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Not even a pandemic could stop Marjorie Douglas, a U of T alumna, from celebrating her 110th birthday

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:16:53 +0000

Not even a pandemic could stop Marjorie Douglas, a U of T alumna, from celebrating her 110th birthday

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 10/23/2020 - 13:16

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Marjorie Douglas, who graduated in 1932 from what is now U of T's Faculty of Information, recently celebrated her 110th birthday, receiving well wishes from the mayor, premier, prime minister – even the Queen (photo courtesy of the Douglas family)

Topic

Faculty of Information

Trinity College

Marjorie (Richmond) Douglas, an alumna of the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Faculty of Information old enough to have lived through the Spanish Flu, recently celebrated her 110^thbirthday with a COVID-19-compliant party. There were no candles, the cake was composed of individual cupcakes and Happy Birthday was recorded in advance instead of performed live. Guests attended in person – at a distance – and on Zoom.

“It's not how anyone would have predicted such an event a few months ago, but it worked,” said her son and U of T alumnus Robert Douglas, describing how on Sept. 13, the morning rain cleared and the sun shone through, allowing masked guests to gather under a marquee tent while a large contingent joined online.

Special guests included Han Dong, a local Member of Parliament, and Shelley Carroll, a local city councillor. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Toronto Mayor John Tory also sent their greetings and, later in the week, congratulatory letters arrived from Governor General Julie Payette, Ontario Premier Doug Ford – even the Queen.

Robert also read aloud letters from U of T President Meric Gertler, Faculty of Information Dean Wendy Duff and Michael Benarroch, president of the University of Manitoba, Marjorie’s other alma mater.

Born in Winnipeg in 1910, Marjorie graduated with a BA from the University of Manitoba in 1931. Encouraged by her mother, she boarded the train to Toronto where the Library School had been established three years earlier. A book lover since childhood, she had a job lined up with the Winnipeg Public Library upon graduation.

A photo of Marjorie Douglas’s graduating class in 1932 at what was then known as the Library School (photo courtesy of U of T Faculty of Information)

Marjorie lived in a women’s boarding house on Madison Avenue, a short walk to her cataloguing and classification classes, which were held at the Ontario College of Education on Bloor Street. In an interview with the faculty’s alumni magazine in 2012, the year she was presented with a U of T Chancellor’s Medal honouring the 80^th anniversary of her graduation, Marjorie talked about her fond memories of Winifred Barnstead, the first director of the Library School and Bertha Bassam, Barnstead’ successor.

She also reminisced about her lasting friendship with classmate Ruth McKenzie showing off a signed copy of her late friend’s best-selling book on Laura Secord. Looking over her old photos, Marjorie was struck by how much more formal clothing was back then. “We wore dresses, nice shoes, and never wore slacks,” she said.

After completing her librarianship diploma in 1932, Marjorie learned that Depression-era cutbacks meant the position she had been promised in Winnipeg had been scaled back to a few hours per week so she wrote to “Miss Barnstead,” as she still called her, for help. She was in luck. Barnstead knew that Trinity College needed a cataloguer who was familiar with the Dewey Decimal System.

Marjorie shortly found herself back at U of T, this time as an employee. While on campus a few years later, she met George Douglas, a Knox College divinity student. They married in 1938 and moved to Niagara Falls where George took his first parish as a Presbyterian minister. Toward the end of the Second World War, Douglas served as a chaplain in the Royal Canadian Navy. After the war, the couple lived in Woodstock, Ont. for 15 years, where Marjorie concentrated on raising her sons George and Robert.

In 1961, her husband was offered the position of Librarian at Knox College on the condition that he get a degree in library science. “My mother used to joke that she enjoyed being able to tell him how to run a library,” said Robert, adding that his father graduated with his master’s degree in library science from Columbia University at age 58.

Looking to resume her career, Marjorie walked into the North York Public Library. After quickly checking with U of T, the library offered her a job on the spot. She worked part-time classifying and cataloguing books until her retirement 13 years later. “By the early 70s, the world was just starting to use computers – just as I was retiring,” she said. “We used white ink on the spine to record the book’s numbers using the Dewey System.”

Marjorie, whose husband died in 1990, credits her longevity to good genes, noting that her mother lived well into her nineties. Her 101-year-old brother Dick Richmond, a retired aeronautical engineer, regularly visits his sister and was named to the Order of Canada earlier this year. He was on hand to propose the champagne toast at her birthday party.

