Franklin C. Loehde (b.1936) is a retired science educator in Edmonton who was smitten by astronomy while in elementary school. While still in grade school and university, Loehde was active in international studies of aurora with Cornell University and the National Research Council of Canada, lunar occultations and grazes with H.M. Nautical Almanac Office (England), sunspots and flares with the American Association of Variable Star Observers Solar Division, and other observing disciplines. Loehde studied spectroscopic binary stars at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, and co-authored a Canadian centennial project, Alberta — A Natural History with its opening chapter, "Skies over Alberta." A member of the Royal Astronomical Society Canada Edmonton Centre since 1952, Loehde assisted in the establishment of the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium in 1961 and then in 1984 the Edmonton Space Sciences Centre, which is now the TELUS World of Science. Loehde served the RASC Edmonton Centre in numerous capacities including two terms as Centre President, received the RASC Service Award 1976 and was national President in 1982-84. Active as a science educator all his life, he attempted to reach students and adults alike in a great variety of ways, such as authoring a series of articles in newspapers throughout western Canada in the 1950s, co-founding the Edmonton Regional Science Fair in 1961, and chairing major Star Nights for the RASC Edmonton Centre in the 1960s. In retirement, he remains 'smitten' by the stars, science in general and other interests such as politics, the Arts, and fund raising for the organisations to which he belongs.

Reference: MPC 53472