Evelyn Hood 1912 -1999

Hood, Evelyn Eunice (1912-1999)

hoodBorn in Cadomin, an Alberta mining town, Hood graduated from the nursing program at the University of Alberta in 1936.  She worked briefly in England, and then the US, receiving a diploma in public health nursing from the University of Washington.   In 1946 she returned to Vancouver where she worked as a public health nurse until she joined the staff of the RNABC in 1951.

Hood won a national reputation in collective bargaining while serving as Director of Personnel Services for the RNABC from 1951 to her retirement in 1970.  In 1964 she was appointed to the CNA Committee on Social and Economic Welfare.  Under her guidance, salaries and working conditions for BC nurses received major improvements.  Nurses acquired more control over setting medical and hospital policies.  For her work she received in 1972 the first ever RNABC Award of Merit.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Nomination for the RNABC Memorial Book.
  2. Nomination for the CNA Memorial Book.
  3. Artifact information sheet
  4. “Nursing Profiles,” The Canadian Nurse, (1951), 47 (11), 808-809.
  5. Bateson, Helen. “Labor of Love,” The Province, 1972.
  6. “Profile”, RNABC News, April/May 1970, pp. 30-31.
  7. “Evelyn Hood Receives First Award of Merit”, RNABC News, June/July 1972, p. 5.
  8. Article and photograph, The Canadian Nurse, July 1972, p. 43.
  9. Hood, Evelyn, “Economic Security in British Columbia,” The American Journal of Nursing, 56 (May 1956).
  10. Hood, Evelyn, “Collective Bargaining,” The Canadian Nurse, 50 (12) (1954), 968-969.
  11. Notes on Evelyn Hood by Helen Shore.
  12. Wright, Alice, “Evelyn Hood Remembered,” Nursing BC, June 2002.
  13. Five photographs: Originals and photocopies
  14. Biographical information by Ethel Warbinek

Anne Hopkins

Hopkins, A. Anne

Anne Hopkins attended Moose Jaw Central Collegiate Institute; after her nursing training she served in the army (RCAMC) until 1968, working at every hospital except Kingston and Montreal.  She describes her experience looking after wounded soldiers in England and Europe and South Africa as a highlight of her career.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biographical Information Profile

Lorna Mary Horwood (1908-1996)

Horwood, Lorna Mary (1908-1996)

horwoodLorna Horwood’s diverse life broke many of the constraints that held back most women, as she took on one challenge after another.  She received her diploma in nursing from the Toronto General Hospital and continued her education with a year of post graduate studies at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital, a BA from Queens in 1947, and an MA from Columbia University in 1954.  She was a Superintendent of Nurses in psychiatric hospitals in London and Whitby.  From 1948 to 1961 she was an assistant professor at UBC’s School of Nursing.

Her overseas life began with eight years in Taiwan as a Senior Advisor in Public Health Nursing for the World Health Organization.  This was followed by four years in Bangkok.  She also held advisory positions with the provincial government in Vernon, and with the federal government in the Canadian Arctic.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Materials in support of nomination for the CNA Memorial Book.
  2. Letter from Peter McMartin to Ethel Warbinek, December 5, 1996.
  3. Peter McMartin’s address at Lorna Horwood’s funeral, November 7, 1996.
  4. Fax from Ethel Warbinek to Peter McMartin, November 7, 1996, with attachment from Legacy: History of Nursing Education at the University of British Columbia, 1919-1994.
  5. Tsung-yi Lin, M.D. “Remembering Lorna Horwood.”
  6. Obituary from the Vancouver Sun, November 2, 1996
  7. Photo negative, b&w, photocopy of picture
  8. Biographical notes by Ethel Warbinek

Carmen Elizabeth Clarke (1911-1960)

Clarke (nee Huber), Carmen Elizabeth (1911-1960)

clarkeElizabeth trained as a nurse at the Swift Current Hospital, moving with her husband John Clark to Vancouver in the 1940s where she worked at the Hospital for Sick and Crippled Children.   In 1948 she wrote the song that made her famous, “There’s a Bluebird on Your Windowsill” for a young patient who noticed a sparrow hopping on the windowsill by his bed.

