Edith Paterson (1905-1995)

Musician, journalist, historian.

Born in Ontario in 1905 and raised in Saskatchewan, she came to Winnipeg with her husband who worked for the Bank of Commerce. She studied with Herbert Sadler and obtained the LTCL diploma in 1942, when her examiner was Healey Willan. She subsequently served as organist at a number of churches in Winnipeg, gave piano lessons and acted as accompanist at the Winnipeg Music Festival.

She joined the Winnipeg Free Press in 1958 and in 1969 began her weekly local history column “It Happened Here”. She published a number of books on Manitoba history including Tales of Early Manitoba (1970), 100 Years Pictorial History of Winnipeg (1973), Tales of the Early West (1978), and histories of the Grace Hospital, the Winnipeg Police, and the Winnipeg Construction Association. She also presented a television show “Memories of the Past”. She was President of Penhandlers in 1966. She received numerous awards for her historical work, including the McWilliams Medal in 1969 for her columns in the Free Press, and a Heritage Canada Communications Award in 1977. She was a member of the Manitoba Historic Sites Advisory Board.

After her husband John died in 1975, she married George Risk. She retired from the newspaper in 1976. She died on 25 May 1995.

Source:

This profile was written by Keith Davies Jones.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 27 May 1995.

We thank Sharon Light for providing additional information used in this profile.

Profile revised: 18 August 2009

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