Eileen "Vanora" Haldane

Born in Dundee, Scotland, on May 18, 1923, she was the youngest child of Rev. George McWilliam and Eileen Vanora McWilliam. Following a happy childhood in Auldearn, Scotland, Vanora attended the University of Edinburgh graduating in 1947 with a medical degree and winning, amongst other awards, the Ettles Scholarship and Leslie Gold Medal for most distinguished M.B. Ch.B. graduate.

During the war she met her future husband, James Howie Haldane, a young medical officer, while he was stationed in Auldearn. Jim and Vanora were married in September, 1945, and remained very happily married for 67 years until Jim died in 2012.

Following hospital appointments in Whitehaven and Wolverhampton, England, Vanora and Jim became partners in a family practice in Netherton, Dudley, England beginning in 1951 and ending when they emigrated with their four children to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1965. Vanora then decided to specialize in microbiology and she was a research fellow at Dalhousie University for three years before joining the Department of Health. She received her FRCP (C) in medical microbiology in 1974. After working as head of the microbiology lab for some years, she became Medical Director of the Victoria General Hospital, which position she held from 1984 until she retired in 1989.

While in Dudley, Vanora became active in both the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the Soroptimist League, and she continued to work with these organizations in Canada. She was appointed a Dame of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in recognition of her many years of volunteer service. She remained an active member of the Soroptimist Club until the Halifax chapter closed.

Vanora was one of the founders of Meals on Wheels in Halifax in 1969, and her work and contribution to this charity, which has assisted thousands of people since its inception, was officially recognized when she was made Honorary Life President of the organization.

When they arrived in Halifax in 1965, Vanora and Jim became Members of the Presbyterian Church of Saint David, where Vanora served for some years as an Elder and was an active member of the Ladies’ Guild working on projects such as the popular annual Holly Tea and Sale, Christmas Families and Lenten Lunches.

For leisure, Vanora played bridge, raised house plants and enjoyed golfing as a member of Brightwood Golf and Country Club.

While she led a very busy life outside the home, Vanora was always a devoted wife, a loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother and a good friend. She was an amazing woman who will be sorely missed.

Vanora is survived by her daughters, Lesley (Michael Benskin), Lindsay (John Clark) and Elizabeth (Carman McCormick); her son, David (Christine); her grandchildren, Adam (Elsa) and Clare Benskin, James (Alexis), Siân and Ian (Meryl) Clark, Simon (Morgan) and Emily McCormick and Robert (Ellen) and Lyla Haldane; and her great grandchildren, Ida, Holly and Kaia Benskin, Sadie, Ben and Owen Peer and Freya Clark. She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. James H. Haldane, her sister, Dr. Maureen Roberts and her brothers, Stewart and Harcourt McWilliam.

A funeral service will be held at the Presbyterian Church of St. David, Grafton St, Halifax on Thursday, April 27th, at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, we would be grateful if donations in memory of Vanora were made to either Meals on Wheels or the Presbyterian Church of St. David, Grafton Street, Halifax.