Community activist, author.
Born in England in April 1906 to Jane Elizabeth Hannah Robinson (1885-1961) and Owen McNainy (1882-1976), she came to Canada with her family in 1911. She met Wilfred Laurier Burrows (1901-1996) at Kimberly, British Columbia, and they were married in 1928. She and her husband, a metallurgist, moved to Flin Flon in 1931. Services and accommodations were few and rudimentary at the time, but the plan was to live there for only a year. The couple ended up staying in Flon Flon for over thirty years, raising their two children there. She became active organizing clubs and events to help build the community, and was recognized as a role model for women from the time that she was young.
During the early years in Flin Flon, she liked to sing, and joined other singers in travelling from church to church as a choir, performing as needed. When the town grew a bit larger, a Glee Club was formed, of which she was an original member. She was a member of the Rebekah Lodge, and also belonged to the Order of the Eastern Star. She enjoyed curling in winter, and in summer golfing with her husband on the drained bottom of Flin Flon Lake. She was instrumental in creating the Pipeline Toastmistress club at Flin Flon and generally demonstrated to women that they had a voice in society and should communicate their ideas freely. She joined the Prairie Crocus Club International Toastmistresses (later called International Training in Communication) and was recognized as Member of the Year in 1987.
In later years, she and her husband lived in Winnipeg, with a summer home at Denare Beach, southwest of Flin Flon. She spent many hours at her typewriter over the years, publishing numerous human-interest stories in the Winnipeg Free Press and Chatelaine magazine, such as “The Anna Swan Story” and “The Rescue of Walter Sedor.” She was the recipient of the Kathleen Strange Award from the Canadian Author’s Association for distinguished service. Recognized as an expert in the area of parliamentary proceedings, she was a registered parliamentarian and at the age of 88 was the founder of the Manitoba Association for Procedural Parliamentarians. She went on to create a guide book of parliamentary proceedings for board meetings and effective business. In 2006, at the age of 100, she received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in the area of Media and Public Relations.
Eventually, she moved to the Waverly Retirement Community in Winnipeg, sang with the Waverly Warblers every Wednesday, and enjoyed singing with fellow tenants around the piano at Happy Hour.
She died at Winnipeg on 29 October 2008.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 November 2008.
“Looking back with Mary Burrows and Marilyn Watson,” Flin Flon Reminder, 8 October 2005.
“Mary Elizabeth McNainy,” Pearson Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 30 December 2024
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