Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Waterloo County Women Teachers' Association: Correspondence and Miscellaneous.
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
File
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Mary Johnston (1930-2017) pursued a career as an elementary public school teacher and thereafter as public school principal in Waterloo, Ont. She was widely known for the contributions she made to education-related local and provincial committees as well as to the Presbyterian church and to historical groups in the Region. During her 37 year career in education she was presented with numerous awards including the Queen's jubilee medal three times, the K-W Oktoberfest Woman of the Year Award and the Wiegand Award for Teaching Excellence.
Mary Johnston was born to Joseph Samuel and Marion Halley (nee Leslie) Johnston in Edmonton but moved to Waterloo at a young age, attending elementary and secondary school in the city. She was a graduate of Stratford Teacher's College and she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western Ontario (1957). She also held a B.Ed. Degree (1963) and a M.Ed. Degree (1968) from the University of Toronto.
She began her teaching career at a rural one room school located on Bearinger Road, now located in the City of Waterloo. She then taught at MacGregor Public School in Waterloo. Her next position was as vice-principal of Empire, followed by Centennial Public School in Waterloo. She later served as principal of Brighton and Winston Churchill. In 1977 she was the first principal of Keatsway, then principal of Macgregor Senior Public School from which she retired in 1987. Her appointment to principal of Brighton in 1969 marked the first time there was a female principal in Waterloo history.
Mary was an active member of many local education board committees and provincial committees. She was a member of the Ontario Teachers' Federation advisory committee to circular 14, and was Regional Professional Development Chairwoman for the Midwestern region of the Ministry of Education from 1974-1976. As well, Mary was a member of local and national bodies including the Waterloo County Women Teachers' Association and the Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario. She was also involved in local community endeavours and was a member of the K-W University Women's Club. She also served on the City of Waterloo's architectural advisory committee and on the publication committee of the Waterloo Historical Society. Her interest in education and local history lead her to publish The Trail of the Slate, a history of education in the Waterloo Region.
She was ordained an elder of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in 1973 and had been actively involved in many of the church's activities including teaching the Communicants class and serving on the advisory committee for the student intern programme. Her work with the Presbyterian Church lead to her being awarded a life membership in the Women's Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Mary passed away on July 7, 2017.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Contains correspondence and other materials all of which relate to the affairs, activities etc. of the W.C.W.T.A. Includes correspondence sent by and received by Mary Johnston. Some of this correspondence was sent or received in her capacity as a key teacher, as President of Unit 1, as a W.C.W.T.A. Past President, as the association's County Adviser, and as a member of the Book Project Committee.
Other materials in this file include ts. of W.C.W.T.A.'s comments on the Reville Report, a poem by Joyce Lodge (West Unit Executive Member) entitled "You Will Be There", an information sheet featuring an outline of the history of the W.C.W.T.A. Also includes agenda for W.C.W.T.A. executive retreat in 1990, as well as a list of W.C.W.T.A. priorities for 1997-1998. Additionally, contains lists of association executive members from 1996-1997, a list of women administrators for 1997-1998, and a list of honorary association members for 1997-1998.