New museum executive director shaping Claresholm’s story

By David Gale

When visitors step into the Claresholm and District Museum, they’re greeted by warm, focused lighting that reveals treasures from the community’s past, a stark contrast from the harsh fluorescents that once washed over the exhibits. The lighting seems subtle, almost effortless. That’s exactly the point, says the person behind the change: Executive Director Jordyn Wallace, who is just 23.
Most people her age are only beginning to navigate early adulthood, finding their first apartments, tasting independence, testing the future. Wallace, meanwhile, is operating a museum of enormous historical significance to southern Alberta.
“If visitors don’t notice the lighting, then we did our job right,” she said, smiling. “They’re focused on the history, not the ceiling.”
Wallace began at the museum in 2021 as a summer student, just a job she could take while home from university and living with her parents. She laughs now at how simple it felt.
“I was just a student who needed a job.”
But something clicked, not immediately but steadily. She discovered not just dusty relics, but human stories waiting to be told. Born and raised in Claresholm, she felt a personal connection that deepened with every visitor she guided and every exhibit she helped build.
That first summer, she assisted the previous executive director, Bill Kells, on major improvements including the new exhibit lighting and “Wings Over Claresholm”, a memorial tribute to the town’s role in the Second World War and its historic air force training base.
And she loved it. The impact surprised even her.
“My favourite part is taking people from all over the globe and showing them my little corner of the world, what makes it special and unique.”
Kells noticed her passion. Every year, he passed along more responsibility. She had become part of the succession plan but no one expected the plan to accelerate.
In the winter of 2024, Kells suffered a heart attack. At that moment, only two staff remained: Kells… and Wallace. Suddenly, if the museum was going to open in the spring, she would need to operate it herself.
“The timeline was not what I expected,” she recalled. “It was a shock.”
She stepped in as interim executive director learning budgeting, board relations, operations, town processes… and everything in between. It was trial by fire.
Kells recovered enough to briefly return, but soon after chose retirement.
And so on Oct. 19, the Town of Claresholm officially appointed Wallace as executive director, full-time and permanent.
The museum – its buildings, grounds, collection, and operations – is owned and supported by the town. Wallace now works closely with town administration and with a museum board whose average age is nearly triple her own.
She admits the dynamic is “a learning curve” but she brings something essential that no outside hire could: homegrown passion and irreplaceable experience.
“I have a vested personal interest. This is my community. It’s important to me.”
Her youth isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. She has already become a bridge to the next generation. One of her major goals? Bring local youth back into the story.
“It’s not just old stuff in a room,” she insisted. “There’s so much more that young people don’t always see.”
She plans expanded workshops, student programming, and rotating exhibits to give locals reasons to return again and again.
Claresholm is a town built on legacy: aviation history, ranching roots, and stories of families who carved out a future from prairie soil. Now, that same future sits in the hands of someone who deeply understands its past.