Showing 26 results

Authority record
Person

Wright, Ruth Noonan

  • AR-012
  • Person
  • February 1, 1932 - January 19, 2017

Ruth Noonan Wright was born in Halifax on February 1, 1932 as Ruth Noonan. Noonan Wright and her sisters attended Mount Saint Vincent Academy, a girls educational academy run by the Sisters of Charity, a Catholic denomination of nuns. The Academy was non-denominational, but while attending the school, Noonan Wright (born into a Protestant family), adopted the Catholic faith. After graduating from the Academy in 1953 she took steps toward becoming a religious sister but stopped short of taking vows; she remained involved in the Catholic Church until the end of her life.

Noonan Wright returned to Mount Saint Vincent University in 1972 to study Home Economics. She graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics and went on to teach Home Economics in local schools, including Halifax West and Bloomfield. She was also an artist who sold her work at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery. Noonan Wright died on January 19, 2017.

Wills, Dorothy

  • AR-006
  • Person
  • 1933-

Born in Dominica, Dr. Dorothy Abike Wills (Green), B.Sc., M.S.W., M.A., PhD., LL.D.,DHL (Honoris Causa), C.M., graduated from Mount Saint Vincent College in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science, later obtaining additional degrees at McGill University, Concordia University, and California's Pacific Western University. Dr. Wills went on to become a social worker and educator and spent much of her career dedicated to social justice for racial minorities.
In June 2000, she retired as the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Technologies at Vanier College, Quebec. She served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Convention Refugee Determination Division, for six years. An Educator in the areas of Business Education, Social Work, and Andragogy (the method by which adults learn), she has taught at the High School, CEGEP and University levels. She has been named to Federal, Provincial and Municipal Committees; and has had extensive involvement in various Black Community organizations. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Mount Saint Vincent University Alumni Jubilee Award of Distinction, an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from both Concordia University (1989) Dalhousie University (1996), an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Mount Saint Vincent University (2007), the Order of Canada (1989), the Martin Luther King Junior Award of Excellence, the Ministers Award for Excellence in Race Relations, and, has been named Woman of the Year by Salon de la Femme du Quebec.

Smith, Laura

  • AR-008
  • Person
  • 1952-2020

Laura Smith was raised in London, Ontario. She first became interested in music at 19 years old when she began teaching herself to play the piano and guitar. Laura had already been writing poetry for some time and began putting these pieces to music. During these early years, she performed songs at Smale’s Pace, a coffee house in London, Ontario where she also worked as a waitress.

In the 1970s, Laura moved to Toronto where she remained for nearly a decade. During this period, she was able to pursue self-study opportunities at the Royal Conservatory of Music and at York University where she took the Jazz program. She also continued to write songs and supported herself by working in various secretary, clerk, and personal assistant positions. Many of these part-time and summer jobs were with theatre, talent and production companies, instilling an interest in musical theatre.

In 1984, Paul Cranford, a friend who was a lighthouse keeper and fiddler invited her to live with him in Cape Breton Island for a change of pace. For the next four years, Laura lived in the communities around St. Anns Bay, working as a cook at a silviculture camp and performing at cèilidhs and with a local theatre group. She was on the Board of Directors for Theatre 200 which was based in Sydney, NS.

Laura eventually decided to move to Halifax, a move that propelled her musical career. She regularly played at the Flamingo Club (later known as Pub Flamingo) on Gottingen St. on Monday nights, and with the support of the CBC recorded Elemental in 1989 which was rereleased as her debut self-titled album in 1992 under a different label. She recorded and coproduced her second album, b’tween the earth and my soul with her partner David Hillier. It was released in 1994 to critical acclaim and brought on several radio and television appearances as well as a national headline tour and festival performances. A third album, it’s a personal thing was recorded in Hubbards and released in 1997. A compilation album was released in in 1998 after which Laura took a break from recording music, her next album Everything is moving releasing in 2013.

Laura has been nominated and has won numerous awards for her music, including two East Coast Music Awards, two Juno nominations, a Gemini award and an additional six ECMA nominations. In 2003, Laura received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Mount Saint Vincent University. Throughout the 2000s, Laura continued to perform music and theatre and at one point pursued a Music Therapy degree but had to drop out due to health reasons.

Laura Smith passed away from cancer on March 7, 2020 in Mahone Bay, NS.

Skarstedt, Sonja

  • Person
  • 1960 -2009

Sonja Skarstedt (1960-2009) was born on October 2, 1960 in Montreal, Quebec. She graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from McGill University. Skarstedt was the founder, publisher, and editor of the literary review Zymergy (1987 to 1991). This bi-annual periodical was the recipient of many Canada Council grants. As the creator she was involved in all aspects of the printing process, from editing the content, layout and design, typesetting and paste-ups, and promotion. She has published book reviews pseudonymously for Zymergy and The Montreal Gazette. In 1990 she founded Empyreal Press a small Canadian publishing company focused on poetry and short fiction. She was also a writer for the comic book Lincoln-16 with her husband Geoff Isherwood as the illustrator. Along with her written material Sonja also worked as a freelance editor and graphics illustrator. Her poetry was published in a variety of publications, including Scrivener (1981), The Antigonish Review (1983), Rolling Stone (1986), Poetry Canada Review (1986), and Canadian Literature (1991). Some of her illustrations were also featured in such publications as Poetry Canada Review (1989), and a portrait of Phyllis Webb on the cover of West Coast Line (1991). Additionally she published four books: Mythographies (1990), A Demolition Symphony (1995), Beautiful Chaos (2000), Saint Francis of Esplanade (2001), In the House of the Sun (2005). In 2007, she created the Skarwood Channel on the internet social media site, YouTube, featuring a series of short video productions. She died in 2009 after succumbing to cancer

