"I'm proud to be both an Historian and a teacher. Both
backgrounds allow me to enhance the service I provide to students. As a trained
and experienced teacher, I can help students grapple with the information and
develop the skills necessary for success. And, as a professional historian, I am
familiar with the thinking skills and attitudes that are important to that
discipline. I have spent most of my life reading, writing, and thinking
about History. History is my career and my favorite hobby."
Franklin Foster was born in Lloydminster and grew up on a family farm
south of town. He attended a one room country school (Golden Valley School)
before being part of the student body that opened the new Junior High School,
later named E. S. Laird School. He graduated from the Lloydminster Comprehensive
High School. His first two degrees (a B. Ed. and BA.) are from the
University of Alberta. He began his teaching career in the County of Vermilion
River (at Dewberry and Marwayne) and later was part of the staff which opened the
Grand Centre Regional High School (in what is now Cold Lake, Alberta). After some years as teacher and Department
Head there, he moved to Kingston, Ontario where he completed both a Masters
Degree and a Doctorate at Queen's University.
While at Queen's, Dr. Foster studied under some of Canada’s
most respected Historians, including: Roger Graham, Fred Gibson and George
Rawlyk. His major areas of study included North American Colonial History,
Post-Confederation Canadian History, and Intellectual History (the study of the
role ideas play in History). Dr. Foster's specialization is in the Reform
Movements of the early 20th Century. His published books include: John
E. Brownlee: A Biography (the story of Alberta's fifth premier),
Bordering on Greatness: A History of Lloydminster's First Century, and (as
Editor) The Trail of 1903, an account of the epic adventure of the
founding of Lloydminster.
Since receiving his Doctorate, Franklin taught various history courses and
seminars at Queen's University, Red Deer College, and from 1989 to 2010 at Lakeland College,
Lloydminster. He now lives with his wife Dorothy, and several Teddy
Bears, in Sherwood Park, Alberta.