Betty Veinot, 89, has seen a few fashion trends come and go in her lifetime, but it was a style from a more distant past that helped spark an interest in Dalhousie’s Costume Studies program.
"I’ll tell you what it was. The evening cloaks that men wore in the 18th century. I just said, 'Oh, I'd love to make one of those,’” she explained as she waited near the head of a Convocation procession earlier this week.
Betty received her Costume Studies diploma Monday (June 1) alongside hundreds of other Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences graduates, most of them in their early 20s.
Seeing her walk across the stage under her own power was important to her and very special for us to see because of where she was physically last June.
It was the latest stitch in a lifelong pattern of academic achievement for the Springhill, N.S.-born graduate that stretches back to her early nursing studies and a public health diploma at Dal in 1963. Seana Veinot, one of Betty’s daughters, and her two sisters and brother cheered their mom on in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium this week, 63 years later.
“Seeing her walk across the stage under her own power was important to her and very special for us to see because of where she was physically last June,” said Seana, explaining that her mother was quite sick this time last year.
Betty Veinot crosses the stage in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Monday.
A lifelong learner
She has always been curious and loves to learn, says Seana.
The children were all young when their mom — on a break from her nursing career to focus on her family — began doing distance courses towards earning her bachelor’s degree in world religions and psychology from Queen’s University in 1990.
Betty says she later became fascinated by history after doing a family genealogy test. She ended up writing three books about the topic.
Eventually, she set to work on another degree — this time, a bachelor’s in history completed in 2007 followed by a master’s earned in 2014. Both were from Dal.
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It was during the latter degree that Betty learned about the university’s diploma program in Costume Studies. Seeking out a more hands-on educational adventure, she signed up.
A new challenge, hands-on
She wasn’t just sitting in. She was taking the courses for credit.
“Reading plays and getting A’s,” she told Seana one day when asked how the program was going.
Though typically intended as a full-time, two-year program, Betty chipped away at her diploma more gradually over a decade, balancing it with the “many other things I do in my life.”
Reading plays and getting A’s.
The program began with the basics, she says: how to sew on a button, how to make a seam, how to put pockets in, and so on.
From there, studio work and learning more advanced applied skills such as contemporary pattern drafting are complemented by stage design and historical dress theory.
It’s a rigorous mix even for younger learners.
Learning for its own sake
Betty admits there were stressful moments, particularly in studio working on a deadline. But overall, she says pursuing a degree later in life differs markedly from doing so at other life stages.
“Some people get a degree to make money. When you’re older, I think you just do something that interests you,” she says.
Betty waits alongside other grads to be called on stage during Monday's ceremony.
Anneke Henderson, University Teaching Fellow in the Costume Studies program, called Betty's diploma well deserved and said she was always impressed with her level of focus.
"During our busiest days in the studio preparing for a Fountain School production, I would look to Betty as my inspiration and reminder that consistent focus and hard work will get you to the end every time,” she says, noting her eldest learner was never afraid to take on new and challenging projects.
Even though Betty’s initial fascination with costume design had little to do with professional theatre or film, she said in hindsight that one of the more thrilling aspects of her experience was seeing her creations in action.
"We made costumes where we fitted the actors who are in the plays,” she said. “I think that was the best thing to do because you could see the costumes on the stage."
When Betty’s own turn on stage came this week, she was determined to make the trek on her own.
“She’s fiercely independent,” explained James Spray, associate director of academic regulations with the Registrar’s Office, who led the procession of graduates that included Betty into the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium for the ceremony earlier this week.
The question now is: What will Betty study next?
This is the Class of 2026
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