Paul Gerhardt Hiebert (1892-1987)

Professor, poet.

Born in Pilot Mound, Manitoba, and raised in Altona, Hiebert graduated from the University of Manitoba (honours philosophy), received an MA from the University of Toronto in Gothic and Teutonic philology and a PhD from McGill University in physics and chemistry. Professor of chemistry at the University of Manitoba, he was also the author of the parodic poetry of Sarah Binks, “the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan,” first published in 1947 in a “biography” entitled Sarah Binks. “Sarah” writes deliberately awful poetry, which does offer a nostalgic view of the pre-Depression prairie West in which so many Canadians grew up. Hiebert also wrote a number of other works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

He received the Centennial Medal of Honour from the Manitoba Historical Society in 1970. Two years later, he was given a Manitoba Good Citizenship Award. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1976 and the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt in 1987. In 1974, he was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Manitoba and Brandon University.

His papers are at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

Source:

Profile revised: 18 October 2009

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