Allan Blakeney, Premier of Saskatchewan, speaks during the special convocation held in the Bowl during the Learned Societies Conference, U of S, 22 May 1979-8 June 1979. John G. Diefenbaker, University Chancellor, seated on dais with other dignitaries.

Bio/Historical Note: A special convocation was held 2 June 1979 to celebrate the "Learned Societies Conference." It was 20 years since the last conference was held at the University of Saskatchewan. Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degrees were conferred on four outstanding scholars; Jean Sutherland Boggs, Sir Moses I. Finley, Amartya Kumar Sen, and Arthur Whalley.

Group photograph of recipients of honourary degrees at 44th annual convocation. Back row (from l to r): S.N. Wynn, Yorkton; J.R. MacKay, Saskatoon; Louis H. Hantelman, Plato; C.H. Fisher, Lipton. Front row (from l to r): Hon. W.J. Patterson, Regina; Rt. Hon. Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada; Judge Alex Ross, Yorkton. All recipients from Saskatchewan except Massey.

F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Caleb (Charlie) Fisher at Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium. Norman K. Cram, university Registrar, prepares to hood recipient.

Bio/Historical Note: Caleb Henry (Charlie) Fisher was a native of Kent, England. In 1899, as a young man, he enlisted with the Imperial Cavalry. Fisher saw service under Lord Kitchener in South Africa. Later he saw service in India. In 1907 Fisher came to Canada and homesteaded at Lipton, Saskatchewan. Shortly after his arrival he was elected a councilor of his rural municipality. He resigned to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War. He was discharged as Captain Fisher. On his return to his homestead in 1918 he re-entered municipal life and became reeve of his municipality in 1920. Fisher was president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. Fisher was also chairman of the Hospital Visiting Committee under the Mental Hygiene Act, a member of the Saskatchewan Cancer Commission, and the Saskatchewan Municipal Advisory Commission.

Dignitaries parading from the Administration Building to the convocation ceremonies in the Bowl during the Learned Societies Conference, U of S, 22 May-8 June 1979.

Bio/Historical Note: A special convocation was held 2 June 1979 to celebrate the "Learned Societies Conference." It was 20 years since the last conference was held at the University of Saskatchewan. Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degrees were conferred on four outstanding scholars; Jean Sutherland Boggs, Sir Moses I. Finley, Amartya Kumar Sen, and Arthur Whalley.

F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to James R. MacKay at Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium. Norman K. Cram, University Registrar, prepares to hood recipient.

Bio/Historical Note: James Roy MacKay was born near Pipestone, about 20 miles from what is now the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, where his family homesteaded in l885. MacKay was educated at the “Little Red Schoolhouse” about a mile from home, high school in Pipestone, Normal School at Winnipeg, and acquired an arts degree from Brandon College. He came to Saskatchewan to teach, first in 1909 and returning permanently in 1914. 1916 saw him join the staff of Nutana Collegiate Institute and begin 38 years of service in Saskatoon. MacKay was active in furthering the professional status of teachers, serving as president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Alliance in 1929 and 1931. In 1933 he was instrumental in the merger of the S.T.A and the Rural Teachers’ Association. The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation resulted from that merger and he was its first president. In 1934-1935 MacKay was president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation and from 1936 until his retirement in 1954 he was a member of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Superannuation Commission.

F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to the Right Honourable Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada during Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

Bio/Historical Note: Charles Vincent Massey (1887-1967), PC, CC, Governor General 1952-1959, historian, business executive, politician, diplomat, royal commissioner, patron of the arts (b. 1887 Toronto; d. Massey was the country’s first Canadian-born Governor General. He helped create the Order of Canada in 1967, and as a champion of the arts in Canada laid the groundwork for the Canada Council, the National Library of Canada and the National Arts Centre. Massey died 30 December 1967 in London, England.

F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Judge Alexander Ross during Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium. Norman K. Cram, University Registrar, hoods the recipient.

Bio/Historical Note: Alexander Ross was born in 1880 in Forest, Scotland. Ross was six years old when his family emigrated from Scotland to Silton, Saskatchewan. A pre-war militia member, he served as a recruiting officer in 1914. Once in France, Ross commanded the 28th Battalion (Northwest) from 1916-1918. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar of the Territories on his 21st birthday in 1901, and very soon attained a leading place in the legal profession. Ross was agent of the Attorney General for the Judicial District of Regina from 1906-1912, and was made a King's Counsel in 1914. On the formation of the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles he was commissioned as a lieutenant, and on the outbreak of war in 1914 he was posted to the 28th Northwest Battalion as a Captain and Company Commander. He served in France from September 1915 until April 1918, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General, commanding the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade. For his war service he was made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order with bar, a companion of the most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, and was 7 times mentioned in despatches. On demobilization he commanded Military District No.12 until September 1920. After the war Ross returned to the law profession, being appointed District Judge of Yorkton. In 1925 when Field Marshal Earl Haig came to Canada to organize the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League, Judge Ross was one of the first to answer the call of his wartime commander, and he threw himself into the work of the Legion with tremendous energy, industry and zeal. He was president of the Yorkton Branch of the Legion from 1926 to 1930, president of the Saskatchewan Provincial Copland from 1930 to 1934, and Dominion president from 1934 to 1938. Ross heading the Vimy Pilgrimage of 1936. He was awarded the King George V Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Medal in 1937. Ross was Honoree Colonel of the Regina Rifles Regiment. Ross is best known for his statement concerning the Battle of Vimy Ridge, made in 1967 on the 50th Anniversary of the battle: :It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I though then, and I think today, that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.” Ross was chancellor of the Saskatchewan Anglican diocese of Qu'Appelle. Ross died in Yorkton in 1973 at age 92.

Honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipients (l to r): G.W. Robertson, Cyril Harold Goulden, Arnold D. Dunton, and G.F. Curtis seated on dais during Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Civil Law degree to Bill Estey at Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

Bio/Historical Note: James Wilfred (Bill) Estey (1889-1956) was born in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick, Estey received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Brunswick in 1910. Estey received a Bachelor of Law from Harvard University in 1915. In 1917 he was called to the Saskatchewan Bar, eventually founding the law firm Estey, Moxon, Schmitt & McDonald. He practised law as a Crown Prosecutor until 1929 in Saskatoon. Estey also taught law and economics at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1934 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as a Liberal. From 1934-1941 Estey was Minister of Education; from 1939-1944 he was Attorney General. Estey was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1944 and served until his death in 1956. He was the second Saskatchewan judge of the Supreme Court (the first was John Henderson Lamont) and succeeded Sir Lyman Poore Duff as a western representative on the Court. Estey died in Ottawa in 1956. Estey Public School (Now Royal West Campus) and Estey Drive in Saskatoon are named after him. He was the father of Willard Estey, also a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Four recipients of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree standing in hallway during Convocation. From l to r: Father Henri Carr, Thomas Lax, Arthur Moore, and William J.F. Warren. All are wearing academic gowns.

Emmett M. Hall, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Dr. Douglas C. Blood at Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium. Norman K. Cram, University Secretary, placing hood on recipient.

Bio/Historical Note: A native of England, Dr. Douglas Charles Blood immigrated to Australia with his family as a youth. He earned a DVM in 1942 from the University of Sydney, and went straight into World War II as a captain in the Australian Army. When the war ended, Dr. Blood returned to the University of Sydney as a faculty member teaching large animal medicine and remained on staff until 1957. Seeking greater experience and education in clinical practice, he left for the United States, settling at Cornell University in New York. It was there that Dr. Blood honed an ability to run an ambulatory practice serving the dairy industry. He took those skills to Canada as a professor at the Ontario Veterinary College where he revolutionized veterinary education. This dedication to teaching of farm animal medicine led Dr. Blood, with the assistance of Dr. J.A. Henderson, to write and publish, in 1960, the First Edition of Veterinary Medicine - A Textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, Pigs and Horses. Revised every five years, the book remains a primary reference for veterinary students and practitioners translated into several languages and in its 10th edition. Dr. Blood died in 2013 in Melbourne, Australia, at age 93.

Emmett M. Hall, University of Saskatchewan, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Lewis L. Lloyd at spring Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: Lewis L. Lloyd was born in 1898 in Brookings County, North Dakota, Lloyd was president of the United Farmers of Canada for five years, an office from which he learned much about economics. He was an associate member of the Saskatchewan Farm Union. Lloyd was chairman of two school boards in the Province of Saskatchewan. He was active in organizing the Agricultural Improvement Association and became chairman. Lloyd was manager of a local co-operative for eight years and manager of a Credit Union for seven of those years, and assisted with co-op educational work for several local co-operatives in southwestern Saskatchewan for a period of eighteen months. In 1950 Lloyd accepted a position with the Department of Co-operation with a special field officer and held this position for thirteen years. Lloyd served four terms as a Wheat Pool delegate.
His years of experience as board member and manager of local cooperatives culminated in 1944 with his election to the Board of Directors of what is now known as Federated Co-operatives Limited. At that time Lloyd held a record of twenty-four years of service, for fourteen of which he was vice-president, and for four years as president. Lloyd also served on the board of the Credit Union League, as vice-president of the Co-operative Union of Canada, and as the first president of the Western Co-operative College. Lloyd died in 1987 at age 88, and is buried at St. John Cemetery at Antelope, Saskatchewan.

Arthur Whalley receives an honourary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degree from John G. Diefenbaker, University Chancellor, during the special convocation held in the Bowl during the Learned Societies Conference, U of S, 22 May 1979-8 June 1979.

Bio/Historical Note: A special convocation was held 2 June 1979 to celebrate the "Learned Societies Conference." It was 20 years since the last conference was held at the University of Saskatchewan. Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degrees were conferred on four outstanding scholars: Jean Sutherland Boggs, Sir Moses I. Finley, Amartya Kumar Sen, and Arthur Whalley.

Awaiting presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree is Jacob M. Goldenberg during Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium. R.W. Begg, University President, seated at right.

Bio/Historical Note: Jacob Michael Goldenberg was born in 1900 in Bukowina, now part of Romania. He came to Canada in 1913 and received his law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1922. Goldenberg was a lecturer in the College of Law for many years. president of the Saskatoon Bar Association, president of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, president of the Conference of Governing Bodies of the Legal Profession in Canada, and president of the Law Alumni Association. He was instrumental in establishing the Bar Admission Course at the University, and he helped to establish the Moxon Scholarship to support graduate work in Law.. In his early years as a counsel he often acted for the politically unpopular client when others were not inclined to be so generous. Many of his suggestions to government are now part of the statutes of Saskatchewan. Goldenberg was writing articles for the Western Producer and the National Farmers Union on "Farmers and the Law". Goldenburg retired from the practice of Law in 1986. He died in 1989 in Vancouver at age 89.

Freshmen stand in front of the College Building.