The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Marian Gimby was among the most controversial presidents in ATA history. Superbly educated and informed, Gimby earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Alberta and a bachelor of arts in history from Oxford. Gimby was brilliant, capable and visionary. She was also a force to be reckoned with.

Although her teaching career was conducted in Edmonton high schools, Gimby battled prevailing attitudes and practices of the late 1940s and early 1950s to demand equal opportunities for women within the Association’s leadership structure. That battle reached its height publicly in 1948 when the ATA Magazine published Gimby’s private but scathing critique of then ATA practices. She had intended to raise her concerns privately with Council, but the magazine published her concerns without her prior consent or knowledge—a move Gimby interpreted as an attempt to silence her.

Gimby valued her classroom-teacher perspective and saw it as her duty to make those in power understand how their use of teachers’ money was perceived in the field. Moreover, Gimby had ideas for reforming the Association’s governance structure that she communicated emphatically but fairly over the course of several years on Provincial Executive Council and various Association committees. The criticisms were not well-received. So much bad blood arose as a consequence that the matter was referred to the Association’s legal counsel and Gimby was referred for disciplinary action.

Gimby refused to be silenced or intimidated. She enjoyed increasing support among the members and in 1951, at the age of 48, was elected president of the ATA, the first woman to achieve the office. She opened her first term as president with an appeal (published in the ATA Magazine) to unity and collaboration.

“We on the executive must see ourselves as a team whose goal is the good of the whole teacher group; we in the Association must see that our ATA is only one member on the team that will win for education.”

Gimby’s presidency was a period of continual and often contentious discourse on the structure, purpose and future of the Association. Her  teaching career spanned more 38 years, all dedicated to the students and staff of Edmonton Public School District No. 7. In 1967 Gimby was awarded a life membership in the Association. In later life, Marian Gimby retired to Bath, England and there died in 2000 at the age of 97.

Got an idea? Unsung Hero is a space dedicated to honouring ATA members past and present who have made notable achievements either within the ATA or in their private lives. If you know of a member who you feel should be recognized, please contact managing editor Cory Hare at cory.hare@ata.ab.ca.