Home economist, community activist.
Born at Winnipeg on 29 June 1917, daughter of Annie Ruby McBride (1882-1963) and Prescott Campbell MacArthur (1876-1928), she graduated with a degree in home economics from the University of Manitoba then worked as a hospital dietician at Brandon and Winnipeg. During the Second World War she served as a messing officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Canada and overseas. She receive a masters degree and a doctorate in education from Columbia University before becoming director of the University of Manitoba’s School of Home Economics in 1952, holding the post for five years. She worked as a dietary consultant from 1958 until incapacitated by multiple sclerosis in the early 1960s. In 1972, she was inducted into the Order of Canada for her community service, including her efforts to secure for handicapped electors the right to vote by mail. She also received a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977). She died at Winnipeg on 24 December 1978 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Isabel MacArthur finds aids for incapacitating illness,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 August 1964, page 16.
“Give shut-ins vote, woman says,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 October 1969, page 3.
“Association honors MacArthur,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 April 1974, page 20.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 26 December 1978, page 127.
We thank Susan Bracken for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 17 October 2021
Memorable Manitobans
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