Editor’s note: Alberta’s heritage sector and the Heritage Division of Arts Culture and Status of Women recently lost two dedicated and long-serving colleagues – former Historic Conservation Advisor Rino Basso and former historian and provincial archivist David Leonard.
Written by: Ronald Kelland, Geographical Names Program Coordinator and Fraser Shaw, Heritage Conservation Advisor
Rino Basso
Rino Basso was born at Nordegg, Alberta on July 22, 1946, to Pietro “Pete” Basso, a coal miner with significant carpentry skills and Barbara Basso (nee Sieben), who was a notable volunteer in her community and church and had some nursing training. The Basso family moved to Red Deer in 1947 where Pete Basso started Basso Construction and built houses. Being born in the historic mining community of Nordegg and having a carpenter and a homebuilder as a father may have set Rino on a career path in historic resources management from an early age.
Rino attended Red Deer Catholic Separate Schools, graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 1965 then enrolling in the Architectural Technology Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. In the early-1970s, Rino began working with the Government of Alberta as Senior Preservation Advisor in the Historic Sites Service and, as it is known today, Historic Resources Management. There is probably not a single Provincial Historic Resource designated between the 1970s and 2010s that has not seen his involvement. It seems like his name can be found on every file in Historic Resources Management’s records. Rino used to jovially remark that he had probably driven on every byway, stayed in every motel, eaten at every bakery and visited every city, town and village in the province from Edmonton and Calgary to the proverbial “Cucumber Corner,” his shorthand, all-inclusive term for the small communities and rural areas across the province whose history and heritage he dedicated so much of his career to preserving.
Whether they be out somewhere in the back forty or in a large community, Rino had a knack for spotting historic buildings and could readily identify historic materials and architectural details and size up potential issues in a building even on a quick visit. One project that he was particularly connected with was the Medalta Potteries in Medicine Hat. He played a significant role in its conservation and designation as a National Historic Site of Canada.
It was not just the big projects to which he was dedicated; historic small business blocks, homes, churches and farm buildings benefited from his attention. Rino’s combination of technical knowledge and his ability to connect with people made him the perfect person to ease the minds of worried and sometimes skeptical property owners and aid them in conserving their designated historic buildings. Over three decades of work, his clients remember him fondly for his support and guidance.
Rino lived life fully. His legacy goes beyond bricks and mortar. A devoted son, he regularly visited his mother in Red Deer until her death at age 95. He was devoted to his colleagues, many of whom call him a friend, mentor and collaborator. Without any effort on his part, Rino could typically be found at the centre of every room and conversation, educating his younger colleagues with his experiences and entertaining everyone with a never-ending supply of stories of his work and travels throughout Alberta and Canada. Rino retired from the Government of Alberta in 2011. It was a well-earned retirement, but it did not slow him down. While he did enjoy more leisure time and world travel, he kept his foot in the heritage conservation field as a consultant and stayed connected with his former colleagues as an advocate for the historic places he spent his career preserving. Rino Basso passed away at age 78 on Wednesday, July 2 in Calgary.
Rino is survived by his beloved family, wife Carol, daughter Trina, son-in-law Dr. John Carter, and grandsons Jacob and Matthew – along with many dear friends and colleagues.
David Leonard
David Leonard was born in Fairview, Alberta on February 17, 1945, and raised in Sexsmith. As a young man he discovered baseball, and that sport would hold a central place for him for the rest of his life. He played on the Sexsmith Rainiers baseball team and he had an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball stories and statistics that would put any professional game announcer or colour commentator to shame.
Aside from baseball, history was Dave’s lifelong passion. He studied history at the University of Alberta, earning his Bachelor of Arts in 1968 and his Master of Arts in 1969. He worked for two years as an archivist with the Provincial Archives of Alberta before going to the United Kingdom, where he earned his PhD in Modern Irish History at the University of Sheffield in 1975.
Returning to Canada, he worked as Assistant Archivist for the City of Edmonton until December 1978 when he was hired as the first Territorial Archivist for the Northwest Territories and moved to Yellowknife. He returned to Alberta in 1981, again joining the Provincial Archives of Alberta and serving in various roles culminating as the Provincial Archivist from 1993 to 1996. Over this period, he also taught courses in archival studies at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies.
Outside of his government work, he also aided in the preservation and dissemination of Alberta’s history and publication of other books through his involvement with the Historical Society of Alberta and the Alberta Records Publication Board. David’s education and career may have taken him to other places, but he never, ever really left the Peace Country. He is best known as a historian and prolific author of books about the Peace Country, notably, but not limited to history books The Lure of the Peace River Country (1992), Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909 (1995) and The Last Great West: The Agricultural Settlement of the Peace Country to 1914 and a work of fiction The Trail to Assumption (2014). David Leonard was named to the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2007 and received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.
When David left the Provincial Archives in 1996, he joined the Historic Resources Management Branch as a historian. In that role he was primarily the historian for northern Alberta, but his encyclopedic knowledge of Alberta’s history contributed greatly to the evaluation, interpretation and designation of Provincial Historic Sites and Resources throughout the province. He also made frequent contributions to this blog in its early years.
For many years, he would speak to all incoming Provincial Historic Sites seasonal staff, introducing them to Alberta’s history. He promoted the Historic Resources Management Branch’s programs, such as Provincial Historic Resource designation and the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program through his research and evaluation skills, but also by meeting with individuals, organizations and community leaders, primarily in the Peace Country. Work road trips to the Peace River area with Dave Leonard along quickly turned into personalized and delightful tours of the region’s backroads and history. Memories of Dave Leonard at Designation Committee meetings include fascinating accounts of people, events and themes encompassing Alberta’s history along with reams of paper covered in handwritten baseball statistics, all recalled from memory, a cup of tea, oatmeal cookies (always and only, Dad’s brand oatmeal cookies) and his own particular chuckle at anything he found ironic, amusing, interesting or just generally ridiculous.
David Leonard retired from the Government of Alberta in 2012, but kept active in Alberta’s heritage community. He served on the Heritage Advisory Committee for the County of Grande Prairie and he compiled the homestead records of the Peace Country into a database, establishing an invaluable resource for future researchers. He would periodically show up at the Historic Resources Management Branch’s office to discuss his latest endeavours and frequently dropping off personalized, signed copies of his latest book to his former colleagues. David Leonard passed away at age 80 on July 3, 2025 in Edmonton. His depth of knowledge, his quiet sense of humour, his dedication to the history and the people of the Peace Country, and his encouragement to his colleagues will be forever missed.
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