On November 4, in 1936, Lydia Emelie Gruchy became the first
woman minister ordained by the United Church of Canada and the
first ever woman ordained minister in Canada.
50 years later, St Andrews Theological College graduated another
female minister, Patricia (Pat) Wotton. Next to her ministry duties,
Pat's fascination with her first predecessor led to the writing of
Lydia Gruchy's biography.
This website was established to popularize the resulting book,
- With Love, Lydia -
in order to celebrate Lydia Gruchy's life, her accomplishments,
and her memory.
The story of the life and ministry of Lydia Emelie Gruchy is a microcosm of the larger story
played out in world history, in Canadian culture, in the church, in women's lives, and in
theology. It encompasses the wave of immigration looking for a new world and a future for the
children; the terrible sacrifice and cost of two World Wars felt first-hand; the daily hardship of
the Depression Years on the prairies; the pioneering of new prairie towns - their hard years
and their heydays - sometimes one and the same. Her ministry saw the birth of the United
Church, and spanned the one-room school house to United Church House in Toronto, and
variations in between. It began with a horse and buggy, moved through a Model A Ford (the
envy of every man and boy in Wakaw, Saskatchewan in the late 1920s) to a sporty bright red
Corvair. Her generation coined the term "the Golden Years", perhaps because their earlier
decades were so turbulent, hard and anguished. Reverend Gruchy's retirement was spent in
relative peace in White Rock, B.C. - thirty more years of finding ways to be "useful". The story
of Reverend Doctor Lydia Gruchy, first woman ordained in Canada, is an important reflection
of cultural and church change over the 20th century - a story that needs to be told.
woman minister ordained by the United Church of Canada and the
first ever woman ordained minister in Canada.
50 years later, St Andrews Theological College graduated another
female minister, Patricia (Pat) Wotton. Next to her ministry duties,
Pat's fascination with her first predecessor led to the writing of
Lydia Gruchy's biography.
This website was established to popularize the resulting book,
- With Love, Lydia -
in order to celebrate Lydia Gruchy's life, her accomplishments,
and her memory.
The story of the life and ministry of Lydia Emelie Gruchy is a microcosm of the larger story
played out in world history, in Canadian culture, in the church, in women's lives, and in
theology. It encompasses the wave of immigration looking for a new world and a future for the
children; the terrible sacrifice and cost of two World Wars felt first-hand; the daily hardship of
the Depression Years on the prairies; the pioneering of new prairie towns - their hard years
and their heydays - sometimes one and the same. Her ministry saw the birth of the United
Church, and spanned the one-room school house to United Church House in Toronto, and
variations in between. It began with a horse and buggy, moved through a Model A Ford (the
envy of every man and boy in Wakaw, Saskatchewan in the late 1920s) to a sporty bright red
Corvair. Her generation coined the term "the Golden Years", perhaps because their earlier
decades were so turbulent, hard and anguished. Reverend Gruchy's retirement was spent in
relative peace in White Rock, B.C. - thirty more years of finding ways to be "useful". The story
of Reverend Doctor Lydia Gruchy, first woman ordained in Canada, is an important reflection
of cultural and church change over the 20th century - a story that needs to be told.
