Women | CAN-AB | Alberta

1890s

Kathleen Parlow (20 sep 1890 – 19 aug 1963 | Fort Calgary, Alberta – near Toronto, Ontario) child prodigy violinist, aka Lady of the Golden Bow, music lecturer / professor, string quartet founder / member


1900s


1910s

Doris McCarthy (07 jul 1910 – 25 nov 2010 | Calgary, Alberta – Toronto, Ontario) artist, painter, specialist in abstract landscapes

Margaret Shelton (15 aug 1915 – 1984 | Bruce, Alberta – Calgary, Alberta)  oil / pastel / linocut / woodcut / pen-and-ink / watercolor artist


1920s

Simma Milner Holt (27 mar 1922 – 23 jan 2015 | Vegreville, Alberta – Burnaby, British Columbia) author, memoirist, journalist, former politician

Jean Paré (07 dec 1927 – Irma, Alberta) Canadian author, caterer, cookbook writer /  publisher, founded Company’s Coming Publishing Limited

Jenny Belzberg (07 jan 1928 – Calgary, Alberta) Jewish-Canadian philanthropist

Elaine Low Jack (22 mar 1928 – Cardston, Alberta) author, LDS women’s activist, former LDS Relief Society President


1930s

Frances Fox Piven (10 oct 1932 – Calgary, Alberta) author, sociology / political science professor

Elizabeth [Betty] Minnie Lee Lambert (23 aug 1933 – 04 nov 1983 | Calgary, Alberta – Burnaby, British Columbia) professor, radio / stage / television playwright, focus on women, feminism, and sexual violence

Marie Therese Veronica Boyer de la Giroday [Terry] Goulet (26 sep 1934 – Calgary, Alberta) author, historian, Métis scholar, public speaker, historical consultant

Maureen Ursenbach Beecher (19 mar 1935 – Calgary, Alberta) author, editor, LDS historian / biographer

Diana McIntosh (04 mar 1937 – Calgary, Alberta) Canadian pianist, composer, co-founder / former director Music Inter Alia (MIA) concert series

Gail Gilmore (04 oct 1937 – 02 mar 2014 | Edmonton, Alberta – Sharon CT) ballerina, ballet teacher, film / television actress, autobiographical author

Joyce Fairbairn (06 nov 1939 – Lethbridge, Alberta) Canadian senator, first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate


1940s

Barbara Sullivan (24 jan 1943 – Calgary, Alberta) journalist, former politician

Lani Ka’ahumanu (05 oct 1943 – Edmonton, Alberta) author, editor, sex / health educator, bisexual / feminist activist, cofounded BiPOL and Bay Area Bisexual Network, first openly bisexual woman to serve on numerous boards / committees

Roberta Joan [Joni] Anderson Mitchell (07 nov 1943 – Fort Macleod, Alberta) painter, guitarist, singer-songwriter

Trudy Rose Govier (03 aug 1944 – Edmonton, Alberta) author, philosopher, known for works on argumentation, informal logic, trust and forgiveness

Myrna Kostash (02 sep 1944 – Edmonton, Alberta) author, essayist, journalist, founder / former president of Creative Nonfiction Collective, founding member Periodical Writers’ Association of Canada and Writers’ Guild of Alberta

Margret Mona Kopala (05 may 1945 – Glendon, Alberta) author, essayist, social activist, public policy analyst, documentary movie producer

Dorothy Anne Wheeler (23 sep 1946 – Edmonton, Alberta) storyteller, film director / producer, computer programmer, documentary filmmaker

Jane Sterk (14 jan 1947 – Edmonton, Alberta) academic, politician, psychologist, businesswoman, British Columbia’s Green Party leader

Kathleen [Kate] Braid (19 mar 1947 – Calgary, Alberta) Canadian poet, author, biographer

Katherine Mary Govier (04 jul 1948 – Edmonton, Alberta) novelist, essayist, Writers’ Trust of Canada chair, President of PEN Canada, founded The Shoe Project [writing workshops for immigrant women]

Nancy Elliott MacBeth (29 dec 1948 – Edmonton, Alberta) Canadian politician, former Minister of Education, former Minister of Health


1950s

Rose Marie [Tantoo] Cardinal (20 jul 1950 – Anzac, Alberta) author, actress, political activist, Native Canadian

Susan [Sue] Marie Nattrass (05 nov 1950 – Medicine Hat, Alberta) medical researcher, Olympic trap shooter, research focus on osteoporosis / effects of aging in bones on active 40+ sportswomen, lecturer / instructor / administrator / consultant in physical education and sports psychology

Margo Gwendolyn Kane (21 aug 1951 – Edmonton, Alberta) actor, writer, playwright, Cree-Saulteaux, performance artist

Evelyn Marie Gillespie (01 apr 1952 – Calgary, Alberta) politician, resort owner, abused women’s and children’s shelter coordiator, coordinated volunteer programs at Addiction Research Foundation

Peggy Laurayne Smith Baker (22 oct 1952 – Edmonton, Alberta) modern dancer, teacher, choreographer

Candas Jane Dorsey (16 nov 1952 – Edmonton, Alberta) Canadian poet, editor, essayist, sci-fi novelist, arts journalist, short / long fiction writer

Pearl Calahasen (05 dec 1952 – Grouard, Alberta) politician, first Métis woman elected to public office in Alberta

Nancy Louise Huston (16 sep 1953 – Calgary, Alberta) novelist, essayist, translator

Erin Moure (17 apr 1955 – Calgary, Alberta) poet, poetry translator

Melody Anderson (03 dec 1955 – Edmonton, Alberta) retired actress, social worker, public speaker, addictions / recovery activist

Joan Crockatt (05 dec 1955 – Lloydminster, Alberta) politician, former business journalist,  communications consultant, national public affairs commentator

Melissa Bronwen Franklin (30 sep 1956 – Edmonton, Alberta) experimental particle physicist, professor of physics, first tenured female professor at Harvard, former physics chair at Harvard, member of first team to prove existence of top quark

Marusya Bociurkiw (25 may 1958 – Edmonton, Alberta) Ukrainian-Canadian poet, activist, novelist, memoirist, professor, filmmaker, film director, short fiction author, media studies scholar, media organizations founder and co-founder

Marilyn Denis (01 jul 1958 – Edmonton, Alberta) tv / radio show host / personality

Cheryl l’Hirondelle (20 sep 1958 – Edmonton, Alberta) musician, performance artist, multi-media artist, Metis-Cree-non, aka Waynohtêw and Cheryl Lynn Koprek, focus on Cree visions of the world