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In Memory of Laura Rose Stephen Rose, was the first Women's Institute or- ganizer and lecturer. died on July 29th of this year in her ninety-eighth year. Those who knew Laura Rose in her active years of Instiâ€" tute work will remember her as one of the most gifted extension workers of this country or (We believe) of any other. From the Laura Rose Women‘s Institute of South Waterloo we receiVed the accompanying photo. and the following biographical sketch prepared for the Institute some years ago by a member, Mrs. Peggy Knapp: "This is the story of a woman a woman who had an ideal. and the overwhelming enâ€" ergy, ability and ambition to reach it. It is the story of Laura Rose Stephen, for whom the Laura Rose Women‘s Institute was named. "Mrs. Stephen lives in retirement in Ottawa today, but for 40 years her name was a houseâ€" hold word among Women's Institute members not only in this province but across the Do- minion. for she organized branches in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. “Laura Rose was born in Georgetown. On- tario, but while still a girl in her teens she moved to North Dakota to keep house for an older brother on his homestead farm. “Those were the days when the East was still relatively young, and her tasks would stag- ger a teenager of today. She not only kept the household running smoothly, but cooked for hired men, made butter, cared for the chick- ens, carried wood, pumped water and raised a large garden, as well as serving as teacher at the local school. Since the school was some miles from her home. she rode there on horse- back in summer and in a ‘jumper‘ pulled by two bronchos in winter â€" sometimes in tem- peratures forty degrees below zero. "When Laura Rose returned to Ontario she entered Alma Ladies College and later the On- tario Agricultural College where she took the course in Dairy work. She graduated with high honors and was instructor at the Col- lege‘s Dairy School for thirteen years. “It was during this time that the Women‘s Institute was founded at Stoney Creek and along with her other duties. Miss Rose was engaged by the government as an organizer and lecturer. She loves to boast that for thirty- two years she addressed the Institutes" summer series of meetings. And it was Laura Rose who contributed to the Institutes of Canada their motto, “For Home and Country." LAURA ROSE STEPHEN who. as Laura WINTER 1964 The late Laura Rose Stephen, first Women‘s Institute organixer and lecturer, "Laura Rose Wits greatly in demand as a speaker. for here she excelled. With her \t arm personality. broad outlook and wide L'\|1L‘- ricnce coupled with a delightful sL‘nsc ol hu. mor, she was .I welcome gtlc\t. "As if there was no limit to her energy and talent she served as iudgc at rtiral Ian‘s. sampling butter, bread. iams. lruit and inspectâ€" ing lancywork and scwmg. “For years she edited two monlh|_\ columns in farm journals and wrote many articles for publications in the United States, One ol her works. a three-hundred page hook 'l-arm Dairying' was used as a text book in many agricultural schools and colleges. “In l‘Jll Laura Rose was married to W. |-. Stephen. Secretary ol‘ the (‘anadtan Ayrshire Breeders and the Montreal Milk Producers. ~l'hcy lived in Huntingdon. Quebec. for some time and then moved Wllll their adopted son and daughter to Ottawa. "So it is that the Laura Rose Women's In- stitute is so proud to hear the name ol this indelaligahle woman. They ice] that they must seek to live up to her standards of perfection. her ambitions for her home and her country. her great thirst [or knowledge. her broad conâ€" cept of life and living. “The words of the Mary Stewart ('ollect. 'May we strive to touch and know the great heart common to Us all' are so gracioust typified for us by Ihis woman who gave so much to rural Canada," 15