Community activist.
Originally from Shellmouth, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from Brandon College (1952) and was Lady Stick that year. She spent the next four years working in the oil industry in Calgary and Edmonton. At the request of John Robert Charles Evans, she returned to the college as Secretary to the President and Manager of the College Bookstore, remaining as Assistant to the President until 1966. During the same time, she became General Secretary of the Brandon College Alumni Association, worked to locate alumni, and created relationships with them.
In 1967, she and her partner Norma E. Walmsley moved to Ottawa then Wakefield, Quebec where she worked as a freelance editor. In recognition of her service to Brandon College, she received an Alumni Association Award (1970). She co-chaired the Brandon College Legacy Campaign for the restoration of Clark Hall and the original Brandon College Building (1997-1997) and, in 1998, she was named an Honorary Trustee of the Brandon University Foundation.
She co-authored, with C. G. Stone, the book “Brandon College, A History 1899-1967” on the history of the institution up to the establishment of Brandon University.
In 2007, she lived near Wakefield, Quebec where she helped to renovate and expand the Wakefield Library.
Birth registration [Norma Walmsley], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Two named as outstanding volunteer fundraisers,” Brandon Sun, 3 June 2007, page 9.
Obituary [Norma E. Walmsley], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 January 2011.
Joan Garnett, Trail Pioneer, Sentiers Wakefield Trails, 7 July 2019.
“A fiery 40th,” The Low Down, 10 July 2024.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 September 2026
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