June S. Menzies, honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient, awaits presentation at Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: June Susanna Menzies was born in 1925 in Arcola, Saskatchewan and later moved to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The local Member of Parliament, John G. Diefenbaker, encouraged her father to move to Saskatoon so his children could attend good high schools and the University. Immediately after high school, against her father’s wishes, June enlisted in the Armed Forces. She went to Japanese language school in Vancouver, and worked as an intelligence officer in Fort Richie, Maryland. After the war, she met her husband Merrill Menzies at University who was also studying economics. They lived in Canada and in London, where Merrill was taking his PhD in Economics. June worked as a volunteer chair of the Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women, changing laws to increase equality and civil rights, and had a lengthy career as a senior civil servant in Ottawa, including Chair of the Anti-inflation Board (1976) and Chair of the National Farm Products Marketing Council for 13 years. Menzies was named to the Order of Canada in 1980. After retirement, June and Merrill settled in Winnipeg, where she continued to do social justice work with homeless and AIDS sufferers. Menzies died in Terrace, British Columbia, on 10 Aug. 2020, at age 91.