A school in Selkirk Manitoba is named after Ruth Caroline Moody Hooker (c1901-1957), noted as a community activist by the Manitoba Historical Society.
Ruth attended the Deaconess Program at Manitoba College, graduating in 1922. She was designated as a Deaconess and appointed to Settlement Work in Vancouver, British Colombia. Settlement work involved meeting immigrants arriving at the Port, helping those who were without homes, including runaway children, and women escaping domestic violence. Ruth returned to Manitoba to marry George Hooker, and as was required by the rules of the Order, she was disjoined.
This entry from the Manitoba Historical Society describes Ruth:
she was active in her community, serving a member and Chair of the Selkirk School Board through much of the 1940s. She was also a member of the IODE (Regent, Little Britain Chapter) and United Church Woman’s Missionary Society (Treasurer). At the time of her death, she was compiling a book on the early history of Selkirk. On 23 April 1924, she married Gordon Edward Hooker at Selkirk. They had three children: Frank Leon Hooker, Richard Gordon Hooker, and Helen Ruth Hooker Robinson. She died in Selkirk on 9 May 1957 and was buried in the Mapleton St. Clements Cemetery. She is commemorated by Ruth Hooker School in Selkirk.
Do you know more about Ruth’s life? Please let us know so that her story can be expanded.
Written by Caryn Douglas, August 2014