A Legacy of Commitment
These Ladies were not Couch Potatoes
By Marilyn Harrison
For over a century, Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian women in the lower mainland and beyond were active in promoting theological education. The Presbyterian Westminster Hall Woman’s Auxiliary (1908), the Women’s Educational Club of Columbian Methodist College (l908), the Anglican Evangelical Latimer Hall Women’s Aid (1911), and the Anglican High Church Women’s Guild of St Mark’s Hall (1912) – all four formed the backbone for the success of the theological colleges which were established to educate local men for service in the church in B.C. This was at a time when B.C. was largely rural or forest, and even the Vancouver area was mostly covered by large stumps, second growth bush, dirt roads and scattered farms . New Westminster, Vancouver (Granville) and Hastings Mill were the three main settlements in the lower mainland.
The women went to work with great zeal. They raised money through memberships, teas and bazaars. They furnished classrooms, faculty offices, libraries, principals’ homes, resident rooms, lounges, dining halls and kitchens. They sewed curtains, bed, bath and table linens. They supplied the kitchen larders regularly with homemade jams and canned preserves and secured sacks of potatoes, turnips and apples from farms in the Fraser Valley and the Interior. They hired housekeepers, set job descriptions, supervised and even fired housekeepers.
Initially, the Anglican and Presbyterian colleges were in large houses in Vancouver’s West End and Columbian Methodist College was in New Westminster where secondary school, 1st and 2nd year arts, music and commercial subjects were taught along with theology. In l920, the two Anglican colleges merged to become The Anglican Theological College and in l927, it moved to the UBC campus. Ryerson College, the theological off-shoot from Columbian Methodist College, moved to the West End, joining with Westminster Hall. In 1927 after United Church Union it also moved to UBC as Union College. Thus these two colleges formed 2 sides of the theological quadrangle originally planned by UBC before WWI and had the only male residences on campus until after WWII.
Once the two colleges were fully furnished, the Anglican Women’s Guild and The Women’s Educational Auxiliary of Union College turned their attention to other student needs. The women established bursaries and distributed student aid, they gave out liturgical stoles, hoods and book certificates to graduating students. During both WWI and WWII, they sent letters and boxes filled with knitted articles and nonperishable food to alumni overseas. In WWII, they found boarding houses for the theologues while the two colleges’ residences were taken over by the military for rehab hospitals. However, building expansion in the 1950s found the women once again furnishing more resident rooms, libraries, classrooms, a principal’s home, cafeteria and married student housing.
In l971, ATC and Union College amalgamated to become VST and so the two women’s groups became the Auxiliary to Vancouver School of Theology. The main focus of fundraising was for generous bursaries and student aid, graduation hoods, and book memorial gifts to the library. Occasional special projects were undertaken such as the children’s playground for Columbia House and an elevator for the library. All day to day responsibility for the residences was handed over to the VST Board but the Auxiliary had representatives on both the VST Housing Committee and on the Aid and Awards Committee where the women’s experience and wisdom was greatly appreciated.
Meetings continued the pattern established by the Methodists’ Women’s Educational Club of 1908 and carried down through Union College days to VST – regular monthly meetings always opening with worship usually led by themselves; lectures of edifying value and broad interest (in 1918, topics included “Relations between Capital and Labour,” “Some Modern Composers,” “Psychological Study of Macbeth” and “Literature Between the Old and New Testaments”); a wide variety of music by local musicians; and fellowship over a cup of tea and goodies. A brief business session brought the meeting to a close.
Over the past century full of change in society and in theological education, certain things have remained constant in the life of the auxiliaries past and present. They furnished college buildings, they promoted theological education province wide, they responded to the demands of world wars, they supported students with food, beds, money and “mothering”, they provided “interesting and instructional lectures, Art, Music, Literature in every way…to enrich the cultural life of the woman”.
Today, faced with another challenge, the VST Auxiliary has disbanded to become part of a new structure – the Friends of VST. We give thanks for the loyal dedication and support members have given for the promotion and success of theological education in B.C. for over 100 years. May the Friends of VST continue this fine legacy.
