Categories: T-Z

Willman, Marilyn Dawn (1928- )

• See UBC Archives
• See Oral History Files, Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 8
• See School of Nursing Fonds 31

Dr. Marilyn Willman was appointed Director of UBC’s School of Nursing from 1977 to 1993.   Previously she had been President of the University of Texas School of Nursing, whose faculty she had joined in 1961.  She had received her BScN from the University of Michigan, her Master’s from the University of Texas Medical Branch and her Doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Willman believed that more and better-educated nurses were BC’s prime need.  She argued that education of nurses belongs in the classroom, whether at the university or community college level.  She encouraged more nurses to get their degrees, and to enhance continuing education so that nurses can upgrade their qualifications and keep up-to-date on newer procedures.   During her tenure a 4-year baccalaureate program was reinstated, a PhD program was introduced and a collaborative BSN  program with VGH School of Nursing was introduced. In 1993, she retired in Richmond BC.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Transcript of interview by Glennis Zilm, January 22, 1992.
2. Willman, Marilyn D., et al, “Nurse Administrators Association of B.C.: History 1918-1994”.
3. Curriculum Vitae
4. “Names and Faces”, The Canadian Nurse, March 1977, p. 52.
5. “Education Key to Nursing Future”  Newspaper article
6. Letter concerning review of Prof. M.D. Willman from Dr. A. Neisen, March 17,
7. Report with covering letter to Dr. A. Meisen re stewardship of Prof. M.D. Willman, April 27, 1982.
8. Invitation to retirement reception, November 25, 1993.
9. Photograph
10. Biographical Information Profile

Wilson, (nee Hornett), Rosemary J. (1921-

Growing up poor in Saskatchewan, Rosemary was drawn to nursing because it promised three years of food and shelter.  She graduated from St. Eugene’s Hospital in Cranbrook with her RN in 1943, and worked in mostly smaller hospitals throughout BC.  In one hospital twelve nurses took care of 92 patients around the clock.  She believes “smaller hospitals still have great capability”.

Contents of Biographical File

• Biographical Information Profile

Winter, Carol Lenore (1950-1996)

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

Carol Winter received her RN from Foothills Hospital in Calgary, her Bachelor’s from the University of Alberta and her Master’s in Health Administration from UBC, where she won the Robert Johnson award for her potential as a senior Canadian health service manager.

Carol nursed at Shaughnessy Hospital, St. Paul’s, and Edmonton General.  At St. Paul’s she became Head Nurse, then Acting Director of Surgical Nursing, responsible for eight surgical units with a total of 212 beds and 287 full time staff.  She gave numerous speeches and presentations on Orthopedic Nursing and Management Techniques, and was active in nursing committee work.  She was known for her outstanding leadership abilities, but died early from malignant melanoma.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biographical Information Profile
2.   Curriculum Vitae
3. Performance appraisal of Ms. Carol Winter, 1980-1981.
4. Promotional poster for Winter as candidate for Vancouver District Director.
5. “In Memory of Carol Lenore Winter” (brochure)
6. “In Memory of Carol Lenore Winter” (biographical sheet)
7. Obituary and Memorial Service program
8. Letter from Marion  ?  to Lois Blais, August 8,  ?  .
9. Two photographs

After Eula Ledingham’s graduation from VGH and UBC School of Nursing in 1927, she worked as a supervisor at the California Lutheran Hospital in Los Angeles.  She soon moved back to Vancouver where she married Marvin Wilson.  In 1943 she joined the navy and became matron of the HMCS Cornwallis, later being posted to the HMCS Naden.

In 1946 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, and in 1947 appointed matron-in-chief of the Royal Canadian Nursing Service.  She was promoted to lieutenant –commander, responsible for running the nursing branch of the Royal Canadian Navy and in charge of the navy hospital HMCS Stadacona.

In 1947 she divorced her husband and a year later married Commander John Wolfenden.  On her death she received a full naval honors funeral, the first in Canada accorded a woman.

