Showing 247 results

People and organizations
Canada

Zimmerman, Arthur Martin, 1886-1979

  • PA 201
  • Person
  • 1886-1979

Arthur Martin Zimmerman was born on September 11, 1886 in Ontario. He lived in the Acton district in Ontario for several years before joining a harvesters' excursion and moving west. Zimmerman worked for deep-well digging outfits for several years then purchased a quarter section of farm land near Disley, Saskatchewan in 1911. Crop failures forced him to give up his farm, and in 1916 he accepted a position as an engineer with T. A. Burrows Lumber Company at Grandview, Manitoba. The following year he returned to Saskatchewan to operate the steam engines at the Lumsden flour mills.

After the First World War, Zimmerman moved to Foxwarren, Manitoba and then to Neepawa, where he worked as a shop mechanic in Pedlar's Garage. In 1930 he set up his own business, Art's Garage. The property was later purchased by the North Star Oil Company. Zimmerman accepted a position at the Neepawa Airport in Neepawa, Manitoba, working on airplane engines until the airport's closure in 1950.

Zimmerman died on December 22, 1979.

Zimmerman married Margaret Jane Sayers in 1908. They had four children; Charlie, Arthur, Margaret, and Nell.

Wilson, Ruth Dyck, 1947-

  • Person
  • 1947-

Between 1972 and 1977, Ruth Dyck Wilson served as the folklore archivist at the Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies in Ottawa. Wilson next worked as a manuscripts and reference archivist at the Saskatchewan Archives Board from 1977 to 1986. She then briefly worked as a contract archivist at the University of Toronto Archives in 1987 and in the fall of that year she became Chief Assistant Archivist at the United Church of Canada/Victoria University Archives.

Wilson, Doug, 1950-1992

  • PA 299
  • Person
  • 1950-1992

Douglas Wilson was born in 1950 in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Saskatchewan, with majors in Art and History. He taught public school in Makwa, Saskatchewan, in 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. He did post-graduate work in Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan between 1974 and 1976. During this period, he worked as a sessional lecturer and supervisor of practice teaching for the College of Education.

While living in Saskatoon during the early 1970s, Wilson was actively and visibly involved in the gay liberation movement. He was instrumental in the organization and administration of groups such as the Zodiac Friendship Society (later the Gay Community Centre of Saskatoon) and the Saskatchewan Gay Coalition. The latter organization fought for the human rights of homosexuals in the province, and in the late 1970s, Wilson was the group's leading activist.

On September 22, 1975, Dean J. Kirkpatrick of the College of Education suspended Wilson's work as a supervisor of practice teaching in public schools, on the grounds of Wilson's open admission of his homosexuality and his public involvement in the gay liberation movement. A Committee to Defend Doug Wilson was formed to fight the university's action, and Wilson placed a formal complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. The inquiry was never held, as the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that sexuality was not covered by The Fair Employment Practices Act.

In 1978, Wilson became the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Association on Human Rights, a position which he held until 1983. In 1983, he and his partner Peter McGehee moved to Toronto, Ontario where he worked for the Toronto Board of Education's Race Relations office. Wilson became the first openly gay candidate to run in a federal election, when he ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate for Rosedale in the 1988 election.

Wilson died in Toronto in 1992.

Willsmer, Harry, 1864-1950

  • PA 547
  • Person
  • 1864-1950

Harry Willsmer was born in 1864 at Sturmer, Essex, England to William and Charlotte (Finch) Willsmer. Upon completion of his education, Willsmer held occupations including clerk, collector and farmer. He immmigrated to Canada in April 1902 and settled briefly in Regina, North-West Territories (after September 1905, Saskatchewan). Between 1902 and 1906, he lived in various locations before settling permanently in Regina.

Willsmer was employed with the Government of Saskatchewan as its first chief clerk of the Department of Railways, Telegraphs and Telephones (ca. 1906-1913) and as an inspector of rural telephones with the Department of Telephones (ca. 1913-1917). He left the employ of the government briefly and was a representative for O'Hara & Co. bond brokers (ca. 1917). Subsequently, he was re-employed with the Government as an accountant with the Local Government Board, a position he held until his retirement in 1931. He was a founding member of the Saskatchewan Civil Service Association (what was later to become the SGEU) and served as its first president in 1913.

Willsmer was active in several secret and benevolent societies. He was a past grand patron of the Grand Chapter of Saskatchewan, Order of the Eastern Star; a charter member of Floreat Lodge No. 64, I.O.O.F.; and held life membership to Wascana Lodge No. 2, A.F. & A.M.; Wascana chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Shepherds of Gabriel's White Shrine of Jerusalem; and the Scottish Rite. Among Willsmer's other hobbies were tennis (being active in the Civil Service Tennis Club); and sketching, cartooning and illustrating - particularly on programmes, certificates, and greeting cards.

Harry Willsmer died in Regina on January 1, 1950. He was interred at Regina Cemetery.

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