BECK-MERRITT, AILA
It is with great sadness and much love that we say goodbye to Aila Beck-Merritt.
Aila was born in Edmonton on March 10th 1950 and passed away on May 2nd 2026
She was a cherished mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.
She leaves behind her three children Troy, Allan and Charlene, numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, her sister Susan, her brother Allan and her many nieces and nephews and friends.
Rather than mourn what was lost we will celebrate a life well lived. Aila lived a modest life that was devoted to helping others.
Aila’s first love was her family but her second love was the community of South Cooking Lake.
She moved to the hamlet when she was a teenager and loved all the community events, especially dancing at the hall dances. She moved away for a short time but came back and worked in several community businesses, the most recent was over 6 years as the Post Mistress. She worked, volunteered and fought tirelessly for this community and its residents. It didn’t matter what event was going on, Aila was involved. She was a lifetime member of the Community league and held several different positions over the years.
In addition to all the other things she did to help this community and the people in it, she organized and helped prepare community Sunday brunches but her biggest passion was Trail Days.
She was instrumental in organizing and running this fun and successful event for years. As soon as Trail days was finished, she started planning for the next year. She worked year-round, getting grants, donations, and volunteers. Her goal was to ensure that all the children’s activities would remain free of charge. She did not want any child or family to miss out on this event so this was very important to her.
One past Mayor of Strathcona County once referred to her as the Mayor of South Cooking Lake, and that title stuck. She was respected, loved and sometimes a little feared LOL but if you wanted to know anything or needed help, she was the person to go to.
Whenever you had the pleasure of running into her, you would always get a smile, a hug or both and most often were “Voluntold” to do something for the community.
In 2005 Aila won The Alberta Centennial Medal in recognition of her outstanding service to the people and the Province of Alberta and in 2013 she won the Pride of Strathcona Award for Community Service.
Aila was proud of those awards, but she did not do things for personal recognition, she did it out of love for her family, friends and this community.
Aila will be laid to rest in the South Cooking Lake cemetery in a private family service.
There will be a celebration of her life scheduled at a later date.
In Lieu of flowers please consider a donation to a charity of your choice or to
The Tofield and Area Health Foundation. PO Box 1155 Tofield AB. T0B 4J0