Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.2012, Qupperneq 12

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12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • June 1 2012
On February 11, 2012, an amazing woman of Icelandic birth, Thora
Gudrun Sigurdson, passed
away at Toronto General
Hospital of Alzheimer’s
Disease. She was born to
Ormur Sigurðsson, who came
to Canada from Eyarbakki
in Southern Iceland in 1902,
and Guðný Thorlacius, whose
father was Ólafur Thorlacius.
Her parents were married in
Winnipeg in 1922. She was the
mother of Coat (David) and his
partner Penelope, and Linda
and husband Duncan. She had
two grandchildren, Ashleigh
and Finlay.
Why was she so amazing?
She started her life normally
enough. Growing up in the old
Icelandic west end of Winnipeg,
she spoke only Icelandic until
she went to school where, of
course, she learned English.
She trained and worked as a
nurse at the Winnipeg General
Hospital, eventually marrying
a doctor. They moved to River
Heights, but unfortunately
Thora was not happy with
the challenges of being an
everyday housewife. To
counteract that unhappiness,
she enrolled in University
in the 1960s, where she took
several courses. She became a
member of Winnipeg’s Social
Planning Council, and then
founded her own company,
Info Research, in 1969. Her
service on many Boards of
Directors was impressive – for
example the Contemporary
Dancers and the Manitoba
Historical Society.
Around that time, Andrew
Birrell, head of Acquisitions
at the Public Archives of
Canada, spoke out loudly
for his wish of having a
photographic collection, esp-
ecially since the world was
becoming more pictorial.
The University of Winnipeg
took a bold move by hiring
Thora as a researcher to form
a collection of photographs
of western Canada. The
Index, as it came to be called,
received donations of all
kinds – everything from
mouldy sports pictures from
the basement of the Winnipeg
Arena to family albums that
were no longer wanted. A
photographer was hired by
the project to take copies of
the pictures of interest to the
Index.
In later years, Thora
Cooke worked with partner
Eric Wells, well-known
Winnipeg Tribune Editor, and
together, with their mutual
love of Prairie History,
formed the greater part of
the Western Canada Pictorial
Index, including more than
60,000 images. They travelled
together for Eric’s final years,
collecting images from all
over the Prairies. Thora
became an avid researcher
of photography and could
identify pictures by time
periods, fashions, street signs,
and many other ways. She
influenced many others on the
Prairies to write books about
their areas and towns.
In the end, when Eric
passed away, his obituary gave
him all of the credit for the
compilation of the Western
Canada Pictorial Index.
Thora’s reaction was to laugh.
A quote from a recent article
in the Winnipeg Free Press
has her saying “You should
know by now, even women’s
obituaries are modest.”
Modest indeed was Thora’s
own obituary. A mere 22 lines
covers her life. And, if you are
thinking she may have won the
Order of the Buffalo Hunt, or
the Order of Canada, you are
wrong. None of those honours
ever came her way, despite the
efforts of admirers to nominate
her. Perhaps it was the times
– the times when men won
almost everything. But, we all
know that the co-founder of
the Western Canada Pictorial
Index was Thora Gudrun
Sigurdson Cooke, who was
also the first female member
of the Winnipeg Press Club.
The last line of her obituary
says “Han verdur saknad.”
She will be missed.
Thora Cooke, an amazing woman who never “made it”
Thora Cooke displays a historical calendar in this 1996 photograph
Photo courtesy of the Winnipeg Free press, winniPeg free Press arcHives, and Ken gigLiotti, PHotograPHer
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