Less than a year ago, years of hard work culminated in a rebranding campaign for Kerby Centre.
We kept the name — we had to; we’ve got a legacy with that name! — but we added in a little something else.
Since we’ve expanded to separate locations within the province and offered our programming to anyone with an internet connection, the choice was made to show that we were all working in Unison to help make our seniors’ community stronger — wherever that might be.
Now the Kerby Centre has kept its name but is being run under the banner of Unison Alberta, along with a new, gorgeous logo. You’ve seen it in lots of places: the four-colour shield, representing our goal of safeguarding seniors’ wellness and comfort well into the aging process.
It did mean, however, that we retired our precious logo, the well-known “Tree of Life” symbol that Kerby Centre had used for so long.
But even the Tree of Life was new once! Just like our present shield logo, the Tree of Life was at one point part of Kerby’s branding in a new and exciting way.
We’re going back in our history for this week’s story about the origins of Kerby’s Tree of Life symbol: where it came from and what it represents.
The Design
The Tree of Life logo wasn’t always around. It was 13 years after Kerby Centre’s founding in 1986 that the logo was designed by Vivian Lindoe.
Lindoe, a talented artist hailing herself from Alberta, was also a member of Kerby’s board when the logo was created, and she worked closely with the board members to ensure it reflected the philosophy of Kerby itself.
“To them, a tree, a living organism with its sheltering branches, represented the unique untiring community that Kerby Centre was intended to be from its inception,” reads a story about the logo from the Kerby News archives in September 1993.
“The human form, superimposed on the tree, emphasized the vitality of the human spirit and its life-long capacity to embrace learning and growth in understanding.”
But this wasn’t necessarily a bespoke concept. The concept of the “Tree of Life” goes back much farther in history, beyond Kerby’s existence or even Canada’s founding.
The History
The following excerpt was from a Kerby News article in September 1993 by Helen Lee Robertson.
“The tree of Life symbol used by the Kerby Centre follows a world tree motif widely found in the folktales and religious of many cultures of the centuries … Hebraic and Islamic traditions describe a tree of life with its roots in heaven and its branches overarching the earth.
“Zoroastrianism teaches that all life on earth is the responsibility of the Tree of All Seeds.”
“In the Hindu faith, Varuna obtained the drink of immortality from the fruit of the celestial Tree of Life… In the Judeo-Christian religion, the vertical world tree refers to the Tree of Knowledge.”
“Behind the iconography of the various trees of life may lie the dominant feature of the oasis — the tree growing beside a spring supplying life-giving water.”
While the Tree of Life logo has been retired, this doesn’t mean that it wasn’t important to Kerby Centre’s growth for much of our existence. Change can be difficult, but like a tree, sometimes we outgrow where our roots can reach.
As Unison Alberta, we’re not bound to a single building at the Kerby Centre. We still are here and recognize the importance of the roots we’ve put down, but we’re also spreading farther out to provide the same shade and protection to even more people than ever before.
And if you ask me, that’s exactly the kind of philosophy Kerby Centre was founded on.
