Gwendolyn Black, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetGwendolyn Black
Canadian musician and social activist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
About Gwendolyn Black
- Gwendolyn McDonald Black (August 1, 1911 – February 28, 2005) was a Canadian musician, educator and community activist.
- She was the first woman from New Brunswick to become an Officer in the Order of Canada.The daughter of Nathaniel McDonald, a Methodist pastor, and Statira Preble, she was born Gwendolyn McDonald in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
- Her father died when she was six and her mother found a job at Lasell Junior College for Girls in Auburndale, Massachusetts, where Black grew up.
- She became an American citizen as a result.
- In 1929, she returned to Canada, earning a BMus at Mount Allison's Ladies College in 1932.
- She returned to the College soon afterwards to teach music.
- After her marriage in 1935, she continued to give private piano lessons and to perform in recitals and competitions.She married Joseph Laurence "Laurie" Black; they had four children.She frequently played for the Sackville branch of the Canadian Association for the Mentally Challenged.
- From 1970 to 1973, she was national president of the Canadian Federation of University Women.
- She served on the boards of the VON, the Children's Aid Society, the Sackville Memorial Hospital and the New Brunswick Commission on Federal Constituencies.
- She was named to the Order of Canada in 1974.
- In 2003, she received the Charles Frederick Allison Award for her contributions to Mount Allison University.She died in Sackville at the age of 93.
Read more at Wikipedia