Pharmacist, community activist.
Born at Rosetown, Saskatchewan on 17 January 1923, daughter of Ralph and Arlena Dexter, she grew up on farms in Saskatchewan. After working in pharmacies, in 1943 she enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan, graduating three years later as one of Canada’s first female pharmacists. She then worked as a faculty member of the College until moving to the University of British Columbia to begin a Master’s degree. Her career as a pharmacist spanned five provinces, ending at the Victoria Hospital in Winnipeg, in 1980. Two of her children became deaf while living in Ontario and she became a staunch advocate for the rights of hearing-impaired persons. She worked with MLA Sid Green to introduce hearing aid legislation in Manitoba, in 1972 and, four years later, she successfully pressured Bell Telephones not to remove magnetic coils from telephones to enable hearing aids to work with them. She wrote four books and several children’s stories, and was an occasional storyteller on CBC Radio. She died at Winnipeg on 18 November 2013.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 2014.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 18 October 2015
Memorable Manitobans
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