Sister Lua Gavin

  • AR-029
  • Person

Lua Gavin entered as a postulant to the Sisters of Charity at the age of 16. Sister Lua Gavin taught biology at Mount Saint Vincent College and University in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She was also involved with the Alumnae Association. She retired as chairman of the Biology Department in 1979, and in 1982 went to St. Brigid's assisted living in Quebec City, Quebec as a coordinator. Sister Martina Marie was her sister, also in the Mount Saint Vincent community.

Plant-Hansen, Cynthia H.

  • AR-024
  • Person
  • 1978-1979

Cynthia H. Plant-Hansen graduated from the Child Studies program at Mount Saint Vincent University in 1981 at the age of 27. She entered the program in the second year, as she had previous education and work related experience.

Peterson, Betty

  • AR-044
  • Person
  • 1917-2018

Betty Peterson (née Farber) was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1917. She attended the fine arts program at Syracuse University before marrying Gunnar Peterson in 1939. The couple were conscientious objectors during World War II and were increasingly dedicated to peace movements following the war, later becoming Quakers. They had two children, Lisl and Eric. In 1950, they moved to Chicago where Peterson was involved in the Civil Rights movement, participating in sit-ins, protests, and other political activities.

In 1975, Betty and Gunnar Peterson moved to Cape Breton out of frustration with the political climate in the United States. A few years after Gunnar’s sudden death in 1976, Peterson relocated to Halifax where she became an active member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Halifax Society of Friends (Quakers). Through these organizations she participated in a number of social movements both locally and abroad, including in 1982 when she travelled to New York City to attend a nuclear disarmament rally and present the Women’s International Peace Petition to the UN’s Second Special Session on Disarmament. She also made six trips to Labrador in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where she joined Innu protests of low-flying NATO test flights over Nitassinan, and in 1988 she travelled to Little Buffalo, Alberta on behalf of the Society of Friends in order to join Lubicon Lake Band protests against oil drilling on their land.

Peterson was involved in a number of protests and organizations related to women’s rights, environmental conservation, Indigenous activism, nuclear disarmament, and anti-war movements, including protests against the Gulf War (1991) and Iraq War (2003). She was an organizer of the P7 “People’s Summit” (1995) and a member of the Raging Grannies. She continued to attend protests until a few years before her passing in Halifax, in 2018.

O'Neill, Patrick

  • AR-009
  • Person
  • 1940 -2006

Patrick O'Neill was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1940. He married Mora Dianne O'Neill in 1967 and had two sons, St. John and Brendan. O'Neill obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from St. Jerome's College, University of Waterloo in 1967, a Master of Arts in Theatre from the University of South Dakota in 1969, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from Louisiana State University in 1973.

O'Neill was a leading scholar in Canadian theatre history and published extensively. In 1995 he received the Richard Plant Essay Prize from the Association for Canadian Theatre Research. In 2002 he received an Award for Research Excellence from Mount Saint Vincent University. In 2004 he received a Fulbright Research Fellowship, awarded by The Department of State, Washington.

O'Neill worked as an Assistant Professor (1972-1975) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and as an Assistant Professor (1975-1980), Associate Professor (1980-1993), and Professor (1993-2006) at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also worked as a Visiting Fellow (1982-1983) at Royal Holloway College, at the University of London, and as an Associate Professor, Part-time (1987-1991) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

During his time at Mount Saint Vincent University O'Neill served in numerous positions, including Director of Research and International Liaison Officer (2002-2004), Coordinator, Speech and Drama (1975-2002), and as a member of the University Senate (2002). O'Neill also served on numerous committees, including the University's Tribute Committee (1999-2006), University Review Committee (1998-1999), and the Exceptional Service Awards Committee (1998-2006). Patrick O'Neill was also involved with various drama presentations. In addition to his work at the University, O'Neill served as a member of the Nova Scotia Innovation Trust (2002-2004), as a member of the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (2002-2004), as a Maritime Representative (1998-2000) and Treasurer (1982-1984) for the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, and as a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Research Committee for Architecture, Fine Arts, Drama (1993-1995). O'Neill also served as a parliamentarian for the Registered Nurses Association of Nova Scotia (1984-1998) and the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia (1996), as well as an External Reviewer for SSHRC applications (various years) and as an External Examiner for a University of Toronto Ph.D. thesis, a McGill University M.A. thesis, and a University of Saskatchewan M.A. thesis. O'Neill died in Ireland in 2006.

Murray, Christl

  • AR-002
  • Person

Christl Murray (née Tiefenbacker) attended Mount Saint Vincent Academy from 1948 to 1951. From November 1948 to June 1950, she was a boarder, and from September 1950 to June 1951 she was a day student.

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