Charlene Preston

Area Director East/West Central

It is with sorrow and condolences that we acknowledge the passing of Board Member Charlene Preston.

Charlene was born and raised in Hanna, Alberta, and had moved several times, mostly in the East and West Central 4-H Regions. She was from a long line of 4-H family members and was recognized as the 1995 East Central Ambassador. Charlene took all of her post-secondary schooling at Olds College, where she obtained a Certificate in Commercial Floristry, a Diploma in Greenhouse Management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Horticulture. She was also named the 2001 ACCC Top Student Leader in Canada and spent three months in Vietnam working on an Olds College/CIDA partnership project.

Charlene had been a nanny in Arkansas, owned her own flower shop and a massage business, worked for the Olds Grizzlys in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, worked for three different MLAs, and had served as a Town Councillor in the town of Sundre. She then moved  back to the Hanna area, where she worked in Youngstown as their school secretary and championed their Greenhouse School of Excellence program.

In her spare time, she enjoyed being the Rangeland 4-H Multi Club Sewing leader, loved to travel,  go to spas, and loved to support (and spoil) her two nephews in whatever they were doing, be it hockey, football, baseball, or 4-H.