Educator.
Born at Mount St. Patrick, Ontario on 13 January 1903, daughter of Elizabeth Windle and John Whelan, she received her education at Renfrew Scool, Pembroke Convent, and Ottawa Normal School, teaching in Ottawa before moving to Fort William [Thunder Bay] in 1929. There, she taught at St. Stanislaus School. In 1935, she married John Henry Bickford (1894-1976) and they had three children: John Henry Whelan Bickford (1937-1979), Mary Joan Bickford, and Frederick James Bickford. They resided at Eva Lake near Kawene, Ontario until moving to Manitoba in 1941.
During the Second World War, she served as a weather technician with the Royal Canadian Air Force. She resumed her teaching career by the early 1950s, at Oxford School (1956-1959), Springvale School (1959-1964), Pacific School (1964-1965), Spruce Hills School (1966-1967, Principal), and elsewhere in the Birtle and Virden areas, before retiring from Ebor School (1969-1971) in the summer of 1971. She was frequently involved with speech and drama festivals and was a volunteer for the Fort Whyte Nature Centre.
She died on 12 April 1989 and was buried in the Assumption Roman Catholic Cemetery.
Obituary [John Henry Bickford], Winnipeg Free Press, 31 August 1976, page 20.
Portage la Prairie estate files (ATG 0064A), #14882 John Henry Bickford, GR2426, Archives of Manitoba.
Obituary [John Henry Bickford], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 September 1979, page 72.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 April 1989, page 36.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 19 May 2024
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