Thursday, March 02, 2006

In Memoriam

Today my Mom e-mailed me a notice from the local newspaper that one of my old professors just died. She had just barely retired, although she had a bout with cancer a few years ago.

I never took a class from her, and yet I knew her well. That is common in such a small university, but I also knew her because she was also my external examiner for my honour's paper defense. (I've mentioned her before, because it turned out that I had been researching an organization of which she had been president.) After my honour's defense, she became somewhat of a mentor and very much a champion of me. She opened a lot of doors for me, because of the research that I had done, and because she had been a female historian during a time when there had been few. She also had been a pioneer in the field of Canadian women's history. As a result of that last couple of facts, she was tenacious. She was a force to be reckoned with.

And I will miss her. In memoriam, on this day of her funeral, today I will read over her essay on Saskatchewan women in our encyclopedia project. Maybe I'll also try to be a little more sure of myself.

4 comments:

Bronwyn said...

I'm so sorry, Mary. It sucks to lose a hero and a role model. I know you will do her proud. I am sure that many students will someday look up to you the same way.

arimich said...

I'm so sad she's gone. I remember praying for her at our Friday prayer meetings, and the IVCF event we had at their house. She seemed really neat.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

At whose house, Ari? (But we did pray for her when she had cancer.)

arimich said...

Oh, right. Got myself mixed up there for a minute. But I remember hearing a lot about her for quite awhile.