Ruple Ferguson

Trochu

Description

Life and Work

Ruple Ferguson was the daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Crawford Tate of Orangeville, Ontario. After receiving her BA from the University of Toronto, she taught high school and later began a distinguished career as a lawyer. As a law student, she received the Gold Medal for highest marks in the province and later in her career, she became the first woman in Alberta to be appointed Queen's Counsel.

Those who remember Mrs. Ferguson recall a stately lady who always wore a hat in public, and she wore lots of hats! Her many careers included those of wife, mother, partner in a law firm with her husband J.P. Ferguson, secretary-treasurer of the village of Trochu, member of the Alberta Women's Institute (president from 1933 to 1938), organizer and first president of the Alberta Women's Liberal Party, and Chairman of the Trochu Valley School Board.

From the time she moved to Trochu in 1923 until her retirement in 1972, she was influential in Trochu life. From schools to the installation of water and sewer lines, she was actively involved in the life of the community. The social notes in the Trochu Tribune during those years include many references to her bridge parties and teas. The Fergusons' children excelled in the field of education: in 1950 their son Crawford became Trochu's first Rhodes Scholar while their daughter Margaret was a Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Chicago.

Ruple Ferguson was a refined lady who left a fashionable footprint, both in Trochu and on the province of Alberta.