Marvin Maronda

My name is Marvin Maronda. My paternal Grandparents, Carl and Alvina (Totz) Maronda, homesteaded in the Lomond area in 1908. My maternal Grandparents, Ernest and Olive Mae (Chapman) Donaghy, first came to Champion in 1911 before moving to the Travers area and then into the Lomond district in 1925. Like many early settlers they always worked together with their neighbours and friends to make their rural community a better place in which to live.

I was born in the Vulcan Hospital to Martin and Welda (Donaghy) Maronda in the 1950s. Like so many of my local contemporaries I was delivered by Dr. A. D. Tompkins, and while my family and I lived and farmed at Lomond our medical needs were always well met by the excellent staff at The Vulcan Hospital.

I graduated from high school in Lomond, and after graduating and working in the fields of journalism and meteorology, I returned to Vulcan County where I took over a part of the family farm, and where I live to this day. My farm was incorporated as Fairview Ranch ... a name my Grandfather Ernie Donaghy gave it many years before ... for from the hill on which it stands it had a remarkably “fair” view.

My parents, like their local friends and neighbours, were always active in our community. My dad, Martin Maronda, installed the first commercial power generation plant in Lomond and later spearheaded the drive to electrify the entire Lomond community. He was the first president of the Lomond R.E.A. My mother, Welda, was a member of numerous local clubs and organizations, and with Mae Chapman was instrumental in the rejuvenation of our local cemetery. Growing up watching them and many others in our community I quickly realized the importance of volunteerism and charitable giving.

Over the years I have too have served a number of organizations both within our community and beyond. I have continued to give to groups and organizations I feel are making a real difference in this world. I was more recently very pleased to give my support to the “Harvest for Health” initiative, and assist with the movement to expand and upgrade The Vulcan Health Care facility.

Vulcan has always had a hospital with qualified doctors and nurses, but I could see the need to enhance the facility to make it more relevant, to help it better address the needs of today’s population, to help it attract more staff of a higher caliber, and to keep the medical facilities we have both functioning and expanding!

I am very proud to be a part of Vulcan County, the Lomond Community, and this very worthwhile project that shall serve and greatly benefit the people of all the districts and small towns that make up The Vulcan County.

Joanne, Ed, Adam & Coleman Kettenbach

We are so fortunate to live in a community that has the excellent medical services that the Vulcan Hospital and Medical Clinic have to offer. Offering financial support to the expansion of the Medical Clinic is something our family is more than happy to do. As a 4th generation farming family in the Vulcan Area, we see the importance of having access to timely health care for our family as well as the entire community. Having lived in Calgary for a number of years, we know well the extremely long wait times one must wait for emergency services. In our busy lives it is so good to know that one does not have to travel far or wait for weeks to have the majority of their medical needs met.

Offering our financial support to the Foundation’s expansion project also gives us peace of mind that those vital medical services will be available to our whole community and the 5th generation of our family as they continue the farming tradition in Vulcan County!