BIOGRAPHY

Marjorie Douglas was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on 13 September 1910, to parents Robert Hector Richmond and Martha Agnes Queen. In 1931, she graduated from the University of Manitoba. Encouraged by her mother, she boarded a train to Toronto, where the Library School had been established just three years earlier. She had a job lined up with the Winnipeg Public Library upon graduation. While in Toronto, she lived in a women’s boarding house on Madison Avenue and attended the Ontario College of Education on Bloor Street. After completing her librarianship diploma in 1932, the Great Depression caused the position she had been promised in Winnipeg to be reduced to only a few hours per week. However, Trinity College needed a cataloguer familiar with the Dewey Decimal System, so she began working there instead.

In 1938, she married George Douglas (1904–1990), a Presbyterian minister. The couple moved to Niagara Falls, where her husband had taken his first parish as a Presbyterian minister. Her husband served as a chaplain in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. After the war, they lived in Woodstock, Ontario, for 15 years, where Marjorie focused on raising their sons, George and Robert.

In 1961, she re-engaged her career and became a librarian at the North York Public Library, retiring at the age of 65. She continued to drive her car until she was 90 years old.

In her retirement, Douglas remained active and earned the nickname “Queen of Scrabble” while participating in various activities. She attributed her longevity to good genes; her mother lived into her nineties, and her brother, Robert “Dick” Richmond, also became a centenarian and passed away on 26 December 2022, at the age of 103. In 2012, she was awarded the University of Toronto’s Chancellor’s Medal in recognition of the 80th anniversary of her graduation from the Library School. At 95, she moved to a retirement home, where she remained physically and mentally active, continuing to read throughout most of her 11th decade. She continued to attend church until the age of 109.

On her 110th birthday, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, guests attended both in person, maintaining social distance, and virtually via Zoom. Special guests included Marjorie’s Member of Parliament, Han Dong, and her City Councillor, Shelley Carroll. The Prime Minister and the Mayor of Toronto sent their greetings, and later in the week, congratulatory letters arrived from Queen Elizabeth II, the Governor General, and the Premier of Ontario.

Marjorie Douglas passed away of natural causes at North York General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 7 November 2020, at the age of 110 years. She was survived by her two sons, two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Marjorie Douglas passed away of natural causes at North York General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 7 November 2020, at the age of 110 years. She was survived by her two sons, two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

RECOGNITION

Her age has not been validated.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Alumna Marjorie Douglas celebrates her 110th birthday” – University of Toronto, 23 October 2020

* “Not even a pandemic could stop Marjorie Douglas, a u of t alumna, from celebrating her 110th birthday” – Agenparl, 25 October 2020

* “The passing of alumna Marjorie Douglas” – University of Manitoba

* “Mrs. Marjorie Barbara Douglas” – Dignity Memorial

GALLERY