Christopher Hedley Bigland was born in Calgary on 15 October 1919. He received his first degree, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, from the University of Toronto in 1941. This was followed by a Doctor of Veterinary Public Health from the U of T in 1946 and a MSc. in physiology from the University of Alberta in 1960. Dr. Bigland became a member of the faculty of the U of S in 1964 with his appointment as Professor and Head of the Department of Veterinary Microbiology. In 1974 Dr Bigland became the first Director of VIDO and remained in that post until his retirement in 1984.

Dr. Arthur Moxon was born in Truro, Nova Scotia in 1881. He received a B.A. degree from Dalhousie University in 1906. He then attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning both a B.A. in jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Common Laws degree. He was appointed Professor of Classics for the new University of Saskatchewan and moved to Saskatoon in 1909. Moxon was one of the original faculty members of the University of Saskatchewan. He became a Lecturer of Law in 1911 and was promoted to Professor of Law in 1913. He was Dean of the College of Law from 1919 to 1929. Moxon was named King’s Counsel in 1927. Moxon was with the law firm of McLean, Hollinrake and was Estates Manager of the National Trust Company before he became Dean of Law. He held many positions at the University and in community organizations. From 1934 to 1937, he served on the University Senate and, from 1937 to 1953, he was a member of the Board of Governors, serving as Chair for four of those years. In 1953, he received an honorary doctor of civil laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1961, the College of Law Alumni Association established a scholarship fund in his honour for post-graduate study. Moxon died in Saskatoon on June 12, 1963. At the time of his death, he was the University Solicitor.

James Burns ("Hamish") McGeachy was born in Kilmacolm, Scotland, in 1899 and emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1913. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, graduating at the age of 19 with the Governor-General's Gold Medal. He was also awarded a Rhodes Scholarship but declined it, attending instead the University of Toronto, where he earned a his MA in 1929, and Princeton University, where he was a Proctor Fellow in modern history. He worked for the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix from 1922-1927, then served in various capacities over the next 12 years for the Sifton newspaper chain. During the Second World War he was chief correspondent for the BBC Overseas Service. After his return to Canada at the end of the war, he joined the Globe and Mail as a member of the editorial board, later becoming associate editor. From 1956 until his retirement in 1965, he was on the staff of the Financial Post. J.B. McGeachy died in Toronto on 27 August 1966.

Robert (Robin) Cecil Romer Maugham was born on May 17, 1916 in London, England to Viscount Frederic Herbert, a judge and Lord Chancellor of England, and Helen Mary Maugham (nee Romer). Originally trained in law at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Maugham gave up his career as a barrister after he was wounded while serving in the Western Desert campaign during World War Two. While recovering from his wounds, he wrote his first book, "Come to Dust," and decided to become a writer full-time. He was the author of novels, plays, film scripts and non-fiction books, including two books of reminiscences about his uncle, Somerset Maugham. Much of Maugham's work is related to themes of homosexuality. A new novel, "The Deserters", was in press at the time of his death. Maugham died on March 13, 1981 in Brighton, England after a long illness.

Dr. Helen Evans Reid, former Head of the Medical Publications Department of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, is the author of All Silent, All Damned : The Search for Issac Barr (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1969). Reid spent six years and travelled to various countries to carry out her research on Isaac Montgomery Barr. Barr, an Anglican Minister, organized a colony of middle class British immigrants to settle in the Lloydminster area.

Pitirim A. Sorokin was born in 1889 in Komi (province in Northern Russia) into a peasant family. During his early childhood he traveled with his father and two brothers earning their living by remodeling and painting rural churches. His strong interest in education, combined with a natural talent and work ethic, soon transformed him into a leading Russian social scientist and famous politician who was at the center of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In 1923, after his banishment by the Bolsheviks, Pitirim Sorokin started a new life in the United States. In less than 10 years the Russian émigré became a world-renowned sociologist and the founder of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Over 30 major books were published over a period of 50 years of active intellectual life. His ideas attracted the attention of Albert Einstein and Albert Schweitzer, Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy, political activists and yoga followers, military and peace proponents. At the time of his death in 1968 Pitirim Sorokin was one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century. (Biographical sketch provided by Pavel Krotov.)

