Categories: T-Z

Warbinek, Ethel

Ethel received her RN from VGH School of Nursing in 1956 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UBC the next year, later followed by a Master of Science in Nursing from UBC in 1970.   She taught for extended periods at VGH and UBC.

At UBC she taught adult care nursing and clinical courses with a special interest and expertise in peripheral vascular nursing.  She was coordinator of undergraduate courses in second and fourth year, and was active on numerous committees and professional organizations.  She was an active member of the RNABC and is a member of the BC History of Nursing Society.

Ethel published numerous articles and two books:  Legacy:  History of Nursing Education at the University of British Columbia 1919-1994 and Richmond-Delta Chapter History 1967-1997:  Thirty Years of Professional Growth.

Contents of Biographical File

1. CV– May 29, 2017.
2. Biographical Information Profile. — May 25, 2017.
3. Biographical Agreement Form
4. Pages of Nursing History Information.
5. In honor of Ethel Warbinek. Sponsor Kristine Griffith.
6. Nomination of Ethel Warbinek for RNABC Award of Distinction in Nursing. – 2004.
7. Nomination of Ethel Warbinek for Honorary Life Membership-BCHNS Newsletter, Spring 2017, p. 8.
8. “Tuberculosis Nursing: References from The Canadian Nurse and Other Sources”
9. “Best Newsletter Award”, June 6, 2014.
10. B & w photograph, ca. 196- .

Truant, Elizabeth (Beth) (1937-   )

• See OH189.5

Elizabeth is a member of a family that has five generations of nurses.  She graduated in nursing from the Royal Inland Hospital in 1958 and worked at Essondale (later Riverview) before the introduction of medications. Mental illness was treated with ECT and insulin coma.  She worked at hospitals in Vernon and Trail, and later in public health and at Misericordia in Trail.  She upgraded her education, graduating with a BSN from UBC, during which time she worked at UBC’s psychiatric unit and later in Trail as a Public Health Nurse.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biographical information profile
2. Signed oral history agreement form
3. Oral History Summary
4. CD—transferred to oral history collection (OH189.5)
5. Photograph

Thatcher, Margaret “Meg” (1892-1987)

Margaret Thatcher was especially known for her work with tuberculosis patients.  She was born in Victorian England, her father an Anglican clergyman, and arrived in Canada with her parents in 1907.  After her graduation from the University of Alberta, she attended the School of Nursing at Kootenay Lake General Hospital in Nelson, then took the public health nursing course at UBC.   Following graduation, she worked in various locations as a public health and was asked by a child welfare worker to care for twin boys whose mother was ill with TB. Later on she adopted them.

Her first involvement with tuberculosis nursing was with the Rotary Clinic in Vancouver.  She worked for many years on the staff of the Chest Clinic on Willow St., being the charge nurse here from 1944 to 1952.  Throughout her life she was known for her gentle, positive personality, her quick wit, and dry sense of humour.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Esther Paulson, “Meg Thatcher 1892-1987”, Nursing Division Newsletter (Spring 1989), p. 5.
2. Maryann West, “Courageous Lady Passed: In Tribute to Margaret Thatcher”, Coast News, October 26, 1987, p. 18.  Includes handwritten notes.
3. Letter from Esther Paulson to Scott McDonald, November 5, 1987.
4. Reply from Scott McDonald to Esther Paulson, November 10, 1987.
5. “Margaret (“Meg”) Allen Thatcher” from Glennis Zilm and Ethel Warbinek, “TB Nurses in BC 1895-1960:  A Biographical Dictionary”: White Rock, 2006.

Thompson (married name- Beaudreau), Jill (1937-2001)

• See Jill Thompson Fonds 15
• See Pages of History Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 9, File 2

Jill Thompson was born in Saskatoon, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan in 1960.  She held various nursing and instructor positions at Kelowna General Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing, and Guys Hospital in London, England.

From 1970-1971, she completed a public health nursing course as well as other coursework in health care and epidemiology at the UBC School of Nursing. From 1971-1977 she was a public health nurse for the South Okanagan Health Unit in Kelowna, BC. In 1984 she  received her Master’s of Education from UBC.

Jill taught nursing in the Diploma Nursing Program at Okanagan College as well as the University College of Fraser Valley. Upon retirement from teaching, she joined the BC History of Nursing Society, where she held various positions as Chair, Oral History Committee; Membership chair; Newsletter guest editor with husband, Bruce Beaudreau, and coordinator of BCHNS’s historical displays at the Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia (RNABC).  She also wrote for the society’s newsletter, and was recognized by the society for her knowledge of nursing history and her research into the life of Florence Nightingale.

Contents of Biographical File

1. “A Tribute to Margaret Jill Thompson, 1937-2001”, History of Nursing News, 4-5.
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Nomination to RNABC Memorial Book
4. Jill Thompson Beaudreau, “Florence Nightingale: Her life and Times Revisited,”  Paul’s Hospital, May 12, 2001.
5. Obituaries
6. Funeral Program
7. Photograph
8. Photograph with Pages of History information

Thompson, Ray Malcolm (1942-

Born in Nova Scotia, Ray received his RN from the Victoria General Hospital School of Nursing in Halifax, and his BScN and MSN from the University of Western Ontario.  He worked as a nurse and instructor at a number of hospitals, including the Toronto General Hospital and the Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing.  From 1972 he was a faculty member (the first male) at the UBC School of Nursing.

