Community activist.
Born at MacGregor on 25 December 1916, daughter of Mabel Elizabeth Hotell (1895-1948) and Thomas Dryden Lamb (1878-1947), she spent her childhood at MacGregor and on 18 January 1936 married David Walter Allan (1908-1965) with whom she had five children. Together with her sisters, she owned and managed the Tivoli Theatre in MacGregor and directed numerous plays, musicals, and shows throughout her lifetime. Later, she ran a dress shop. She also served as bookkeeper for Allan’s Transfer for many years. After the death of her husband, she and her son Beverly carried on the family trucking business while she continued to raise her two youngest children.
She was highly regarded for her sense of civic duty and desire to contribute to her community. Being passionate about social issues, she paved the way for women to participate in provincial politics by running as the Commonwealth Co-operative Federation candidate in the Lakeside constituency in the 1953 general election against Douglas Campbell. In later years, she was a justice of the peace. A member of the MacGregor United Church, she served on the Presbytery and taught Sunday school for over 40 years. She wrote a column called “Village Tapestries” for the MacGregor Herald for 25 years.
She died at Portage la Prairie on 15 August 2004 and was buried in the MacGregor Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 August 2004.
Thomas Dryden Lamb, Ancestry.
Mabel Elizabeth Hotell, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 24 November 2020
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