The song was recorded by CKNW’s Rhythm Pals, Don Murphy and then by Wilf Carter, Doris Day, Tex Williams, Bing Crosby and numerous others.  It became the first Canadian song to sell a million copies, with all royalties donated to children’s hospitals.  In 1950 it was used as the theme song for the March of Dimes national fund-raising campaign, and in 1986 in the Canadian feature My American Cousin.  She died of a stroke in 1960 when only 49.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. “Chasing the Bluebird.”  Biographical information.
  2. “The Story of Bluebird on my Windowsill,”  History of Nursing News, June 2004, p. 9.
  3. “There’s a Bluebird . . . “ published in “Those were the Days” in Swift Current by Jim Greenblat, ca. 1971, pp. 96-97.
  4.  “Bluebird on Your Windowsill.”  The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, www.vancouverhistory.ca,  2006
  5.  “Bluebird on Your Windowsill”, Part 3.  The Last Word, Chapter 26.
  6.  “Bluebird on Your Windowsill,”  The Canadian Encyclopaedia.
  7. Registration of death, Province of British Columbia—Elizabeth Clarke, July 23, 1960.
  8. B.C. Archives, Vital Death Registration.  John Wanstall Clark—husband.
  9. Registration of death, Province of British Columbia, John Wanstall Clark, July 29, 1958.
  10.  “Chasing the Bluebird” By Beth Fitzpatrick, BC History of Nursing Society News, December 2010, pp. 9-10.
  11. Music score:  “There’s a Bluebird on Your Windowsill.”
  12. Correspondence, 2005, 2010.
  13. Obituary notices for Elizabeth Clarke, n.d. and John Wanstall Clarke, July 29, 1958.
  14. Two photographs

 

Elizabeth Clarke wrote the song “There’s  Bluebird on My Windowsill” while working as a nurse at the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.  She generously gave royalties to the hospital.

Sister Columkille (1890-1973)

columkilleColumkille, Sister (Alice Lane Hamer) (1890-1973)

Alice Hamer was born in England.  Though an Anglican, in 1911 she converted to Catholicism and entered the Sisters of Providence at the Novitiate in Vancouver.  She graduated from the St. Paul’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1919 and also received a Diploma as a Laboratory Technician in 1925 and a Bachelor of Science degree from Seattle University in 1937.  She served as Director of St. Paul’s Hospital School of Nursing for fifteen years, and President of RNABC from 1949 to 1951.

In 1953 she left to take up various administrative positions at hospitals in Saskatchewan and Alberta, retiring in 1962.  She was known for her “kindness and sensitivity, her ability to overlook faults and failings, and her adeptness at stressing the finer points in people’s characters and personalities”

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biography by Sister Therese Carnigan, March 1, 1993.
  2. Chronology (1890-1973)
  3. Photograph with note
  4. Nomination, RNABC Memorial Book
  5. Sister Columkille, S.P.  Author unknown
Lavinia Crane

Lavinia Crane (1923-2017)

Crane, Lavinia (1923-2017)

Lavinia CraneSee Oral History files,
Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 8

A member of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Crane graduated from the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing in 1950 and with a BSN from UBC in 1951.  She received her Masters degree in public health from the University of Michigan and in 1961 was appointed consultant with the division in Victoria, given special responsibility for developing the BC home care program.  She became director of nursing for the BC Health Department in 1975, initiating many research projects.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biographical note
  2. Newspaper photograph, 1950.
  3. Obituary, May 6, 2017.

Florence Dougherty (1912- 2003)

doughertyDougherty, Florence (1912- 2003)

See Oral History files, Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 8

Florence Dougherty grew up in Roblin, Manitoba, graduating from the St. Boniface Hospital School of Nursing in 1938.  She subsequently worked as a general duty nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon.  From 1943 to 1946 she was a nursing sister in the RCMC, an experience she describes as the most interesting and satisfying of her nursing career.  After the war, she moved to Vancouver where she was Educational Director at Shaughnessy Hospital from 1947 to 1968 and Assistant Secretary of Nursing from 1968 to 1973.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biographical Information Profile with photographs taken in 1938 and 1993.
  2. Background information
  3. Funeral program
  4. Obituary

Dr. Lyle Creelman (1908-2007)

Creelman, Dr. Lyle
(1908-2007)

See Oral History files, Fonds 18, Series 3,Subseries 8

See also the Lyle Creelman fonds in UBC Archives

lylecreelmanDr. Lyle Creelman helped countries around the world build their health care systems. She joined the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in England in 1944, and in 1954 became Chief Nursing Officer of the World Health Organization. On her retirement ICN described her as having “achieved more for nursing through the world than any other nurse of her time”. As Glennis Zilm says “There’s a little story of nurses standing at the bottom of a river pulling bodies out. Lyle went up the river to find out who was throwing them in”.

Lyle was born in Nova Scotia, but moved to British Columbia to attend Vancouver Normal School. She graduated from Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing in 1936 and obtained her BASc (N) from UBC in 1936. In 1939 she graduated with a Masters’ degree in Nursing from Teachers College at Columbia University in New York, which she attended on a Rockefeller Fellowship. In the late 1930s and 1940s she worked for the Metropolitan Health Department of Vancouver.

After her retirement, the WHO commissioned her and a medical officer of health to participate in a study of maternal and child health services in selected countries in southeast Asia. Her many awards include an Honorary Doctor of Laws from UNB (1963), the Canada Centennial Medal (1967), Order of Canada (1971) and Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from UBC (1992).