In his later years the main focus of his teaching was community health nursing.  His greatest areas of satisfaction have been clinical practice and the clinical teaching of students, as he believes that clinical practice is the essence of nursing.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biographical Information Profile
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Co-authored articles
   1.   “Urban  Outpost Nursing”, Public Health Nursing 18, No. 4, pp. 273-280.
   2. “Harm Reduction Theories and Strategies for Control of Human Immunodeficiency Virus,” Journal of Advanced Nursing 33, No. 3, pp. 357-370
   3. “Aids Prevention on the Street”, The Canadian Nurse (2000), 96, No. 8, pp.24-28.
   4. “Evaluation of the AIDS Prevention Street Nurse Program: One Step at a
   5. Time”, Canadian Journal of Nursing Research 32, No. 1, pp. 17-38.
4. Photograph

Thomson (nee Thorsteinson), Bertha (1888-1975)

Born in Iceland, Bertha emigrated from Isafhjorfur to Winnipeg in 1893.  Her family homesteaded in the Holar District in southeastern Saskatchewan.  After training as a nurse at the Winnipeg General Hospital, Bertha went overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force where she served until the end of World War I.

After the war she trained in Public Health at UBC, then worked in the Vancouver General Hospital.  She married Roy Thomson in 1925, but he died when Bertha was forty-three, leaving her with two small children.  She moved to Keremeos, where she nursed in primitive conditions to improve the health of the residents.

From 1947 to 1954 she ran Hofn, the Icelandic Care Home in Vancouver.  Later she lived in New York and Toronto before returning for her final years in Vancouver.  Her life was characterized by selfless care and service to her family and community.

Contents of Biographical File

1. CEF Soldier Detail for Nursing Sister Bertha Thorsteinson
2. Gerardi, Josephine, “My mother, Bjorg (Jonsdottir) Thorsteinson (Thomson): A Story of a Five-foot Two-inch Titan”, Logberg-Heinskringla, Fostudagur, July 11, 2003, pp. 12-13.
3. Backgrounder to the Icelandic Care Home Hofn Society

Tisdall-Hatfield, Edith White “Toddy” (1905-1984)

• See Edith Tisdall Fonds 14

Edith White Tisdall was born in Vancouver, where her entrepreneurial father was a gunsmith and retail merchant; by the time she entered the UBC School of Nursing in 1923, he had served two terms as a Member (Conservative) of the Legislature in Victoria.  He became mayor of and long-serving alderman for Vancouver.

At UBC, Edith nicknamed “Toddy”, was actively involved in campus activities, including the Players’ Club, before she entered the clinical portion of the Nursing program at Vancouver General Hospital.  She graduated from both UBC and VGH in 1929. As one of the early UBC Nursing graduates, she embraced the new field of provincial public health and school nursing, moving to Kelowna after graduation to become school nurse for the district.

Although she stopped nursing with her marriage to Harley Robert Hatfield in 1932, she maintained a lifelong interest in public health nursing, keeping contact with classmates such as Muriel Upshall.  For most of her married life, the couple and their four children lived in Penticton, where her husband ran a major construction company.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biographical Information Profile
2. Deed of Gift form
3. Information on materials received
4. Vital events on Tisdall
5. Information on Harley Hatfield
6. Time Line
7. Draft of item for Amazing Alums
8. E-mails, 2009-2010.

Trethewey, Cora (1903-1993)

• See Mary Ann Trethewey Biographical File

The Trethewey family was well-known BC pioneers in logging and mining in the Lower Mainland.  Cora, whose grandmother was the pioneer nurse Mary Ann Trethewey, attended boarding schools in Vancouver and later college in Ontario.  She graduated from the VGH School of Nursing in 1922, and throughout her life combined nursing with travel.  When she died she left $50,000 to the VGH School of Nursing Alumni Association to provide short-term assistance for VGH graduates who have limited income or are in financial need.

Contents of Biographical File

• Description of the Cora Trethewey fund and brief family history
• Photograph

Trethewey nee Howard Grace  (1918-2008)

Edna graduated from VGH in 1940 and from UBC in 1941, with a BASc(N). After graduation, she worked for the Provincial Board of Health in Saanich.  She ceased regular nursing when she married in 1942, but resumed in 1956 when she moved back to Vancouver.  She was a public health nurse in Vancouver from 1956-1961, and in Burnaby from 1961-1978.

In 1980 she founded the Ridge Meadows Hospice Society to support terminally ill patients and their families.  In 1989 she became the first recipient of the Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation’s Dr. Lloyd Capling award for outstanding contributions in the health care field; in 2006 her many years of service were recognized by having her name placed on the Tree of Life plaque in the newly opened McKenney Creek Hospice in Maple Ridge.

Contents of Biographical File

• Biography from “1940’s Amazing Alumni Stories” on Internet

Trethewey (nee Ogle), Mary Ann (1834-1908)

• See Cora Trethewey Biographical File

Born in England, Mary Ann was hired in 1855 as a certified nurse to care for Eliza Trethewey of Crich, England, and came to Canada in the same year.  Her family were pioneer farmers in Ontario, where Mary Ann resumed nursing.  In 1882 she came to BC, where she was hired by the CPR as a nurse.

In 1884 she advertised her services as a “duly qualified and certificated nurse”, and took in patients for nursing care at a nursing home that included a store and small hotel on the banks of the Fraser just below Mission.  For many years she was the only nurse in the area.  Cora Trethewey (see above) was her granddaughter.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Nomination of Mary Ann Trethewey for the Memorial Book, including resume/timeline and Marcellus, Catherine, “Mary Ann Trethewey:  Mission’s First Nurse.”
2. Photograph