1. Biography by Ethel Warbinek
2. 2 VGH student photographs ca. 1927.

Wood (nee Johnson), Bea (1899-1992)

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

Bea Wood graduated from VGH in 1922 and from UBC BASc(N)  (first class) in 1923.  She received first class standing in the provincial nursing exams, and won UBC’s Governor General award.  She became head nurse of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Operating Room at VGH, and then worked with the VON in Montreal, giving health lectures and providing pre- and post-natal care.

Bea returned to Vancouver to become the first head nurse at the Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department.  When she married the well-known UBC drama and theatre producer Frederick Wood, she left full time nursing, but continued to volunteer at VGH with the Women’s Auxiliary, and work during WWII with the Red Cross Blood Donor clinics.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biography prepared by Sheila Zerr, March 2, 1993.
2. Transcript of an oral history interview, February 22, 1981.
3. Transcript of an oral history interview, March 20, 1991.
4. Notes for a possible monograph on Ethel Johns.
5. History of Nursing. Pupil Nurses Annual (1923), VGH School of Nursing 25th Anniversary Alumnae Association Archives
6. “The Way It Was”, Nursing B.C., August 1991, pp. 34-35.
7. Correspondence. – 1969-1992.
8. Excerpts re Bea Wood from The Life and Writings of Ethel Johns
9. Obituaries

Wooding, Lillian Agnes

Lillian Wooding arrived in Victoria with her family in 1913.  She graduated from VGH in 1921, and, after a few years’ nursing, began work with the VON in 1928.   This home care often enabled people to recover from their illness without needing to enter hospital.  From 1930 to 1936 Lillian worked out of Winnipeg, combining nursing with practical family care.  She moved to Gibsons in 1936, where her territory extended up to Powell River, and also worked as a school nurse.

She believes that the current mounting cost of health care could lead to a revitalized VON, providing more economical and effective care in a home setting. Her hobbies included photography, with her work appearing in several Canadian magazines.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Cooper, Richard, “She Speaks for the VON,”  The Islander, September 26-27, 1982, p.12.

Woollam (nee Mack)  Mary (1910-2012)

Mary Mack took her nursing training at VGH from 1930-1932, often working a night shift from 7 pm to 7 am and then attending classes the next day.  She was drawn to Public Health because of her concern with the numerous poor, taking this course at UBC.  She worked in TB control until her marriage.

She returned to nursing in 1955 in Enderby, administering polio injections and working actively in schools in immunization and public health.  She was also a promoter of preventative medicine and active in rural and environmental issues.  Her proudest moment was the designation of the Cliff as a provincial park.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Transcript of interview September 12, 1988. No recording of this interview could be found in CRNBC June 14, 2013.
2. Biography
3. Recollections by Mary Woollam

Worsley (nee Marriott), Evelyn “Effie” (1888-  )

Evelyn trained as a nurse in Leicester, England, and worked as a midwife in the slums of Glasgow.  She came to Canada and married 70-year-old Colonel George Worsley in Sandwick, near Courtenay in 1938.  After her husband’s death a decade later, she lived in a cottage at Gordon Head.

The high point of her nursing career was becoming nurse-in-charge of the leprosarium on Bentinck Island, nine miles south of Victoria, from 1951 until its closure in 1956.  Here patients with Hansen’s disease received the sulfa drugs and humane treatment that allowed most to eventually return to their community.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Biographical Information Profile
2. Correspondence concerning file, 2006, 2011
3. Watts, Ethelinda B. “Lucky Lepers”, April 1954.
4.   Newspaper articles on Bentinck Island leper colony, 1956-1973.
5. Two samples of printing by Worsley’s patient.
6. Extracts from a letter by a paid letter writer for “Kam” on his return to Calcutta from Bentinck Island in 1954.
7. Newspaper clippings on Worsley’s marriage and death.
8. Four photographs of Bentinck Island, with descriptions.
9. Photocopied photographs of Worsley.

