Hildegard Marsden
Throughout her career as University of Waterloo’s Dean
of Women, Hildegard Marsden championed women who
had interrupted their education or careers to care for
their children.
Marsden knew better than anyone the determination it took to finish a degree for women of her generation. It would be eighteen years before she could complete her own Bachelor of Arts, a degree that was interrupted by the Second World War and later, the demands of family.
In 1941 a 21-year-old Hildegard von Boetticher was forced to leave a Virginia university. As Germans, her family was interned in a hotel before being deported back to Germany.
Upon arriving in Berlin, Hildegard worked in a censoring office while the city was being heavily bombed. When the war was over, she worked as a liaison between the new German government and the Americans and British. While working in the Leipzig mayor’s office she met British officer Horace Marsden. She married Marsden and in short order they had three children.
The young Marsden family immigrated to Canada in 1951 and soon settled in Waterloo. During the 1950s, Marsden took courses at Waterloo College while caring for her three children, Camilla, William and Elizabeth. She was the first woman in Waterloo Region to return to university as a mature student with children.
On June 8, 1959 she graduated with her B.A. from the Virginian university she had first attended so many years before.
She went on to graduate with an M.A. from the University of Waterloo and was appointed lecturer in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages in 1965. During the mid-1960s, Marsden also served as the assistant to the Dean of Women and was appointed to the job in 1967.
When she got the job, Marsden told the local newspaper:
“A woman who returns to work at 40 still has much to offer the community. It is unfortunate if a university education comes to a dead end in the kitchen sink.” Marsden saw her role as empowering women on campus. “I see my job as creating an intellectual atmosphere for women at the university. I want them to stop leaning and learn to cope, to develop more independence and backbone.”
Marsden promoted a variety of initiatives including women’s athletics, housing for women and child care facilities on campus. She established the Athena Award for outstanding female athletes and was inducted into the University of Waterloo’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.
Marsden died on April 24, 1988 after retiring only three years before, however, her legacy lives on in the Hildegard Marsden Co-operative Day Care Centre which was opened in 1989. The university has a capital fund in Marsden’s name to raise money for a more permanent home for the facility which currently operates out of portables.
During the dedication ceremony, friend Peter Woolstencroft said:
“My hope is that those charged with the care of the children will reflect the qualities that capture her generosity, her love of life, her immense curiosity, and her courage . . . My hope is that the daycare will resonate with Hildegard Marsden’s spirit.”
Photo courtesy of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Photographic Negative Collection, University of Waterloo Library
Hildegard Marsden (Waterloo 150 Profile)
Description
- Creator
- Gallagher, Beth, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Image
- Description
- To celebrate Waterloo's 150th anniversary, the Waterloo Public Library published a book called "Profiles from the Past, Faces of the Future." This book featured 150 profiles of people who helped make Waterloo what it is today. This is the digitized profile for Hildegard Marsden.
- Notes
- Please visit the Waterloo Public Library to enquire about physical copies of "Profiles from the Past, Faces of the Future."
The Waterloo 150 project was funded by a grant from the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation. Beth Gallagher wrote the profiles with the assistance of many research volunteers. Information for the profiles was gathered from a variety of sources from the community and the Ellis Little Local History Room. Notable sources include the Ellis Little Papers, newspaper clippings, local magazines and books. - Place of Publication
- Waterloo, Ontario
- Date of Publication
- 2007
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Marsden, Hildegard ; von Boetticher, Hildegard ; Marsden, Camilla ; Marsden, William ; Marsden, Elizabeth ; Woolstencroft, Peter
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.4668 Longitude: -80.51639
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- Copyright Statement
- Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Contact
- Waterloo Public LibraryEmail:askus@wpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:35 Albert Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 5E2
- Full Text
