Educator, community activist.
Born at Manitou on 10 August 1901, daughter of Thomas Turnbull and Christina Tait (1869-1959), she received her BSc (1922) degree from the University of Manitoba. She lived her early years in Manitou, East St. Paul, Norwood, and Winnipeg. She began her teaching career in rural Manitoba and taught at Isaac Newton School, prior to her marriage.
On 27 June 1931 she married Carl Stirrat Gow at Winnipeg. The couple had three children: Christina “Chris” Gow McPhail (1933-1992), Donald Bruce Gow (1936-1967), and John Robert Gow. She returned full time to teaching in 1954, first at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate and then St. John’s High School, retiring in 1966. She was active in community activities including being a member of the Board of the Children’s Aid Society, singing in the Winona Lightcap Studio Club, and President of United Church Women (UCW) at St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church of which she was a long-time member. She served as President of the University Women’s Club of Winnipeg (1953-1955).
She died in Winnipeg on 29 October 1989 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
See also:
Margaret McWilliams: An Interwar Feminist by Mary Kinnear. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, 1991.
Birth and marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Mrs. C. S. Gow again heads University Women’s Club,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 May 1953.
Obituary [Mrs. Christina Turnbull], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 January 1959, page 27.
Obituary [Carl Stirrat Gow], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 January 1977, page 98.
Obituary [Margaret Gow], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 October 1989, page 23.
Obituary [Christina Gow McPhail], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 September 1992, page D2.
We thank John Gow for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by June Dutka.
Page revised: 2 November 2022
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