While doing some email tasks today, I received a message that a mentor and friend had died. Dr. Vivian Bruce was on my masters thesis committee. She had a quirky sense of humour and was from Saskatchewan, which may have been why we hit it off so well. I appreciated that she treated graduate students as peers rather than underling irritants <smile>. There are so many fun memories with her. When the grad students held a wine and cheese gathering for faculty, we were distressed to discover that the kitchen room we had booked did not have a corkscrew. Well, Vivian came to the rescue when she pulled one out of her oversized purse. She must have been a girl guide -- be prepared. <grin> She and I attended several conferences over the years. Whenever we were in the same place, we'd get together. The first time we were at a major international conference just as I was finishing my degree program. We got ourselves a glass of wine and she said, " Let's play spot the famous nutritionist." I laughed but we circulated and she pointed out people who I knew only from reading some of their many research publications. It was fun! It was also a bit odd, since she was one of those famous nutritionists. She was part of the nutrition group who determined how canola consumption affected blood lipids. She also had worked closely with the food science folks who had developed canola. She received the Order of Manitoba for her input into that oilseed crop -- one that changed the face of the prairies with the bright yellow flowers of canola in fields rather than the more golden shade of wheat. There is nothing like seeing the yellow fields side by side with fields of blue flax. Beautiful.
The last conference we were both at was almost 20 years ago in Chicago. We met for lunch at the former Marshall Fields (then a Macy's outlet) on State Street. Their dining room had dark wood paneling and tables with crisp white linens. It reminded me of the old dining room at Eatons in Toronto. After lunch she showed me the mosaic ceiling in one part of the store -- stunning. The last time we spoke was in 2020 just after the Portapique mass shooting. She said she was listening to the news and wondered who she should check on in Nova Scotia. We had a great chat. That small effort meant so very much to me, since everyone seemed to be more on edge than usual at that time.
I will miss her annual Christmas letter with the lovely handwriting. She was a support to me throughout my career. She told me once that she enjoyed reading my "from the Board Chair" notes in the Journal and seeing my face at the top of the page. <smile> Little things mean so much.
I chose a song by a singer-songwriter from Saskatchewan. The lyrics describe where Vivian (and I) grew up. Keep safe. Enjoy!
These Prairies -- Connie Kaldor
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