Community activist.
Born in Dombrowa, Poland on 8 November 1914, she immigrated to Canada with her family in 1924, settling on a homestead in Saskatchewan. In 1936, she married Ernst Heinrich Heber (?-1973) of Speers, Saskatchewan. They had five children, Walter Heber, Luther Heber, Wesley Heber, Marie Heber, and Sharon Heber. She became interested in the settling of the west, including the career of C. W. Speers. The family moved to Winnipeg in 1945 and settled in the Point Douglas area where she became actively involved in a variety of social causes.
She volunteered at Sutherland Mission and Norquay Neighborhood House. At the age of 47 she obtained a Licensed Practical Nurse certificate and worked at the St. Boniface Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital, and Women’s Pavilion. She founded and was the first President of the Point Douglas Historical Society, was instrumental in saving Barber House, and collected many stories of early settlers in the area. She founded and became the first President of the Point Douglas Ratepayers Association, presenting numerous briefs to City Hall. She ran for Winnipeg city council in 1971 under the NDP banner.
She was awarded a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award in 1982. She took art classes in her 60s and wrote poetry, publishing a volume of her poems at the age of 72. She died at Winnipeg on 21 November 2003.
Her articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
Charles Wesley Speers: Dynamic Colonizer of Western Canada
MHS Transactions, Series 3, Number 28, 1971-72 Season
Obituary [E. H. Heber], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 December 1973.
Barber House, Winnipeg Free Press, 6 August 1974.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 6 December 2003.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 February 2024
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