Wilma McLachlan

Wilma Margaret McLachlan was born in 1903, the second daughter of William and Caroline Morden, who were among the first settlers in North Vancouver. He first home was built by her father at Third and Lonsdale on three large orchard lots. It was the first building south of 8th Street and Lonsdale was just a dirt road. There was no ferry service. North Vancouver was a vacation spot for the people across the inlet; there were only 800 people here.

With her two sisters, she first attended school in what is now Presentation House. When North Vancouver High School moved from a store on Lonsdale to the upper floor of Queen Mary School, she was one of the new location's first students. She graduated from North Van High in 1919. At UBC she was president of the Women's Literary Society and graduated in 1923 with a BA in Mathematics and Classics.

From 1923 - 1933 she taught Mathematics and Latin at St. Margaret's School (Victoria), Crofton House and North Vancouver High School. From 1933 - 1936 she took nurse's training at Vancouver General Hospital, where she was awarded the Seldon Gold Medal for surgical nursing. From 1936 - 1938, she taught at North Van High, where she sponsored the school orchestra and various musical productions. She was a member of the North Vancouver School Board and assisted with the establishment of the first North Vancouver Community Centre.

In 1960 she returned to teaching at Balmoral Junior High, then to Carson Graham. In 1968 she moved back to Victoria to teach at St. Margaret's School and then in 1971 back to Vancouver to teach at Crofton House and Sacred Heart Convent. During this time she was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal, the BC Centennial Medal and Carson Graham's "Big Chief Eagle" award. She retired in 1977, but continued to tutor and mark for the BC Correspondence Branch and in her late seventies worked as a general-duty, part-time nurse at Beacon Hill Nursing Home.

While attending a Community Concert she fell ill, was taken to Lions Gate Hospital, and died of a stroke April 21, 1988. The bursary in her memory was founded by Mrs. Phae Collins, an old friend of Mrs. McLachlan.