Artist William Kurelek contemplates his work - a 32 by 36 foot mural on the inside front wall of the St. Thomas More Chapel.

Bio/Historical Note: William Kurelek, CM (1927-1977) was born in a shack near Whitford, Alberta, north of Edmonton. Kurelek spent most of his boyhood on the family farm in Manitoba. He hated the life and grew up with an increasing sense of alienation at home and at school, and decided in his last year at the University of Manitoba to devote his life to the one talent that brought admiration: his ability to draw. It was after reading Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man at university that Kurelek decided to find out if he, too, could become an artist. He tested himself in characteristic fashion, by creating a self-portrait that involved 16 hours of frantic, non-stop painting. As the work neared completion, Kurelek recalled years later, he realized 'the painting had taken over and was directing me. I was an artist. I knew I was an artist.' But Kurelek faced a tortured journey before anyone else accepted him as an artist. He travelled to Toronto in search of an art teacher but left the Ontario College of Art after only a few months and began hitchhiking to Mexico. The artist had been plagued as a young boy by a series of frightening visions and hallucinations, all dealing with pain, suffering, cruelty. While resting under a bridge in Arizona he underwent a vision of a different kind. It was a white-robed figure calling him to be a shepherd. That figure is the someone of Kurelek's autobiography, Someone With Me, published in 1974. Kurelek failed to find an art teacher in Mexico. He returned to Canada and worked as a lumberjack to earn the money for passage to England. But his sense of 'depersonalization, of non-existence' had grown intolerable and he turned himself over to the psychiatric hospital at Maudsley. It was here and in other hospitals that Kurelek finally found himself as a painter. Later, he credited electric shock treatment and his conversion to Catholicism for his reclamation. Kurelek died in Toronto in 1977; he was only 50 years old.

Three images of the funeral procession of William Hamilton, who died while working as a volunteer nurse in the temporary hospital the City had set up at Emmanuel College during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic.
Photos A, B, C: Procession on campus; Dean of Agriculture's Residence at left, Saskatchewan Hall at right.
Photos D and E show a funeral procession [held around the same time as William Hamilton's; perhaps in Eastern Canada].
Photo D: Pallbearers carry a casket down a residential street. Marchers, women and men, walk behind.
Photo E: Procession on a residential street; marchers walking away from camera. People standing at far right.

Bio/Historical Note: William George Hamilton, Pharmacy student and widower with three children, contracted the Spanish Flu and died after serving as a volunteer nurse. Hamilton died on 15 November 1918, age 39. Hamilton’s wife, Mabel Isabelle (Coxworth) Hamilton, died on 28 March 1917, age 21. They are buried at Fairmede Cemetery, Wawota, Saskatchewan.

Head and shoulders of William G. Sullivan, Professor and Head of Classics, 1919-1946.

Bio/Historical Note: William Godfrey Sullivan was born in 1879 in County Cork, Ireland. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, with two gold medals for academic excellence. After teaching in Ireland for five years, Sullivan joined the University of Saskatchewan as professor and head of the Department of Classics from 1911 to 1946. Sullivan also served more than once as chairman of the faculty and as acting dean of Arts and Science. He retired in 1946. Sullivan died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1951.

image of [William Eliot Walker, Agriculture graduate in 1917].

Head and shoulders image of William E. Lovell, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1928-1960.

Head and shoulders of William Dust, Orthopedic Surgery.

From the Sheaf, vol. 6, no. 4, April 1918. Graduation biographies under the heading, "Soldier Graduates."

Head and shoulders of William D. Bishopp, Professor of Economics. Taken outside of the Arts Building.

Image of William C. McNamara, honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient; possibly taken at time of presentation.

