Educator, community activist.
Born near Togo, Saskatchewan on 12 January 1927, she was one of the eight children of Selma Jorgina Gilsrud (1892-1952) and Carl Johan Kolstad (1881-1958). From humble beginnings on a small farm in the Assiniboine Valley, she began a lifelong passion for learning and launched her career as an educator. At age 19, she began teaching in one-room schools, including Grainfields School (1951-1952) and Swanford School (1954-1955).
In 1954, she married Joseph George Roe (1932-2011) at Roblin, with whom she had two children before they divorced. Over the next 40 years, as she raised her children and ran a hotel, she taught for 26 years at various locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, including Thibert School (1972-1974). The last 13 years of her career were spent teaching grade two at Ste. Rose du Lac School. She was deeply committed to helping her students learn, particularly those who had difficulties.
After retirement, she settled at Stonewall in 1988 and embarked on her second career, that of community builder and volunteer. She was deeply involved in REACT, an environmental organization she helped initiate in 1991. REACT took on a range of projects, from recycling to preserving a patch of tallgrass prairie in the Town of Stonewall. In her honour, in fall 2008, the Town named the prairie the Ruby Roe Tallgrass Prairie. She was also part of a visioning round table in the community, supported the Stonewall United Church, volunteered for 20 years with the elderly at Rosewood Lodge, and for 18 years worked with a mentally-challenged young woman at a group home.
She died at Stonewall on 21 June 2009 and was buried in the Roblin Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 24 June 2009.
“Ruby Winnifred Kolstad,” JudyByJudy Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 8 August 2025
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