- Phyllis Ross
Phyllis Gregory Ross, O.C., C.B.E., M.A.,
LL.D. (1903 –April 18 1988 ) was a Canadian economist, civil servant, the first woman Chancellor of theUniversity of British Columbia and in theCommonwealth of Nations , and the mother of the 17thPrime Minister of Canada ,John Turner .Parentage
Though elsewhere listed as Phyllis Gregory, born in
Rossland, British Columbia , in 1903, the 1911 census of the Dominion of Canada, shows her as Phillis [sic] Marie Gregory born inBritish Columbia in June 1894 [sic] aged 6 (meaning that 1894 is probably a census-taker's error for 1904). Her parents were mining company hoist operator, James William 'Jimmy' Gregory (22 February 1867-15 August 1949, Vancouver), of Stellarton, Pictou county, of Irish extraction, and his wife Mary Margaret Macdonald (18 December 1872-10 May 1958, Vancouver), of Mulgrave, Guysborough county, daughter of a wealthy shipowning sea captain, of Scottish Catholic origins. They arrived in British Columbia in 1896 from their native Nova Scotia, with their elder children, Marcella and Gladys (later Mrs Michael Gillespie). Phyllis's brother, Howard James Gregory's birth is recorded at Rossland in 1898, though her own does not appear in British Columbia's on-line birth indexes for the period.Education, Family, and Career
Intellectually gifted, she received a Bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of British Columbia. She studied at
Bryn Mawr College , theLondon School of Economics , and theUniversity of Marburg . cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/tributes/tribr.html|title=University of British Columbia archives] She married gunsmith, Leonard Turner, inLondon ,England . They had three children, one of whom, Michael, died in infancy. Her husband died of malaria complicated by goitre when she was 29. cite news|title=Phyllis Ross Turner's mother was economist|work=The Globe and Mail |date=April 19, 1988] In 1945, she marriedFrank Mackenzie Ross , theLieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1955 to 1960.Shortly after becoming a widow in
Great Depression -era London, England in 1932, impoverished circumstances necessitated her return to Canada where she settled first with her parents in Rossland. Eventually, she managed to obtain a position in Ottawa as aneconomist in thePublic Service of Canada . Her education, gifts, and application caused her to rise to hithertold unreached heights for a woman of her generation among the overwhelmingly male mandarin bastion of Ottawa. Her rarely encountered combination of brains and elegance turned the head of bachelor Canadian prime minister,R.B. Bennett , later to becomeViscount Bennett , who courted her during her widowhood.In Ottawa, she served at the
Canadian Tariff Board , theDominion Trade and Industry Commission , and theWartime Prices and Trade Board . At the last, while still bringing up her two surviving children, John and Brenda (later Mrs John Norris, of Montreal), she eventually attained the most senior position a woman could hold at the time in the Canadiancivil service , though she still only received two-thirds of the salary a man in the same post would have received. cite news|title=Phyllis Ross Turner's mother was economist|work=The Globe and Mail |date=April 19, 1988]Honours
Her contribution to helping the economy of Canada during World War II was recognized by the Government of Canada when she was made a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire , a rare recommendation for an imperial honour during the prime ministership ofWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King , whose Liberal ministry believed in the sparing use of British honours for Canadians in an age before Canada adopted its own separateCanadian honours system . cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/tributes/tribr.html|title=University of British Columbia archives]Over her career, and especially when she returned to her native province, she remained involved with the University of British Columbia (UBC). She was a member of the UBC Senate from 1951 to 1954 and again from 1960 to 1966. In 1957, she was appointed to the Board of Governors. In 1961, she was honoured by her alma mater for her dual role as an accomplished Canadian economist and former provincial
vicereine in being named the University's first female Chancellor. cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/tributes/tribr.html|title=University of British Columbia archives]In 1967, she was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada for "her contributions as a public servant". [ [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1465 Order of Canada citation] ] She was also a Dame of St John of Jerusalem and, as a Roman Catholic laywoman, also a Dame of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta. cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/tributes/tribr.html|title=University of British Columbia archives]Death
Cruelly robbed of her faculties by
Alzheimer's disease , she died in her sleep onSaltspring Island in 1988. cite news|title=Phyllis Ross Turner's mother was economist|work=The Globe and Mail |date=April 19, 1988]References
*Jack Cahill (1984) "John Turner: The Long Run"
*1901 and 1911 Dominion of Canada censuses, Rossland, British Columbia (via automatedgenealogy.com and the National Archives of Canada)
*British Columbia Vital Records Indexes (via British Columbia Provincial Archives website)
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