Maurice Coulter passed away January 24, 2019, she was 99. We just found this out recently. I had been checking at Spaulding Ave where she had lived for many years, leaving messages, but had had no response. The place had not been sold though not lived in, so we had hoped her children would pick up the messages. A neighbour told me she had gone to a retirement home. This made sense as she did not seem to know who I was the last time I talked to her on the telephone. 

Maurice was one of the Board members, for the Workers’ Educational Association, when I starting working for them in 1983. The WEA is publisher of Learning Curves and was founded in Canada in 1918. According to the corporate filing records she had been a Board member since 1955. She had been their long time Board Secretary, who actually took the minutes. 

Maurice was the mother of five who raised her family in a house on Spaulding Avenue which she and he husband had built. Donald passed away early so Maurice had the responsibility of raising her family. She worked at Dehaveland/Bombardier for many years which was located in a field at the west end of Spaulding. 

She was an active union member and political volunteer for many years. In recognition of these contributions a housing cooperative was name after her, The Maurice Coulter Housing Co-op at 174 John Garland Blvd. , south of Finch off Martin Grove Drive. She also had a street named after her in 2003, the Maurice Coulter Mews, east of Jane on Wilson, turn south on Highview and to the east you will see the Mews. 

I had gone up to Spaulding Avenue to bring Maurice to the 10th Anniversary of University in the Community, a project of the Workers; Educational Association of Canada in 2013. She was able to visit with Paul Willis , see picture, and other Board members like Rod Noel, who had taken over from what I call the heritage Board when I first started working for the WEA. They included, Jim Pole Langdon, Albert Field, Nick Shefchuk, Ken Magnus, Reg Sayers and Elizabeth. 

There are so many memories. One is Maurice and Nick at Port Elgin in 1992 when the WEA hosted the International Federation of Workers’ Education. A second one is Maurice at her 80th birthday at her Union Hall for which I had picked up Nick to attend. Another is Maurice taking minutes at the head of the table in our small office at 175 St. Clair, third floor of the Unitarian Church.