Bio/Historical Note: William Craig McNamara was born in 1904 in Winnipeg, Manitoba but raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1923, McNamara found work with the Standard Bank of Canada but left in 1924 to become an office boy with the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. McNamara joined the Canadian Wheat Board in 1942 and was appointed commissioner in 1955 becoming assistant chief commissioner in 1947 and then chief commissioner in 1958. McNamara held that position until 1970 when he was appointed to the Senate where he sat as a Liberal representing Manitoba. McNamara retired from the upper house in 1979. McNamara died in 1984.

Head and shoulders image of Bill Sinnett, director of Business Services.

Bio/Historical Note: William Edward (Bill) Sinnett was born in 1939 on the family farm near Sinnett, Saskatchewan. He attended St. Peter's College (Muenster, SK) for Grade 12 and first year of University. He worked for Boychuck Construction in Saskatoon and then SaskPower Corporation in Highline Construction in Southern Saskatchewan. In July 1959 Sinnett was injured in a car accident and became a paraplegic. He was released from University Hospital in April 1960, and began employment at SaskPower in Saskatoon. Sinnett obtained his BComm in 1970 and then articled for Touche Ross and Company, Chartered Accountants and became a Chartered Accountant in 1972. Bill specialized in Audit of larger computer systems and was instrumental in developing Touche's computer audit process. He spent a lot of time traveling for business - including Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto as well as Los Angeles and New York City. Sinnett joined the U of S Administration - Business Services in 1986 and retired in 1999. Sinnett died in Saskatoon on 20 April 2020.

Head and shoulders image of Bill Deverell, candidate for WAB in 1959.

Bio/Historical Note: William Herbert Deverell (b. 1937) is a Canadian novelist, activist, and criminal lawyer. Deverell worked his way through law school at the University of Saskatchewan as night editor of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. He held a D. Juris from that university, where he had been an invited lecturer in the Shumiatcher series on Law and Literature and was honored at its College of Arts and Science's centenary in 2009 as one of its 100 alumni of influence. He was founder and honorary director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. The BCCLA has played a prominent role in fighting for human rights since its formation in 1962 to advocate for a small religious sect, Sons of Freedom, whose members had been charged with conspiring to intimidate Parliament and the B.C. Legislature. Between 1968 and 1973 the BCCLA took on a string of challenges against censorship, including obscenity charges against Vancouver’s alternative newspaper, the Georgia Straight. Deverell was among prominent Canadians such as David Suzuki involved with the association in fighting for civil rights. Deverell, who received an LLB in 1963 and B.A. in 1964, was awarded an Honourary Degree in 2016.

William Allen pictured with other wounded soldiers and the hospital staff; outdoor scene.

Bio/Historical Note: William (Bill) Allen was born 9 May 1892 in Bristol, England. He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1911, setting up a homestead near Smiley, Saskatchewan. Allen joined the Army in 1916 and was wounded at the Somme, which resulted in the amputation of most of his left arm. After he was discharged in 1917, he enrolled in the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1922 Allen received his BSA and went on to do graduate work at Harvard and Cornell, where he earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 1925. He married Gwendolen Woodward in 1926. He returned to the U of S and established the Department of Farm Management, of which he was head until his resignation in 1938. During his time at the University, Allen directed a provincial soil survey in 1935 and was in charge of the first major debt survey of rural Saskatchewan in 1936. During World War II, Allen’s duties included keeping Britain supplied with Canadian food and to negotiate trade agreements covering the sale of Canada’s agricultural products to Britain. Allen was a passenger on the S.S. Nerissa when it was sunk by a torpedo off the west coast of Scotland on 30 April 1941. Allen was listed as missing and presumed dead. Allen is memorialized with a plaque in Convocation Hall and an annual award in the College of Agriculture.

Bio/Historical Note: Beaufort War Hospital was a military hospital in Stapleton district, now Greater Fishponds, of Bristol, England, during the First World War. Before the war, it was an asylum called the Bristol Lunatic Asylum, and after the war it became the psychiatric hospital called Glenside Hospital. By the time the first wounded soldiers arrived in late 1914, the asylum had undergone a major conversion. Like many hospitals across the country, it had been requisitioned by the War Office, which had demanded some 15,000 beds to be supplied nationally for war wounded.

