Memorable Manitobans: Céline Marie Power Kear (?-2017)

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Céline Marie Power Kear
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Educator, historian.

Born at Branch, St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland, the eldest of eleven children of Neil and Rose Power, she received an undergraduate degree from Memorial College (St. John’s) with a double major in French and history. Fully bilingual, in 1967 she received an MA in French literature from Laval University in Quebec, graduating cum laude. She taught at Mercy Convent School (St. John’s), St. Michael’s College (St. George's), St. Brides College Littledale (St. John’s) and St. Lawrence College (Quebec City), her area of interest being the comparative novel and the role of women in the development of the novel. For several years she was the Canadian President of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

In 1969, she moved with her husband, Allan R. Kear to Winnipeg where she taught at Vincent Massey Collegiate until retirement, after which she taught part-time at the University of Winnipeg. She was actively involved with the University Women’s Club (President, 2009-2011) and served a two-year term as President of the Manitoba Branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women. She was active in the history and heritage communities of Manitoba, serving as President of the Manitoba Historical Society (1996-1998) and later as President of Heritage Winnipeg (2004-2006). In recognition of her work in support of heritage conservation in Manitoba, she received a Heritage Winnipeg Distinguished Service Award in 2012. She has never lost her affection for The Rock and spent her summers in a 150-year-old house in an historic preservation area of St. John’s and maintained her membership in the Newfoundland Historical Society.

She died at Winnipeg on 9 September 2017.

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 16 September 2017.

We thank Margaret Morse for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 16 September 2017

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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