At her retirement residence, Marjorie kept active well into her 11th decade, participating in organized activities, regularly attending “sit and be fit” classes, playing bridge and earning the nickname “Queen of Scrabble.” She sees Robert, who lives in Toronto, regularly, and George and his family, who live in Kanata Ont., as much as possible. Marjorie has a grandson, granddaughter, four great grandsons and one great granddaughter. “Every day is a gift,” she said in her 2012 interview. “I’m thankful for that. I feel that you have to keep your mind vital and mentally active.”

The strict isolation under COVID-19 confined Marjorie to her suite for several months and restricted visits from family. No residents have contacted the virus to date, but the inability to walk outside her suite has reduced Marjorie’s mobility and she has had to replace her walker with a wheelchair. Her concentration and short-term memory are also not as keen as they used to be.

In spite of these constraints, Robert says his mother greatly enjoyed her birthday party and the chance to talk one-on-one to guests both in person and online. “We were really happy at how she rose to the occasion,” he said.

Eager to learn new things and stay connected, U of T’s Senior College goes virtual

sungjimi — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 16:02:24 +0000

Eager to learn new things and stay connected, U of T’s Senior College goes virtual sungjimi Tue, 04/28/2020 - 12:02

For many retired librarians and faculty, the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Senior College provides a welcome opportunity to continue a journey of lifelong learning – through weekly seminars, excursions, book clubs and more. All retired faculty and librarians automatically become members of Senior College upon their retirement from the University.

But when the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic in March, all in-person events were cancelled, including the group’s final two weekly seminars and annual colloquium scheduled for April.

“We were disappointed, of course, but we took it in stride,” says Harold Atwood, principal of Senior College. “We had to do it protect our members. We’re all retirees and in the age group that’s particularly vulnerable to the virus. We realized we couldn’t put people at risk.”

For Vennese Croasdaile, who has been the group’s administrator for the last six years, it was most disappointing not to be able to see the group’s members in person regularly. “I’ve gotten really fond of them and they of me,” she says. “They’re a great group of people. I love speaking to them.”

Croasdaile wasn’t going to let the year’s big events fizzle away as the doors on campus were shut to non-essential activities. She was already accustomed to the “new normal” of video conferencing, thanks to her church, which had moved its meetings and services online. Leveraging her professional background in information technology, Croasdaile was able to convince Atwood and the rest of the members that they could continue their activities via video conferencing platform Zoom.

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Vennese Croasdaile.

A number of training sessions were quickly set up and Croasdaile and Atwood found that the majority of the members were eager to learn the technology.

“It was a bit of a learning curve, but most of the group are happy to work and meet in this way,” says Atwood.

Croasdaile emphasized the tenacity of the members, many of them innovators in their fields.

“In one of my recent Zoom training sessions, we had a member who had recently turned 90 years old and she never gave up,” she says. “They may be retired, but they’re librarians or professors. Many of them have paved the way for Canadians in their respective fields, so they’re not hesitant to try new things.”

According to Croasdaile, the members are still continuing to use email to communicate with each other, but are appreciating the ability to see each other. “When they come online and see each other, there’s just a delight on their faces!” she says.

Although her job is technically administrative, Croasdaile makes it a point to keep in touch with and call members, especially if they’re regular attendees but haven’t been in touch for a while.

“Vennese has been checking up on the older members to see how they’re doing – the ones who are more vulnerable and isolated,” says Atwood. “She sees how they’re managing and keeps us all up to date on how everyone’s doing. She really cares and has a genuine interest in making a connection.”

“Senior College plays an important part in keeping retired faculty members active in our academic community,” says Heather Boon, U of T’s vice-provost, faculty and academic life. “It’s wonderful to see them joining the rest of the U of T community by connecting and engaging virtually during these challenging times. My kudos to Vennese and the executive committee for taking the lead in the online transition.”

Croasdaile says that continuing these online events for Senior College not only helps the members, but it enriches her life too. “These meetings are very important to the members and they’re important to me too,” she says. “Because we’ve been connecting in this way, the group members now feel more motivated to check in with everyone. It’s inspired other ways that they can touch base with each other and enhanced our already strong sense of community.”

Eager to learn new things and stay connected, U of T’s Senior College goes virtual

The Senior College book club recently met online as seen in this Zoom screenshot.

Jenny Rodrigues

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University Chief Librarian, Office of the

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Not even a pandemic could stop Marjorie Douglas, a U of T alumna, from celebrating her 110th birthday

Eager to learn new things and stay connected, U of T’s Senior College goes virtual