Special Women - Special Skills

Talent is a special gift: if you can sing, dance or tell good stories, you have been given something remarkable to share. So it is in the Women’s Institute – many women over many years have shared their talents, and helped others awaken interests and abilities of which they may not have been aware.Consider what Esme Tuck did for women in the 1930’s. With her husband she arrived in the Peace River District as a homesteader in the 1920’s. Her mother instilled in Esme an appreciation for good needlework, and a love for flowers. Esme taught herself to use a spinning wheel, and experimented with flowers and roots to develop dyes for the homegrown wool, all of which she shared freely. Margaret “Ma” Murray took Mrs. Tuck’s creativity one step further. While she served as Provincial Secretary of the Women’s Institutes in the 1920,s and 1930’s, she promoted the idea of the members making and selling wool filled comforters – for there was a demand for these warm bedding articles, and the Institutes could always find projects for money! Many were made and sold – many more, in fact over 8,200, found their way to England to assist bombed out families during World War II.Others may have smaller contributions to make, but if you make the best buns, decorate tables the best, bring gaiety and laughter to others, or any of a dozen other attributes, you have a talent to share, also. Verna Braden had a great interest in developing radio programs throughout the province - she was first of many Women’s Institute members who have taken to the airways to spread the good word about the organization. In the 1960’s more than a dozen radio programs were hosted by women inspired by Mrs. Braden’s example and encouragement.Add Elizabeth Bailey Price to the list. After spending time writing for newspapers in Alberta, and being a member of the WI in that province, Mrs. Price and family moved to Point Grey. Here she became a member and served many years on the Provincial Board. A guest at the 1938 meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of the United States, she delivered an inspired goodwill message reading, in part:“..rejoicing with you that for more than a hundred years our countries have lived in peace. There are no warships on our Great Lakes - no forts along our boundary line - our only defenses are –-       a Peace Portal between Washington and British Columbia bearing the inscription “May these gates never be closed"-       a Peace Garden between North Dakota and Manitoba with a monument whose inscription reads ‘As long as we live, we two nations pledge ourselves to not take up arms against each other’-       a Peace Bridge over the Niagara River over which we make pilgrimages of friendship. It has not been the enforcement of treaties that has made us the two friendliest nations on earth, but it has been our mutual understanding and respect, our common ideals of love, peace and hatred of war”If you are a woman with skills to share, or would like someone to share skills with you – join a Women’s Institute today and plan for a more challenging tomorrow!