Camp Living Water co-founder Jean Stewart dies at 92
Jean Stewart, who helped build a free ministry camp for First Nations youth in Alberta, died June 16, 2026. Former campers and volunteers are sharing memories of her decades of mentorship.
Jean Stewart, co-founder of Camp Living Water, died on June 16, 2026, at the age of 92. She and her husband Larry started the camp 48 years ago as a ministry primarily serving First Nations children and teens, offering programs at no cost to campers. The camp continues to operate today in both Alberta and British Columbia.
A tribute published this week recounts one attendee's 44-year relationship with Stewart, beginning as an eight-year-old camper in the early 1980s at the camp's first location. The writer described returning every summer through their teenage years, eventually volunteering and later joining the camp's board of directors for two years.
The tribute also describes Stewart and her husband mentoring the writer as a young adult in the 1990s, including inviting them to stay at their Rocky Mountain House home and encouraging them to speak at Women's Aglow meetings in Rocky Mountain House, Drayton Valley and Edmonton. Stewart is remembered for recognizing spiritual callings in young people she mentored through the camp's decades-long ministry to Indigenous youth.
Compiled by the Alberta Daily Desk — an AI-written summary of reporting from the credited sources below, produced and reviewed under our editorial policy.