Link to:
Presidents | Sources
The Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg was begun in 1894 by six women “to keep up their interest in music…” The organization grew and prospered, and remains vibrant today, with a mandate to “encourage and advance music in the community by the presentation of outstanding artists.” In achieving this goal, the club has brought numerous prominent artists to Winnipeg to perform, many of them on the brink of a prominent career. Included among many of these have been Maureen Forrester and Glenn Gould. The club now presents five concerts each year, as well as an occasional special concert with an outstanding Canadian artist. The size, meeting venue, and musical activities have changed over the years to meet the needs of a changing community. The focus is now on young artists, many of them just starting on a career in the arts. To help in this process, the club offers five scholarships annually, whose recipients are featured in a December concert. For 111 years of musical excellence, the Manitoba Historical Society is pleased to present a Centennial Organization Award to the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg.
An MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented by Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard, Jacqueline Friesen, and Gordon Goldsborough on 3 April 2005.

Past-Presidents of the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg (no date)
L-R: Mrs. L. Heaton, Mrs. W. H. Collum, Mrs. C. S. Riley, Mrs. A. R. Tanner, Mrs. W. Luck.
Source: Archives of Manitoba
Presidents
Period |
President |
1894-1896 |
Kate Smith (?-1924, wife of Gerald F. Brophy) |
1897-1899 |
Mrs. Angus Kirkland |
1899-1900 |
Mrs. L. A. Hamilton |
1900-1901 |
Margaret Jane Smith (1862-1915, wife of George Frederick Galt) |
1901-1903 |
Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson) |
1903-1906 |
Mary Irene Gurney Evans (1869-1951) |
1906-1907 |
Miss Kate Drummond |
1907-1908 |
Mrs. Robert Bryce |
1908-1909 |
Mrs. W. S. Grant |
1909-1910 |
Mrs. A. B. Clark |
1910-1911 |
Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson) |
1911-1913 |
Mrs. C. M. Weiss |
1913-1918 |
Anne Frances Harward Eastman (1866-1941, wife of Henry Ahern Higginson) |
1918-1920 |
Kathleen Johnson (1875-?, wife of Robert Fletcher) |
1920-1923 |
Effie Marcella Hudgins Dafoe (c1865-1944) |
1923-1926 |
Georgina Robinson (c1874-1966, wife of John Young Reid) |
1926-1927 |
Edna Margaret Elliott (?-?, wife of James Bowes Coyne) |
1927-1928 |
Jean Isabel Culver Riley (1883-1965, wife of Conrad Stephenson Riley) |
1928-1929 |
Georgina Robinson (c1874-1966, wife of John Young Reid) |
1929-1930 |
Mrs. J. H. Elliott |
1930-1933 |
Gertrude Rowe Hanson Kilvert (1880-1961) |
1933-1936 |
Jean Isabel Culver (1883-1965, wife of Conrad Stephenson Riley) |
1936-1939 |
Annie Maude Crowe (1887-1976, wife of W. H. Collum) |
1939-1942 |
Nell Irene Rundle (1894-1967, wife of Leonard Dunstan Heaton) |
1942-1945 |
Annie Maude Crowe (1887-1976, wife of W. H. Collum) |
1945-1948 |
Mrs. Harold D. Barbour |
1948-1951 |
Mrs. Douglas G. Edmond |
1951-1954 |
Mrs. G. Lyman Van Vliet |
1955-1958 |
Mrs. Walter Luck |
1958-1961 |
Phyllis Elizabeth Tod (1913-2003, wife of Arthur Robert Tanner) |
1961-1962 |
Mrs. Margaret H. Bach |
1962-1965 |
Margaret Adele Bain Fetherstonhaugh (1904-1975) |
1965-1966 |
Mrs. H. Lloyd Thompson |
1966-1969 |
Margaret Adele Bain Fetherstonhaugh (1904-1975) |
1970-1971 |
Mrs. A. S. Majury |
1971-1974 |
Tannis Thorlakson (wife of George Taylor Richardson) |
1974-1976 |
Mrs. W. C. Guest |
1976-1978 |
Mrs. J. W. G. Armytage |
1978-1980 |
Mrs. Rosalind Dick |
1980-1982 |
Mrs. Puddy Cunningham |
1982-1984 |
Mrs. Lynn Nieman |
1984-1986 |
Mrs. Peggy Roulston |
1986-1988 |
Mrs. Nancy Mitchell |
1988-1990 |
Mrs. Gloria Meadows |
1990-1992 |
Mrs. Ruth Bredin |
1992-1994 |
Mrs. Kathryn Young |
1994-1996 |
Mrs. Virginia Heinrichs |
1996-1998 |
Jean McIntyre Smellie (c1929-2021, wife of Robert Gordon Smellie) |
1998-2000 |
Mrs. Margaret Morse |
2000-2002 |
Mrs. Wilma Woodmass |
2002-2004 |
Mrs. Marjorie Lebrun |
2004-2005 |
Mrs. Gloria Meadows |
2005-2008 |
Mrs. Marjorie Lebrun |
2008-2009 |
Mrs. Virginia Heinrichs |
2009-2010 |
Mrs. Margaret Jeffries |
2010-2012 |
Mrs. Carol Gamby |
2012-2013 |
Mrs. Margaret Kellermann McCulloch |
2013 |
Mrs. Carol Gamby |
2013-2015 |
Kathryn A. Young |
2015-2017 |
Diane Kubas |
2017-2019 |
Laurel Malkin |
2019-2021 |
Alison Baldwin |
2021-2022 |
Millie Hildebrand
Laurel Malkin |
See also:
“With Every Note Played”: A History of the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, 1894-2014
by Kathryn A. Young, Winnipeg, 2014
Sources:
Obituary [Annie Maude Collum], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 October 1976, page 55.
Obituary [Jean Smellie], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 June 2021.
We thank Mary Lynn Duckworth and Alison Baldwin for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 December 2022
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