Educator.
Born at Vermillion, Alberta on 26 February 1909, daughter of Sam and Anne Roseborough, she received a BA from the University of Alberta in 1930. She did an Honours Degree in English at King’s College University of London in 1932, returning to Canada to complete an MA in 1934 and a PhD in 1937 at the University of Toronto. The following year she published An Outline of Middle English Grammar with MacMillan’s and taught at Victoria College.
In 1938, she married William Stobie. The couple moved to De Pauw University in Indiana in 1938. From there, they moved to Missouri where she returned to teaching at Christian College. The Stobies taught at Cornell University for two years from 1944 to 1946 before joining the English department at the University of Manitoba. She was forced to retire from teaching with the inception of the nepotism law in 1950. She spent the next several years acting, producing, and directing local theatre as well as working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in various dramatic roles and as a book reviewer on Critically Speaking.
In 1958, she took an appointment at United College, but resigned in protest over the dismissal of Harry Crowe at the end of the year. In 1959, she was hired by St. John’s College. From 1962 to 1965, she was on the executive of the College’s Chapter of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. In 1968, she became a member of the University of Manitoba Senate and, in 1971, she was appointed to the Research Grants Committee and Research Board. She was the first woman appointed to the academic panel of the Canada Council and was a board member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. She wrote two more books, A Critical Study of Frederick Philip Grove (1973) and The Other Side of the Rebellion (1986). In retirement she wrote about the early settlement of Western Canada.
She died at Winnipeg on 15 July 1990. A collection of her papers are held in the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
Her articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
Backgrounds of the Dialect Called Bungi
MHS Transactions, Series 3, Number 24, 1967-68 SeasonIn the Time of the Making of Treaties
Manitoba History, Number 10, Autumn 19854
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 July 1990, page 40.
Stobie Family Fonds, University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 June 2022
Memorable Manitobans
This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.
Search the collection by word or phrase, name, place, occupation or other text:
Custom SearchBrowse surnames beginning with:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | ZBrowse deaths occurring in:
1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the Memorable Manitobans Administrator at biographies@mhs.mb.caCriteria for Memorable Manitobans | Suggest a Memorable Manitoban | Firsts | Acknowledgements
Help us keep
history alive!
