Margaret Wade LABARGE

LABARGE, Margaret Wade (Polly)
Peacefully, at home in Ottawa, on August 31, 2009. Born 18 July, 1916 in New York City, the youngest child and only daughter of Alfred B. Wade and Cecilia Helena Mein Wade, she is predeceased by her three brothers, Alfred Munroe, Phillip Treadwell, and Hugh Mason, as well as by her husband, Raymond C. Labarge. Proud mother of, and survived by, Claire (John Morris), Suzanne, Charles (Rise Kovalsky), and Paul (Dorothy Speak), grandmother of Sarah and Matthew, Jeremy and Regan, Monica and Emily, and great- grandmother of Seaver and Lucas.
Following in the tradition of her mother who was a Sacred Heart Alumna, her long association with the convents of the Sacred Heart began with her first school in New York. When she was 10, her family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. She attended the convent school at Noroton, near Greenwich, CT and proceeded to Radcliffe College (Harvard University) from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1937. She then attended St. Anne's College, Oxford University, where she read medieval history under the tutelage of the eminent Sir Frederick Maurice Powicke and where she met her future husband Ray. Following graduation from Oxford in 1939, she married Ray June 20, 1940 and moved to Canada where she quickly adapted to her new home. As part of Ray's wartime service, they spent a year and a half in St-Hyacinthe, PQ. At the end of the war, they settled in Ottawa and quickly created their family. In the early 1950's she began her academic career as a lecturer in medieval history at Carleton University and research on the first of 9 major books, Simon de Montfort, which was published in 1962. Her publishing career spanned some 4 decades and her books continue to be reprinted today in several languages. In 1982, she was awarded the Order of Canada for her 'ability to bring history to life' and for her 'voluntary work in nursing and the care of convalescents, the disabled and the aged.' Her volunteering activities culminated in positions as Chair of the Board of Governors of St. Vincent's Hospital and Chair of the Ottawa Council on Aging. She has received numerous awards for both her academic and volunteer work, including honorary degrees from Carleton University, the University of Waterloo, and Mount St. Vincent University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Carleton Founders' Award, and First Canadian President of the Canadian Society of Medievalists. While Ottawa has been her home since 1942, she had a very strong attachment to the summer cottage in Farm Point, PQ where she and the family spent many happy summers. In later years, she enjoyed observing the growth and development of her four children, six grandchildren, and two great- grandchildren.
Friends may call at the Central Chapel of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry Funeral Home, 315 McLeod Street, Ottawa, on Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 115 Laurier Ave. E., Ottawa, on Thursday at 11 a.m. Those desiring may make memorial donations to the Bruyere Foundation, 43 Bruyere Street, Ottawa, K1N 5C8.