Douglas Wilson was born in 1950 in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Saskatchewan, with majors in Art and History. He taught public school in Makwa, Saskatchewan, in 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. He did post-graduate work in Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan between 1974 and 1976. During this period, he worked as a sessional lecturer and supervisor of practice teaching for the College of Education.

While living in Saskatoon during the early 1970s, Wilson was actively and visibly involved in the gay liberation movement. He was instrumental in the organization and administration of groups such as the Zodiac Friendship Society (later the Gay Community Centre of Saskatoon) and the Saskatchewan Gay Coalition. The latter organization fought for the human rights of homosexuals in the province, and in the late 1970s, Wilson was the group's leading activist.

On September 22, 1975, Dean J. Kirkpatrick of the College of Education suspended Wilson's work as a supervisor of practice teaching in public schools, on the grounds of Wilson's open admission of his homosexuality and his public involvement in the gay liberation movement. A Committee to Defend Doug Wilson was formed to fight the university's action, and Wilson placed a formal complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. The inquiry was never held, as the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that sexuality was not covered by The Fair Employment Practices Act.

In 1978, Wilson became the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Association on Human Rights, a position which he held until 1983. In 1983, he and his partner Peter McGehee moved to Toronto, Ontario where he worked for the Toronto Board of Education's Race Relations office. Wilson became the first openly gay candidate to run in a federal election, when he ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate for Rosedale in the 1988 election.

Wilson died in Toronto in 1992.

Peter Gregory McGehee was born on October 6, 1955 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Frank and Julia Ann May McGehee. He attended elementary and high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, then attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where he worked toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1976, McGehee quit the program without completing the degree to move to San Francisco, California.

In San Francisco, McGehee wrote and acted in several plays. He also joined the satirical musical revue The Quinlan Sisters with Fiji Robinson and Wendy Coad and met Douglas Wilson. In 1980, Wilson immigrated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to live with his partner Doug Wilson. McGehee and Wilson moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1982. McGehee was deported from Canada in 1984 and lived in New York City, New York until 1986.

Upon his return to Toronto in 1986, McGehee and Robinson co-wrote the songs for and performed together in The Fabulous Sirs. McGehee also developed a one-man show, later published as a novella "Beyond Happiness", which was edited by Wilson. McGehee's other publications included "Boys Like Us" (1991), a short story collection entitled The I.Q. Zoo (1991), and Sweetheart (published post-mortem, 1992).

McGehee died in 1991.

Kaare Martin Gunvaldsen was born on July 17, 1908 in Koparvik, Norway. After arriving in Canada in 1928, he attended the University of Saskatchewan (B.A. Honours, 1935). He went on to earn a M.A. (1938) and a PhD. (1948) from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gunvaldsen joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1947, serving the institution for over forty years as Professor, Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and finally as Professor Emeritus. In addition to his teaching, he spent much of that time researching and writing about the Czech born German language writer of visionary fiction, Franz Kafka. Gunvaldsen died in 1986 with his Kafka manuscript unfinished and unpublished. He had been convinced that he had made a breakthrough in Kafka interpretation based on his research at Oxford's Bodleian Library.

Helen Emmeline Shirriff was born 10 January 1898 in Brandon, Manitoba. She married Robert Alexander in 1919; together they farmed at Portreeve, Saskatchewan, until Robert's death in 1955. Helen remained actively involved in the management of the farm until her death. In addition, Helen was a schoolteacher. Her long career in education began in 1916, and took her to various locations throughout the north and west, including Athabaska Landing (1918), Whitehorse (1956), and the Glidden Hutterite Colony (1967). She died in Saskatoon on 6 April 1992.

Robert Mervyn (Gusty) Ferguson was born on the 15 June 1898 in Derrygonelly, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Educated at Trinity College Dublin, he was awarded gold medals in Greek, Latin, Roman History and Classics, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1921. The following year he joined the U of S faculty, department of classics, as an associate professor. Progressing through the ranks he became professor in 1948 and was department head from 1965 to 1967. Upon his retirement in 1967 he was named professor emeritus. Professor Ferguson was involved in a number of campus and community activities and associations. He joined the COTC in 1927, becoming chief instructor on a full-time basis in 1940. Later that year he enlisted in the Canadian Army and served until 1945. He was chairman of the Saskatoon Library Board, president of the Boy Scouts Organization of Saskatchewan and a member of the Saskatoon Club and the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club. Professor Ferguson died in Saskatoon on 6 August 1992.