In Memoriam

Dolly Kennedy (née Pearl Alberta Sinclair), BA’50, MLS’62

Born on January 23, 1915, Dolly died on April 10, 2011, at Qualicum Manor in Qualicum Beach, BC, after a three-day illness with pneumonia. She was predeceased by her husband, Thomas Alexander Kennedy, and her brother, Robert A. Sinclair. She had two children – David M. Kennedy, MD‘62, and Roberta (Robin) Robinson, BA’62. She had four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Dolly was born in Tofield, AB, where her father was a CNR station agent. She attended school in Edmonton. She married in 1935, living in Powell River and Port McNeill in the days of high lead logging and donkey steam engines. In 1945 the family moved to Vancouver, where her husband eventually became manager of the Pacific Coast Pipe and Tank Co. She began taking courses from UBC by correspondence in 1942, and graduated with her BA in 1950 – a long process while raising her children. Immediately on graduation she joined the Vancouver University Women’s Club, which featured prominently in the rest of her life. She was active in many interest groups and committees ranging from creative writing to important social advocacy. When she was president of the club it co-hosted with the UBC Continuing Ed Department a conference on The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, which was a benchmark for the place and rights women have in Canada today. In the 1980s she was western vice president of the Canadian Federation of University Women, and helped establish many new clubs. Latterly, she was a member of the Parksville/Qualicum University Women’s Club.

In 1956 she graduated from Vancouver Normal School, and was a member of UBC’s first class of library science, graduating in 1962 at the same time as her son graduated in medicine. She worked for a time as a school librarian, and then was very active with the Vancouver Public Library Board. She helped establish the BC Library Trustees Association, travelling widely on their behalf. Education, art, music, books, travel, CFUW and libraries were dear to her heart. Always gracious, she brought inventiveness, enthusiasm and fun to whatever she did – a full and long life indeed.