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Authority record
Halifax (N.S.)

Cormier, Helen Agnes

  • AR-010
  • Person
  • 1895-1972

Helen Agnes Kelly was born June 11, 1895 in Halifax. She was the 10th of 11 children born to John F. and Mary Kelly. Her father was the founder of Kelly's Ltd. and former Deputy Mayor of the City of Halifax. Helen Agnes was a student at St. Patrick's school before coming to Mount Saint Vincent Academy in 1913. She graduated from the Mount in 1916. She was later a president of the Alumnae Association of Mount Saint Vincent from 1930 to 1932.

During her time at the Academy, she was known among her peers as a gifted student of theology and won a good medal in this discipline in 1915. She was proficient in gymnasium work and was particularly talented during debates, her friends describing her as knowledgeable on many topics and able to express herself clearly and accurately.

Helen passed away on January 29, 1972 in Halifax.

Mount Saint Vincent University. Family Life Institute

  • AR-034
  • Corporate body
  • 1971-1979

Plans for the creation of the Family Life Institute were set in motion after a meeting by the Nova Scotia Advisory Committee regarding family life education in 1970. On July 2nd, 1971, program registration for the first Family Life Institute began at Xavier College (as permitted and facilitated by St. Francis Xavier University) and ended on August 14th, 1971. This program was then followed by that of Mount Saint Vincent University from July 4th to August 12th, 1972, and the Institute would continue to operate between early July and late August until 1979, when the last Institute was held. During this time, courses on marriage, sex education, personal development, social life, finance, nutrition, birth, aging, death, and the relationship between an individual and their immediate family were provided. These courses were delivered to students of various ages, ranging from grades 1 and 2 to higher grades (i.e., grade 11), as evidenced by the sophistication of written work produced.

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.