A room of her own

The collage on display in the Mary Jane White room.

The faculty and staff of Dalhousie University College of Continuing Education, Dresden Row site, dedicated their sunniest classroom to the memory of their friend and colleague Mary Jane White.

Mary Jane worked at the college as the manager of the Negotiation and Conflict Management Program and the Non-Profit Leadership Sector Program. She is also remembered at Dalhousie as the coordinator of the highly successful 2003 Congress.  Prior to this, Mary Jane was campaign manager for the NDP and Alexa McDonough’s successful bid for the national leadership of the party.

Friends, family, political allies and former co-workers from across the Dalhousie campus and the wider community gathered earlier this month to remember the legacy of this remarkable woman – Mary Jane White (1956-2005), who lost a long battle with breast cancer. Sherry Carmont and Susanna Burns welcomed everyone and paid tribute from the college. They spoke of her infectious laugh, high spirits, passion, commitment to social justice and her uncanny ability to bring people together to reach common goals. “Mary Jane was brilliant and her brilliance made us all shine a little brighter.”

Mary Jane’s father Peter White supplied some memories of his daughter to be read at the commemoration. He described her unwavering spirit and joyful energy, her love of fine dining from an early age and her total command of any situation in an eloquent tribute to “the finest and most delightful person I ever knew.”

Prof. Peter Butler spoke of her extraordinary skill and grace in coordinating and running a congress with over 8,000 academic delegates. She was extremely competent and knew exactly how to launch and run a campaign to convince the academic world that Dalhousie was major enough to host such a prestigious gathering. He painted a strong image of Mary Jane weaving a path through the fray, head and shoulders above the crowd, accommodating often conflicting needs but without ever taking her eye off the ‘prize.’ Congress proceeded with Mary Jane in calm control, even though at the same time she was waging her own battle with cancer.

Senate Chair Lloyd Fraser wrote Mary Jane seemed always able to keep everyone around her in high spirits. She had keen wit, passion and intelligence and most important of all, she had an unwavering commitment to social justice.  Her presence at the college is deeply missed.

Sherry and Susanna dedicated the room, and unveiled a beautiful collage depicting the life and loves of Mary Jane. The collage, created by graphic designer and friend, Margo Grant, will hang in the Mary Jane White Room as a public tribute to the incredible legacy of a much loved and remarkably talented friend and colleague. A smaller version of the collage was presented to Mary Jane’s family (Dan O’Connell, Katie and Sean).

The Dean of the college, Andrew Cochrane, took a few minutes to speak of Mary Jane’s significant contribution to the college and then announced the establishment of the Mary Jane White Bursary. Initiated by her father, Peter White, this annual bursary will be presented to a student who demonstrates both financial need and a commitment to community. This will continue Mary Jane’s legacy—her commitment to creating a better world. The fund is open for public contributions as well. Please contact Linda Crockett at the Office of External Relations (494-6861) and refer to the MJ White Initiatives Fund # 71053.

In closing, Alexa McDonough spoke eloquently of Mary Jane as a fiercely devoted mother to her children Katie and Sean, and picked up the campaign theme describing Mary Jane as being on a campaign for life—from school, to community, to work and politics—she approached all of life as a campaign. Mary Jane was remarkable among campaigners because she knew that to be successful you had to have all of the people on side and she could do it!  Alexa proposed a toast to Mary Jane.

Two of Mary Jane’s favourite things were fine wine and good chocolate and everyone was invited to enjoy both and to continue to celebrate her life and legacy. (Rosemary’s Chocolatier provided a chocolate fountain of which Mary Jane would have totally approved!)