MHS Centennial Organization: Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg

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Presidents | Sources

The Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg was begun in 1894 by six women “to keep up their interest in music…” The organization grew and prospered, and remains vibrant today, with a mandate to “encourage and advance music in the community by the presentation of outstanding artists.” In achieving this goal, the club has brought numerous prominent artists to Winnipeg to perform, many of them on the brink of a prominent career. Included among many of these have been Maureen Forrester and Glenn Gould. The club now presents five concerts each year, as well as an occasional special concert with an outstanding Canadian artist. The size, meeting venue, and musical activities have changed over the years to meet the needs of a changing community. The focus is now on young artists, many of them just starting on a career in the arts. To help in this process, the club offers five scholarships annually, whose recipients are featured in a December concert. For 111 years of musical excellence, the Manitoba Historical Society is pleased to present a Centennial Organization Award to the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg.

An MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented by Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard, Jacqueline Friesen, and Gordon Goldsborough on 3 April 2005.

Past-Presidents of the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg (no date)
L-R: Mrs. L. Heaton, Mrs. W. H. Collum, Mrs. C. S. Riley, Mrs. A. R. Tanner, Mrs. W. Luck.
Source: Archives of Manitoba

Presidents

Period	President
1894-1896	Kate Smith (?-1924, wife of Gerald F. Brophy)
1897-1899	Mrs. Angus Kirkland
1899-1900	Mrs. L. A. Hamilton
1900-1901	Margaret Jane Smith (1862-1915, wife of George Frederick Galt)
1901-1903	Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson)
1903-1906	Mary Irene Gurney Evans (1869-1951)
1906-1907	Miss Kate Drummond
1907-1908	Mrs. Robert Bryce
1908-1909	Mrs. W. S. Grant
1909-1910	Mrs. A. B. Clark
1910-1911	Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson)
1911-1913	Mrs. C. M. Weiss
1913-1918	Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson)
1918-1920	Kathleen Johnson (1875-?, wife of Robert Fletcher)
1920-1923	Effie Marcella Hudgins Dafoe (c1865-1944)
1923-1926	Georgina Robinson (c1874-1966, wife of John Young Reid)
1926-1927	Edna Margaret Elliott (?-?, wife of James Bowes Coyne)
1927-1928	Jean Isabel Culver Riley (1883-1965, wife of Conrad Stephenson Riley)
1928-1929	Georgina Robinson (c1874-1966, wife of John Young Reid)
1929-1930	Mrs. J. H. Elliott
1930-1933	Gertrude Rowe Hanson Kilvert (1880-1961)
1933-1936	Jean Isabel Culver (1883-1965, wife of Conrad Stephenson Riley)
1936-1939	Annie Maude Crowe (1887-1976, wife of W. H. Collum)
1939-1942	Nell Irene Rundle (1894-1967, wife of Leonard Dunstan Heaton)
1942-1945	Annie Maude Crowe (1887-1976, wife of W. H. Collum)
1945-1948	Mrs. Harold D. Barbour
1948-1951	Mrs. Douglas G. Edmond
1951-1954	Mrs. G. Lyman Van Vliet
1955-1958	Mrs. Walter Luck
1958-1961	Phyllis Elizabeth Tod (1913-2003, wife of Arthur Robert Tanner)
1961-1962	Mrs. Margaret H. Bach
1962-1965	Margaret Adele Bain Fetherstonhaugh (1904-1975)
1965-1966	Mrs. H. Lloyd Thompson
1966-1969	Margaret Adele Bain Fetherstonhaugh (1904-1975)
1970-1971	Mrs. A. S. Majury
1971-1974	Tannis Thorlakson (wife of George Taylor Richardson)
1974-1976	Mrs. W. C. Guest
1976-1978	Mrs. J. W. G. Armytage
1978-1980	Mrs. Rosalind Dick
1980-1982	Mrs. Puddy Cunningham
1982-1984	Mrs. Lynn Nieman
1984-1986	Mrs. Peggy Roulston
1986-1988	Mrs. Nancy Mitchell
1988-1990	Mrs. Gloria Meadows
1990-1992	Mrs. Ruth Bredin
1992-1994	Mrs. Kathryn Young
1994-1996	Mrs. Virginia Heinrichs
1996-1998	Jean McIntyre Smellie (c1929-2021, wife of Robert Gordon Smellie)
1998-2000	Mrs. Margaret Morse
2000-2002	Mrs. Wilma Woodmass
2002-2004	Mrs. Marjorie Lebrun
2004-2005	Mrs. Gloria Meadows
2005-2008	Mrs. Marjorie Lebrun
2008-2009	Mrs. Virginia Heinrichs
2009-2010	Mrs. Margaret Jeffries
2010-2012	Mrs. Carol Gamby
2012-2013	Mrs. Margaret Kellermann McCulloch
2013	Mrs. Carol Gamby
2013-2015	Kathryn A. Young
2015-2017	Diane Kubas
2017-2019	Laurel Malkin
2019-2021	Alison Baldwin
2021-2022	Millie Hildebrand Laurel Malkin

See also:

“With Every Note Played”: A History of the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, 1894-2014
by Kathryn A. Young, Winnipeg, 2014

Sources:

Obituary [Annie Maude Collum], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 October 1976, page 55.

Obituary [Jean Smellie], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 June 2021.

We thank Mary Lynn Duckworth and Alison Baldwin for providing additional information used here.

Page revised: 11 December 2022