University mourns passing of Lois Hole
Written By: Geoff McMaster
2005-01-07
With infectious warmth, she always spoke from the heart in a language everyone understood. Affectionately called “Alberta's Rose,” by President Rod Fraser, she was one of the most popular and beloved ambassadors the University of Alberta ever had.Alberta Lieutenant-Governor Lois Hole, former chancellor of the U of A, died Thursday at the age of 71 after a long battle with cancer.
“Lois Hole’s warmth, generosity and dedication to the people of this province touched many lives. She was a great friend of the U of A, a great champion of life-long learning, a great humanitarian and a great Canadian,” said Fraser. “She was loved by all who knew her and will be deeply missed.”
“She was just a wonderful person, and definitely inspirational,” said chancellor Eric Newell. “She was a tremendous advocate for public education and the arts, and had a very special place in her heart for the University of Alberta. One of the outstanding things about Lois was that she was very inclusive. When she went into a room everyone was drawn towards her. She was genuinely loved by all, and loved people.”
“She was a woman with a terrific heart,” agreed Jim Edwards, chair of the board of governors.
Hole was born in Buchanan, Saskatchewan and moved to Edmonton in her teens, where she attended Strathcona Composite High School. For the past 50 years she lived on a farm on the Sturgeon River north of St. Albert, which she and her husband Ted diversified into a thriving vegetable and mixed garden business. Their sons joined the business in 1979, and it was incorporated as Hole’s Greenhouses and Gardens, Ltd.
“Lois was a very astute businesswoman,” said Newell. “From my perspective she was the driving force behind (Hole’s Greenhouses).”
Hole was elected a trustee for the Sturgeon School Division in 1967, when she began to champion life-long learning. She served 14 years on the division as trustee and chair before serving on the board of St. Albert School District #6, and then the Athabasca University Governing Council from 1972 to 1983. In 1998 she was elected chancellor of the University of Alberta.
“The real legacy is that she was such a great public champion of the university and public education in general,” said Newell. “People listened to her, and I think she changed a lot of lives. You just had to be near her and see how many students came up to her to say what a difference she made. She put a very human face on this university.”
“I remember at one of our AGMs, the public affairs group really tried to discipline us to stay right on time, with everything carefully scripted,” Newell added. “But then Lois gets up to the podium and starts from her script. All of a sudden you see the glasses come down, the paper pushed over to the side, and she starts a story about what she and Ted discussed at dinner last night. Nobody noticed or complained – they were mesmerized, and loved the way she told things in her own folksy and humorous way. But it was always very pointed with a very clear message.”
Hole was a tireless supporter of the arts, libraries and education, contributing to them through a number of programs, such as the Lois Hole Library Program, the Alberta School Boards Association “Lois Hole Lecture Series” and the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Program.
She also authored six books on gardening, all of them Canadian bestsellers, as well as a collection of memoirs, photographs and gardening advice called I’ll Never Marry a Farmer. She gave hundreds of talks on gardening to thousands of people across North America, wrote columns for the Edmonton Journal, Globe and Mail and Edmonton Sun, and appeared regularly on the “Grapevine” segment of CBC Television’s Canadian Gardener.
She is perhaps best remembered by many in the university community for her famous hugs, which became part of tradition at convocations, annual general meetings and any other public ceremony. Newell recalls that when he was chair of the board of governors and Hole was chancellor, “the two of us had our roles down – I did the introducing and she did the hugging.”
But, says Edwards, “it wasn’t all hugs. The other part of her legacy is her fearless messages on the imperatives of an educated, humane society. There were those who cringed, saying vice-regal representatives aren’t supposed to do that, but it didn’t matter to her. She continued on, and good for her.”
At this year’s Celebration of Teaching and Learning, Hole received a round of loud applause when, unscripted, she took the podium and delivered one of her frequent messages: “I dream of the day when professors, teachers, librarians and teacher/librarians are paid as much as hockey players.”
Hole was the recipient of numerous awards and honours including membership in the Order of Canada; the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Humanitarian Award, and honorary degrees from the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge and Olds College.
Original: ExpressNews