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Eileen Gibbons
1901 1999
Eileen Gibbons, registrar for 32 years of Loyola High School and Loyola College, died peacefully on December 8.
Miss Gibbons was the first female full-time employee at Loyola, and permission had to be obtained from the Jesuit Vicar General and from Rome before she could be hired, in 1942.
Blessed with a head for numbers and a phenomenal memory, she made the registrar's office her fiefdom, and ruled it with a firm but loving hand. She was absolutely determined to help the students get a start in life, and was often heard lobbying professors to be generous when grading, especially supplemental examinations.
However, in those days, the wisdom of those in authority went unchallenged. Among the all-male student body of the 1960s, it was well known that Miss Gibbons would not release marks unless the student appeared before her clean-shaven and with short hair. To the boys' chagrin, more than one mother called Miss Gibbons to thank her for achieving the unattainable: getting her son to cut his hair.
Born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Miss Gibbons had immigrated to Canada in 1922 with her parents and seven of her eight sisters, all of whom are now deceased. She is survived by nieces and nephews in Canada and Northern Ireland. In recognition of her years of devoted service, Concordia honoured her at its convocation ceremony in 1968, six years before her retirement.
- Many thanks to Miss Gibbons' niece, Maureen Kiely
Greta Dagmar Jack Brodie McDougall
1924 1999
Her friends at Concordia were saddened to hear of the death on December 21 at age 75 of Dagmar Brodie-McDougall. She worked at the university for 20 years, 1965 to 1985, though even before that she had worked for a now-forgotten unit called the Sir George Williams School of Retailing.
Much of her career after 1965 was spent as administrative assistant in what is now the Office of the Vice-Rector Services, first for John Smola until 1976, and then for Graham Martin, who remembers her fondly.
"Dagmar was tremendous," he said. "She kept me well organized, and had a great sense of what was important and what was not. She was a wonderful, caring person with a good sense of humour, which she kept till the end."
Vivien Freedman (Office of the Registrar) posted a note on ShopTalk that said, in part, "[Dagmar] was a ray of sunshine and a breath of fresh air. Everyone loved working with her. She was tactful, generous, and had a great sense of humour. She was a good listener, and was always full of bright ideas. When she retired from Concordia, she left a gap and many of us felt it."
Our sympathies are extended to her son Christopher Brodie, who
works in Instructional and Information Technology Services, to
her husband, Dr. David J. McDougall, and to the rest of the
family. A memorial service was held in Lachine on January 5, and
Chris has suggested that a donation in his mother's name to any
charity would be greatly appreciated.
