William Hyman Kankewitt emigrated from Grodnow to Winnipeg with his family in 1906 at the age of six. He left school after grade eight to work to support his family. In 1931, he married Marjorie Tadman from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. At that time, he was living and working at a dry goods store in Provost, Alberta. Their daughter Barbara was born in 1933. In 1935, they moved to Ponoka, Alberta, where he managed a dry goods store for Abe Brody of Edmonton. In 1940, William became a Lieutenant quartermaster for the 17th Field Army Medical Corps. Son William Roy was born in 1943. In 1945, he partnered with Eugene Pechet in Thorhild Mercantile. In 1946, he bought a clothing store in Edson, Alberta from Maurice Schwartz, which he named "The W.H. Kankewitt Department Store." In 1949, he became the mayor of Edson, despite a particularly nasty anti-Semitic campaign against him. In 1951, William and Marjorie had the honour of escorting Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on a walk-about in Edson on their Royal visit to Canada. After daughter Barbara's marriage in 1952, he and the rest of the family went back to Winnipeg for two years to help young William prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Upon his return in 1954, he was re-elected Mayor of Edson. In 1956, he was appointed a District Magistrate, a position he held until 1960, when he moved to Edmonton. There he worked as a magistrate in Jasper Place, until he was appointed as a Family Court Judge in November 1960. He served in this position until his retirement in 1970. Judge Kankewitt and his wife Marjorie died within four months of each other in 1986-87.
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