Helen Hunley

Wilma Helen Hunley , OC , AOE (born September 6, 1920 in Acme , Alberta - † October 22, 2010 ) was a Canadian politician with the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta . She was the Minister of Health and Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.

biography

Hunley attended several rural schools in southern Alberta when she was a child. In 1933, her family moved to the Rocky Mountain House District, where she attended Rocky Mountain House High School .

After school, Hunley initially worked as a telephone operator until she was drafted into the Canadian Army in 1941. Between 1943 and 1945 she served overseas in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, where she resigned with the rank of lieutenant . After working on her mother's farm for a year, she worked for a company specializing in trucks and tools for nine years, and then with an insurance company. She bought both companies in 1957.

Hunley's political career began in the 1960s. She was initially active at the local level, from 1960 to 1966 as a member of the City Council of Rocky Mountain House , from 1966 as mayor. She resigned when she was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly in 1971 . From 1971 to 1973 she was Minister without Portfolio and Chair of the Health Commission. Then she was Vice Minister of Justice (Solicitor General) and from 1975 Minister of Health of the Province. In 1979 she waived re-election.

After serving five years as Chair of the Psychiatry Advisory Council, Hunley was named Lieutenant Governor of Alberta on January 22, 1985 on the proposal of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney . She was the first woman in this position and held it until March 11, 1991. In 1985 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta , and in 1992 the Order of Canada .

Web links

• Hunley's biography on the Alberta Legislative Assembly page

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alberta's first female lieutenant governor dies. CBC News, October 23, 2010, accessed October 24, 2010 .