History Supplement of the Alberta Women's Institutes

              HISTORY SUPPLEMENT OF THE ALBERTA WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
MRS. W. R. ( VIRGINIA) FORD
Virginia Gow was born in Oregon.
In 1917 her family came to Win-nifred,
Alberta, now a ghost town on
the C. P. R. between Medicine Hat
and Lethbridge. Her father settled
on a farm south of Winnifred in an
area which was soon drought stric­ken
which meant there was little op­portunity
for Virginia to complete
her education. However there was a
teacher shortage at about this time
and one month after her eighteenth
birthday she was granted a permit
to teach for a year in a nearby rural
school. That classroom experience
shaped her future in two respects.
She had found her niche in life and
she had now the means to continue
her education. In 1924 she
graduated with honours from the
Calgary Normal School. For the next
ten years she alternately taught school or attended university until
she had qualified for teaching high school.
In 1938 Virginia Gow and Walter Ford married and established a
farm home east of Coutts on the Alberta- Montana Border. It was to
be their home until the couple retired from farm life in 1973 and
established their home in the Village of Coutts. Virginia's first con­tact
with the Alberta Women's Institute was in 1929 when as a new
teacher in the Manyberries community she was asked to become the
leader of the local A. W. I. Girls' Club. After her marriage she
joined Sunshine Branch as a charter member and became its first
President.
Beginning in 1949 Mrs. Ford served Warner Constituency as
Convener, District IV as Director and the Provincial Organization
as Vice President. She was elected to the office of Provincial Presi­dent
in 1959, a position she held for two years.
Mrs. Ford was the first Provincial Officer of A. W. I, to represent
the organization at any meeting of native women. The occasion was
the first Western Regional Conference of Indian Homemakers held
at the Blackfoot Reserve at Gleichen, August 18- 20, 1953. For the
next six years Mrs. Ford was the A. W. I, liaison officer, speaking at
Homemaker's meetings and contributing articles for their newslet­ter.
She served as Junior Board Member for Alberta to F. W. I. C.
1955- 1957 and as Senior Board Member in the years 1959- 1961.
Mrs. Ford was one of the enthusiastic promoters of the first
International Friendship Meetings between sister societies of
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