Simpson, Edith Child Rowles (1905- 97)

Edith Child Rowles Simpson, ca. 1949.

University of Saskatchewan Archives, Division of Audio-Visual Services A-6356

Edith Child Rowles Simpson, a Leader in the fields of home economics and rural Education, was born in Manchester, England on April 9, 1905. Her family moved to Canada in 1910, homesteading near Empress, Alberta. Simpson took her public and high school education at Empress and her teacher training at Saskatoon. She taught in a number of rural schools in Saskatchewan and studied household science at the University of Saskatchewan, winning the Rutter prize as the most distinguished graduate of 1932. In later years she obtained an MSc from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Education from Columbia University. She joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1932, where she held a number of university positions: Assistant Professor in the College of Agriculture from 1941 to 1944; Dean of Women from 1944 to 1950; Assistant Professor in Home Economics from 1950 to 1954; and from 1965 to her retirement in 1972 she was Professor and Dean of Home Economics. Simpson provided guidance to Homemakers' Clubs and 4-H Clubs. She did research on the preservation and use of cultivated and native fruits of Saskatchewan, and on the freezing of vegetables most suitable for prairie gardens. She received honorary awards from the Canadian Home Economics Association, the Canadian Dietetic Association, the 4-H Council and the College of Home Economics, and was named a Fellow of the Saskatchewan Home Economics Association. In 1981 she was inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame, and in 1987 became a Member of the Order of Canada. Edith Rowles Simpson died on December 29, 1997, in Saskatoon.

Daria Coneghan