Fonds F1965 - Leonora C. Woods fonds

Leonora Christine Eby, 1875-1960, was born in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Fisher Eby. She married Colonel James Hossack Woods, 1868-1941, in 1900 and they came to Calgary, Alberta in 1907 when Colonel Woods became managing director of the Calgary Herald. In 1910, Mrs. Woods organized the Young Women’s Benevolent Club (later the Samaritan Club) and served as president and honourary president for many years. In 1914, she was elected the first president of the Alberta Board of the Canadian Red Cross Society. She was interested in, and donated money to, many organizations including the Victorian Order of Nurses, of which she was a board member and member of the auxiliary.

After Colonel Woods died in 1941, she donated a stained glass window in his memory to Christ Church in Elbow Park, where they had been long-time members. In 1949, she gave two chalets to the Banff School of Fine Arts, also as a memorial to her late husband. Her personal financial corporation, Gables Securities, was incorporated in 1922 and administered by Managers Limited, an Eric Harvie company. This was dissolved after her death and the assets transferred to the Woods Foundation which was to distribute some of her assets in a charitable manner. It wound up in 1969. Eric Harvie was Mrs.Woods solicitor and a trustee of her estate. Colonel and Mrs. Woods had one daughter, Eleanor Carson (MacDonald) Ingram.