Evangeline CAMPBELL

CAMPBELL, Evangeline Elizabeth (née McArthur) April 29, 1934 - January 17, 2018 Evangeline Campbell passed away at the Elisabeth Bruyère Hospital with her loving family at her side. She is survived by her husband, J. Douglas Campbell, her daughters, Naomi Campbell (Rocky Dobey) and Rebecca Campbell (Robin Easton), her sister, Eleanor Fowler, and her brother, Douglas McArthur. She was predeceased by her mother, Helen Eileen McArthur (née Size), her father, William McArthur, and her sisters, Helen and Mary Margaret. Born in Belleville, Ontario, Evangeline spent her early childhood in various small Ontario cities, where her father served as minister for the Christian and Missionary Alliance. She spent her teenage years in Regina, Saskatchewan, where her father was a professor in the Canadian Bible College, and later its president, but she returned every summer to her beloved grandmother's cottage on Puslinch Lake, near Hespeler, Ontario. She studied humanities in Calgary before receiving her B.A. degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. It was there that she met Douglas, and made many other lifelong friends. After returning to Regina, then spending time in Montreal, and in Seattle, Washington, Evangeline joined Douglas in Toronto, where they married on December 23, 1959, and where their daughters were born. She had worked in libraries since she was young, and her professional career began at Sidney Smith Library at the University of Toronto; then, in 1966, when the family moved to Sackville, New Brunswick, she began work at the Mount Allison University Library. The years in Sackville embedded in her a deep and abiding love for the Atlantic landscape-the windswept fields, the shore, and the waves of the Northumberland Strait. In 1971 the family moved to Ottawa, where she joined the civil service, working in the Library of Parliament, the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, and finally the Department of the Environment, where she managed the Inland Waters Directorate. After retiring in 1985, Evangeline kept busy and engaged, working in bookstores and art stores, and, as a volunteer, in palliative care, with young children in schools, and in the office of the Great Canadian Theatre Company. She was involved with groups dedicated to writing, poetry, spirituality, and, in her later years, "Conversations among Canadians." Throughout her life she was devoted to the arts, most particularly music and the visual arts, which brought her joy and solace. She was a talented violinist in her youth, a skilled landscape artist, a singer in choirs, and an avid collector of paintings, sculpture, and pottery. She was a scrupulous critic of the theatre, and she loved long road trips. She had a keen eye, a precise ear, and a lively, discerning intelligence. While Evangeline was not always "happy," she did always appreciate the beauty in the world and the infinite value of human relationships. If you wish to honour Evangeline's memory, please consider a donation to the Bruyère's Palliative Care Program. A celebration of her life will be held in the spring.