Fonds MS-15-21 - Alan (Al) Roy Stewart fonds

Alan Roy Stewart was an active member of GAE/GALA, the TightRope Leather Brotherhood, St John's United Church in Halifax, and later Grace United Church in Dartmouth. Stewart played an integral role in attaining "Affirmed" status for St John's through the Affirming Ministries Program offered by Affirm United, an advocacy organization founded in 1982 that supports LGBTQ members of the United Church of Canada. He also helped to organize the first AIDS Vigil in Halifax. He was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1942, and received his early education in Yarmouth and at Riverdale Collegiate in Toronto. As a teenager, he joined the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Chebogue, rising to become an officer/instructor. In 1966 he graduated from Mount Allison University with a BA in Philosophy and History, earning a BEd the following year. While at Mount Allison he directed the Theological Society Chapel Choir and served on the Student Representative Council. After graduation he served in the Canadian Royal Navy as a sub lieutenant for five years and taught at Dartmouth High School for three years before buying a motor cycle shop on Gottingen Street, Halifax. From there he went to the Provincial Court as a court clerk, retiring in 2007. He was also active in the NSGEU as a shop steward. He died on 10 June 2020, survived by his longtime partner, Michael Sangster.