Two late members of the Raymond community are being honoured this summer.
Doctors Monty Audenart and Drew Cahoon have posthumously been named honorary parade marshals for the 2025 Raymond Rotary Canada Parade.
Officials say their wives, Elizabeth (Gibb) Audenart and Joanne (Jensen) Cahoon will represent them during the parade at activities on July 1.
DR. MONTY AUDENART
Dr. Audenart took part in many Raymond-based youth activities as a child in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1977, he graduated from the School of Dentistry at the University of Alberta and started a family practice in Vermillion. He then moved to Red Deer, where he continued practicing, while making multiple trips to Nunavut until he died in January 2015.
Officials say he used his skills to help people around the world, including in Jamaica, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Russia and the Amazon. There, he provided services for hundreds of patients, unpaid and funded by himself.
Dr. Audenart joined Rotary in 1987 and served in different roles, including Club President, District Governor, Rotary International Vice President and as a trustee of the Rotary Foundation. With his wife Elizabeth, he served clubs across Canada and the world. Elizabeth continues to be active in her local Red Deer chapter.
Celebrating Dr. Audenart’s legacy, District 5360 distributes the ‘Dr. Monty Audenart Inspirational Award’ each year to someone who was inspired to demonstrate outstanding achievement in Rotary work within their community and internationally.
DR. DREW CAHOON
Growing up in Cardston and Edmonton, Dr. Drew Cahoon graduated from the School of Dentistry at the University of Alberta in 1976. After graduating, he started service in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Dental Officer. When he left the service, he practiced in Penhold, Three Hills and Raymond until his retirement in 2012.
On a trip to Africa in 2005, Dr. Cahoon met with the leaders of the Mulago Dental School in Uganda, which trained most of the dentists for the 45,000,000 residents of the country. Dr. Cahoon noticed that dental students were getting inadequate training because of a lack of equipment and proper facilities, so after two years of hard work, a renovated and revitalized school was opened with over 20 modern, fully functional dental chairs.
Officials say hundreds of North American dentists, hygienists, assistants and others went to Uganda and later Rwanda, where similar goals were accomplished, with Dr. Cahoon celebrated for his efforts in Central Africa.
Dr. Cahoon passed away in 2017.
The Canada Day parade is part of the annual Heritage Days celebration in Raymond, with activities planned for June 28, June 30 and July 1. More information is available at the Town of Raymond website.
