James Chamber of Commerce. He received a Golden Boy Award (1962), a Pioneer Historian Award from the Red River Valley Historical Association (?), a Manitoba Centennial Medal from the Manitoba Historical Society (1970), and a Bern Lowe Memorial Award from the Winnipeg Chapter of the Meteorological Society of Canada (?). He was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1981).
He died at the Deer Lodge Centre on 3 February 1991 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens. His papers are at the Archives of Manitoba.
His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
On Snowshoes for Wheat
Manitoba Pageant, April 1957Homestead Holiday
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 3, Number 3, April 1958Sidelights on the History of Assiniboia
MHS Transactions, Series 3, 1963-1964 Season
Marriage and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“These Manitobans will help plan centennial,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 1963, page 9.
“‘Heart of the continent’ loses grandfather,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 1991, page 3.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 1991, page 31.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, December 1999, 288 pages.
Obituary [Lynne MacFarlane], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 November 2015.
Obituary [Edward Clark Russenholt], Winnipeg Free Press, 4 March 2020.
We thank Rick Brown and Shannon MacFarlane for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 16 June 2025
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