Public health worker.
Born at La Riviere on 2 November 1912, one of four children of Winnifred May Marshall (1892-1984) and John Washington Wilson (1881-1932), she lived the majority of her life at Winnipeg. After graduating from St. John's High School, she entered the St. Boniface Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1934, then went on to obtain a Diploma in Public Health Nursing from McGill University (Montreal), and Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees from Columbia University, New York City.
Through her many years working in the Public Health field, she strived to teach and implement healthy change for the betterment of her fellow human beings. Although she was humble and unpresuming, her efforts were recognized with many accolades and prestigious awards from organizations, government, and the community: the Florence Nightingale Award from the International Red Cross; Woman of Distinction Award from the YMCA (1993); the Manitoba Council on Aging Recognition Award; a Manitoba Association of Registered Nurses Honorary Life Membership; and a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) and a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002). For 39 years, she served as Regional Director of Manitoba Health and Social Development, Thompson Region, retiring in 1977.
After retirement, she continued to volunteer with such organizations as Age and Opportunity, United Way of Winnipeg, and the Canadian Red Cross, and was a founding member of National ALCOA and ALCOA Manitoba. She was also President of the Board of Directors of Seven Oaks General Hospital Foundation and sat on the Hospital Board. As a member of Fitness Canada's Advisory Council to the Secretariat for the Third Age, she was instrumental in introducing Mall Walking, believing in its mental and physical health benefits.
She died unmarried at Winnipeg on 8 September 2010 and was buried with her parents in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Birth registration [Mary Wilson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“John W. Wilson, C. P. employe 29 years, dead,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 November 1932, page 3.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 14 September 2010.
“Mary Emily Wilson,” Miller Wilson Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 4 December 2025
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