Ursula Surtees. Photo — FACEBOOK/Christine Surtees

Ursula Surtees

Some in the museum field in British Columbia and Canada may not know the name Ursula Surtees, but many benefit directly from the work she did to promote the field and to raise its profile.

Ursula began her museum career as curator of the Kelowna Museum in the late 1960s and quickly became a force locally and on provincial and national stages. She was single-minded in maintaining that museums were critical institutions that linked us culturally and materially as well as intellectually and spiritually.

At the local level, Ursula oversaw the growth of the Kelowna Museum to include the National Exhibition Centre in 1976, bringing the first organized public views of the works of Emily Carr and the Group of Seven to the interior.

Perhaps one of Ursula’s more enduring legacies is the work she did with Mary Thomas, an Elder member of the Neskonlith Indian Band. That collaboration brought new First Nation curriculum-based education to classrooms across the region long before it was being offered by other larger urban museums in B.C.. Copies of the First Nation language tapes she recorded with Mary now form part of the UBC’s Xwi&xwa Library.

Ursula served on the BCMA Council for 10 years (including two stints as its President), was a sought-after Facilitator for British Columbia’s ‘Community Pride’ program, and she sat as the Chair of the Provincial Multicultural Committee.

She was the recipient of an Award of Merit from the Canadian Museums Association, BC Museums Association Award of Merit and its Golden Service Award, City of Kelowna’s Citizen of the Year, Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and Confederation Medal.

She was an author, an accomplished seamstress for community theatre groups, an iconoclast, and an uncompromising champion of respect for the cultural diversity that we hold dear as Canadians.

Ursula passed away on January 22, 2022. M

Obituary provided by Wayne Wilson.