Contents of biographical file

  1. Biographical Information Profile with signed release.
  2. CD containing photographs of Lyle Creelman’s artifacts held by the UBC School of Nursing, February 2009.Accompanying letter from Glennis Zilm.
  3. E-mails, 2007.
  4. Creelman chronology
  5. Two letters of support for honorary doctorate, one by Helen Shore.
  6. Tribute by Helen Shore, May 2, 1991.
  7. “Lyle Creelman: an Appreciation,” ICN Calling, ND, p. 6.
  8. Articles by Creelman
    1. “Mental Hygiene in the Public Health Program”, The Canadian Nurse, 36 (10), (1940), 679-684.
    2. “What is Public Health Nursing?”, The Canadian Nurse 37 (2), (February 1941), 111-112.
    3. “What of the Future?”, The Canadian Nurse 39 (1), (1943), 35-37.
    4. “Nurses Honored by Association Before Joining UNRRA, News-Herald, August 22, 1944.
    5. “Letters to the Editor: With UNRRA in Germany”, The Canadian Nurse 41 (12), (1945), 986-987.
    6. “With UNRRA in Germany”, The Canadian Nurse 43 (7), (1947), 532, 552-556.
    7. “With UNRRA in Germany”, The Canadian Nurse 43 (8) (1947), 605-610.
    8. “With UNRRA in Germany,” The Canadian Nurse 43 (9) (1947), 710-712.
    9. “Lyle Creelman Writes”, The Canadian Nurse 46 (6), (June 1950), 477-478.
    10. Baillie-Creelman Report, “Report of the Study Committee on Public Health Practice in Canada”, Toronto: Canadian Public Health Association, June 1950.
  9. “Nursing Profiles”, The Canadian Nurse 44 (4), (1948), 294-295.
  10. “Nursing Profiles,” The Canadian Nurse 45 (7), (1949), 525.
  11. “Nursing Profiles,” The Canadian Nurse 50 (6), (1954), 484.
  12. Lyle Creelman. No source cited, ca. 1972.
  13. “Names,” The Canadian Nurse 68 (9), (1972), 54-55.
  14. File on Creelman adapted from material prepared for the Du Gas book.
  15. Obituaries, articles, funeral program
  16. Photographs of Creelman, 1964, 1966. Creelman being congratulated by Governor-General James Michener following the receipt of her Order of Canada in 1971.
  17. Certificates: Bridgeport High School (1926; Provincial Normal School (1928); First Class Teacher’s Certificate (1931); Vancouver General Hospital; University of British Columbia (1942).
  18. Two colour photographs of figurine donated by Creelman to HoN group. 
  19. Susan Armstrong-Reid, “Lyle Morrison Creelman and Nursing’s New Frontiers, 1931-1945,” Margaret Allemang Centre for the School of Nursing, September 2007.
  20. The following certificates are stored separately, rolled in a red cylindrical container: “Teacher’s Diploma for Writing-Special Merit (MacLean Method of Muscular Movement Writing (1928); RNABC Registration Certificate); Bachelor of Applied Science (Nursing), UBC (1936); Master of Arts, Columbia University (1939); Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of New Brunswick (1963).
  21. List of artifacts dated May 21 2009.

Artifacts.

  1. One porcelain Copenhagen nurse figurine.
  2. One replica of Florence Nightingale Crimean lamp.
  3. Box containing four small pieces of commemorative jewellery: Vancouver General Hospital Student Collar Pin (193-), Vancouver General Hospital Graduate Pin (1936); Silver Identification Bracelet (194-); and University of BC Diamond Jubilee Lapel Pin (1992).
  4. Queen’s 50th Jubilee Medal (1952-2002).
  5. Order of Canada Medal (1971) with lapel pin.
  6. CD containing photographs of Lyle Creelman artifacts held by the UBC School of Nursing
  7. List of artifacts that were sold or otherwise disposed of July 9, 2015.
  8. Letter from Gloria Stephens of the Victoria General Hospital SON Alumni Association July 10, 2016 acknowledging donation of Creelman College of Registered Nurses NS Distinction Award.

Christina Critchley (1911-1982)

Critchley, Mrs. Christina Marion Louise “Critch” (1911-1982)

“Critch” moved with her family from Prince Albert to Vancouver in 1921.  She graduated from Vancouver General Hospital in 1933 and worked at various hospitals in towns throughout BC.  In 1963 she became head nurse receptionist at Britannia Beach, where she has been active with First Aid teams.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biographical information published in the Britannia Beach Newsletter, August 31, 1970.
  2. Photocopied photograph

Shirley Dean (1934-1979)

Dean, Shirley (1934-1979)

shirley-deanFollowing Shirley’s graduation from VGH in 1955, she began work as a staff nurse at Surrey Memorial Hospital.  She was promoted to Head Nurse and worked to develop standards of care and quality assurance programs.  When she died of cancer at the age of 45, the newly purchased King George Private Hospital was named the Shirley Dean Pavilion in her honour.

Contents of Biographical File

1.  Article from History of Nursing News, June 2004.
2.  Graduation photograph, 1955.
3.  Photograph of the Shirley Dean Pavilion at the Surrey Memorial Hospital.