Waddell, Boyd

Boyd Waddell, 1920-1998, was born and raised in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He began an apprenticeship in photography in 1937 at the Swift Current Advocate and Sun. In 1940 he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as an aerial photographer, spending most of his time at Goose Bay, Labrador and Suffield, Alberta. He married Freda Crum, 1917-2009, of Calgary at Suffield. On his discharge Waddell worked for the Alberta Government Publicity Bureau and McDermid Studios in Edmonton. The Waddells then operated the Pauline Photo Studio at Brooks, Alberta. In 1950 they moved to Calgary where Waddell joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as a medical photographer at the Colonel Belcher Hospital. He also freelanced extensively, showing his work in several major exhibitions, including images from several trips to the Canadian Arctic. Waddell received an Alberta Achievement Award in 1980. He was a member of the Biological Photographic Association and was a founder of the Alberta Medical and Biological Photographic Association. He was also a member and director of the McDougall Stoney Mission Society and did photography for the organization. He was a trustee and chairman of the Last Post Fund and the Veterans Field of Honor. He and his wife Freda had two children, Brent and Wendy (Sorensen).