Head and shoulders image of William Allen, graduate of School of Agriculture in 1922.

Bio/Historical Note: William (Bill) Allen was born in Bristol, England, on 9 May 1892. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1911, setting up a homestead near Smiley, Saskatchewan. Allen joined the Army in 1916 and was wounded at the Somme, which resulted in the amputation of most of his left arm. After he was discharged in 1917, he enrolled in the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1922 Allen received his BSA and went on to do graduate work at Harvard and Cornell, where he earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 1925. He married Gwendolen Woodward in 1926. He returned to the U of S and established the Department of Farm Management, of which he was Head until his resignation in 1938. During his time at the University, Allen directed a provincial soil survey in 1935 and was in charge of the first major debt survey of rural Saskatchewan in 1936. During World War II, Allen’s duties included keeping Britain supplied with Canadian food and to negotiate trade agreements covering the sale of Canada’s agricultural products to Britain. Allen was a passenger on the S.S. Nerissa when it was sunk by a torpedo off the west coast of Scotland on 30 April 1941. Allen was listed as missing and presumed dead. Allen is memorialized with a plaque in Convocation Hall and an annual award in the College of Agriculture.

Head and shoulders image of William Allen, first professor, Department of Farm Management.

Bio/Historical Note: While the College of Agriculture was established in 1908 it was not until 1925 that a Department of Farm Management would be established with the appointment of Dr. William Allen as first professor.

Bio/Historical Note: William (Bill) Allen was born in Bristol, England, on 9 May 1892. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1911, setting up a homestead near Smiley, Saskatchewan. Allen joined the Army in 1916 and was wounded at the Somme, which resulted in the amputation of most of his left arm. After he was discharged in 1917, he enrolled in the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1922 Allen received his BSA and went on to do graduate work at Harvard and Cornell, where he earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 1925. He married Gwendolen Woodward in 1926. He returned to the U of S and established the Department of Farm Management, of which he was Head until his resignation in 1938. During his time at the University, Allen directed a provincial soil survey in 1935 and was in charge of the first major debt survey of rural Saskatchewan in 1936. During World War II, Allen’s duties included keeping Britain supplied with Canadian food and to negotiate trade agreements covering the sale of Canada’s agricultural products to Britain. Allen was a passenger on the S.S. Nerissa when it was sunk by a torpedo off the west coast of Scotland on 30 April 1941. Allen was listed as missing and presumed dead. Allen is memorialized with a plaque in Convocation Hall and an annual award in the College of Agriculture.

Head and shoulders image of William Allen, head, Department of Farm Management.

Bio/historical note: While the College of Agriculture was established in 1908 it was not until 1925 that a Department of Farm Management would be established with the appointment of Dr. William Allen as first professor.

Bio/Historical Note: William (Bill) Allen was born in Bristol, England, on 9 May 1892. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1911, setting up a homestead near Smiley, Saskatchewan. Allen joined the Army in 1916 and was wounded at the Somme, which resulted in the amputation of most of his left arm. After he was discharged in 1917, he enrolled in the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1922 Allen received his BSA and went on to do graduate work at Harvard and Cornell, where he earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 1925. He married Gwendolen Woodward in 1926. He returned to the U of S and established the Department of Farm Management, of which he was Head until his resignation in 1938. During his time at the University, Allen directed a provincial soil survey in 1935 and was in charge of the first major debt survey of rural Saskatchewan in 1936. During World War II, Allen’s duties included keeping Britain supplied with Canadian food and to negotiate trade agreements covering the sale of Canada’s agricultural products to Britain. Allen was a passenger on the S.S. Nerissa when it was sunk by a torpedo off the west coast of Scotland on 30 April 1941. Allen was listed as missing and presumed dead. Allen is memorialized with a plaque in Convocation Hall and an annual award in the College of Agriculture.