Wright, Alice Lillian (1894-2000)

• See Alice Wright Fonds 2                       
• See Oral History files in Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 8
• See Memorial Nursing Portrait Collection, Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 7, File 2
• See Pages of History, Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 9, File 2

After graduation from the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing in 1918, Wright first worked in pediatrics at Vancouver General Hospital, then in hospitals in California and New York. She received her Bachelor of Science from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, New York, in 1941 and also took a post-graduate course in pediatrics at New York Nursery and Children’s Hospital,

As Registrar and Executive Secretary of the RNABC from 1943 to her retirement in 1960, she initiated efforts to establish collective bargaining for nurses in BC and in Canada.  She was named an Honorary Life Member of the RNABC in 1952, and an Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Nurses Association in 1962 for her pioneering labor relations work, and for her many professional contributions nationally and internationally through the International Council of Nurses. Her collection of antique infant feeding devices was donated to UBC Woodward Library Special Collections in 1965.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Nomination to the RNABC Memorial Book.
2. Nomination to the CNA Memorial Book.
3. Curriculum Vitae
4. Photocopy of Diploma, VGH School of Nursing, November 1, 1918.
5. RNABC Makes a New Appointment, The Canadian Nurse (1943), 39 (10), 669.
6. Photocopy of Columbia University Bachelor of Science, June 3, 1941.
7. Honorary Membership CNA, June 29, 1962.
8. Cooke, Mary, “Profile” of Alice Wright, Nursing B.C., November-December 1994, 9, 11.
9. Alice Wright, “What Do Canadian Nurses’ Associations Do”, The Canadian Nurse March 1955, pp. 190-193.
10. [Boarding a flight to Copenhagen and Geneva], The Canadian Nurse 52, June 1956, No. 6.
11. “ . . . Is a Friendly House Which Will Cap Lives of Devoted Nursing Service”, The Province, October 29, 1963.
12. “Alice Wright, Evelyn Hood Remembered”, Nursing BC, June 2000, p. 23.
13. Two scanned photographs
14. Esther Paulson, “In Memory of Alice Lilian Wright”.
15. Obituary
16. Notes on Alice Wright, May 19, 1995.
17. Faith Featherstone, “Pioneer RN hits 100.”
18. Cooke, Mary, “Profile” of Alice Wright, Nursing B.C., November-December 1994, pp.9,11
19. .  Notes on Alice Wright, 1995
20. Glennis Zilm and Sheila Zerr, “Profile of a Leader:  Labour Relations Pioneer:  Alice Lillian Wright 1894-2000”, Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership 14, No. 2 (May-June 2001, pp. 27-28,  With accompanying correspondence

Wyness, (nee Reid), Alison (1912-2000)

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

Alison followed her graduation from VGH in 1933 with a BASc in nursing from UBC the following year.  Her initial position at Ottawa Civic Hospital ended when a diagnosis of tuberculosis led to required rest.  She resumed nursing at VGH in 1935, becoming an instructor from 1938 until her marriage in 1941.  During the war she taught Red Cross Home Nursing, and War and Emergencies in Brownsburg, Quebec.

She became active in volunteer work on her return to Vancouver in 1945.  A member of the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association, she helped to plan Alumnae Manor for retired VGH nurses.  She was Chair of the Arrangements Committee for the 1950 Canadian Nurses Association Biennial Convention held in Vancouver.

Recognition in her later life included Life Memberships in the VGH School of Nursing Association and in the United Church Women.  Throughout her life she was deeply committed to the idea of developing the complete nurse.  In furtherance of that goal she endowed the Reid-Wyness Graduate Scholarship in Nursing at UBC.

Contents of Biographical File

1. Transcript of interview, May 1, 1993.
2. Biography by M. Anne Wyness, December 2010.
3. Timeline
4. Articles by Wyness
   1. “The Shrine of Nursing Today Is the Home Front”, Nurses Annual, 1943, p. 25.
   2. “Vancouver by the Sea”, The Canadian Nurse, June 1950, pp. 439-448.
   3. “Arrangements Committee”, The Canadian Nurse, 46 (5), May 1950, 378-379.
   4. “Graduate Nursing Students Reap the Rewards”, UBC Gift Planner, January
5. Obituary by Ethel Warbinek
6. Photograph
7. Amazing Alumni Stories, UBC School of Nursing