Journalist, feminist, community activist.
Born at Winnipeg on 28 March 1909, a daughter of politician John Queen and feminist Katherine Ross, while studying medicine at the University of Manitoba, she worked during the summers of 1927 and 1928 as the first woman sports reporter for the Manitoba Free Press. In 1929 she became a full-time general reporter for the Winnipeg Tribune. On 24 November 1931, she married Wilfred Hughes, insisting that he take her surname if she was to take his. In 1933, she was the youngest woman elected to public office as a school trustee and fought succesfully to have Grade 12 taught in the schools without fees.
During the Second World War, she organized the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, serving as Commander of “I” Company at Halifax, Nova Scotia and London, England. Invalided home in 1943, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and returned to Europe as Deputy Director in Germany’s British zone. Returning to Canada in 1946, she became active in community organizations and, in 1966, she ran for Mayor of Winnipeg against Steve Juba, the first woman to campaign for the office.
She died at Winnipeg on 13 February 1978 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Former trustee dies at 69,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 February 1978, page 6.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 February 1978, page 52.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 February 2015
Memorable Manitobans
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