TMU long-term staff member leaves lasting gift

In 1983, more than 11 years before she would retire from TMU’s Department of Civil Engineering, Audrey Bowes was celebrated for her 25 years of service. In his recognition speech, James Abel, then chair of the department, noted that when Bowes started at the university, it had about 2,000 students, and “was a friendly and family type of institute.”

For Bowes, who retired in 1994 and passed away last year at the age of 92, the school never lost that sense of home and community. She loved the students and loved interacting with them. She loved being the point person in the office, and she always spoke proudly of the institution, her department and its growth. She valued being a part of the university’s story and being connected to its growing place in the city.

A strong advocate for education and a proud staff member for more than 36 years, Bowes left TMU $400,000 in her will. Her estate gift will be directed to bursary support for women in engineering, with special consideration for women with a disability. Her gift is a reflection of her care and pride for her department.

The path to TMU

Bowes grew up in Aylsham, a farming community in northern Saskatchewan. She rode a horse to school and helped her parents on the farm. The largest nearby town, Nipawin, had a population of about 4,000 people and is just shy of 350 km north of Regina. Bowes was studying to become a secretary when, at 21, she contracted polio, affecting her right leg. 

Her mother, who helped her through a difficult course of rehabilitation, encouraged her in recovery to move to either British Columbia or Toronto, where they had family. In 1958, at 28 years old, she arrived in Toronto to find her first “real job.” She was hired to work on the switchboard at TMU – then Ryerson Polytechnic, just 10 years old itself.

In 1958, when Bowes joined TMU, the school was led by its founder and first principal H. H. Kerr (the Kerr of Kerr Hall). Audrey worked briefly on the switchboard, and spent several years as an executive secretary in the principal’s office, before joining the Civil Engineering (Civil Technology) department in 1970.

Gwen Merrick, co-executor of Bowes’ estate and a lifelong friend to Bowes, notes “Audrey was so committed – more than just a strong work ethic. At a certain point, she needed crutches because of her leg and, one snowy day, was unable to get from her car to the entrance of the building. Two students spotted her, actually carried her to the entryway, and off she went to the office.”

In her thank you notes to attendees to her retirement dinner, Bowes said simply: “I will always have happy memories of [TMU].” 

A vision for the future

In Abel’s speech on Audrey’s 25-year anniversary, he noted that she was prescient about the direction the institution was heading: “Audrey has foresight; she realized that the administration would become more complex to accommodate growing enrollment and the changing character of the institute…She enrolled in the advanced management program in the Evening Studies Division and, after three and a half years of part-time studies, Bowes completed all the requirements for the certificate in 1977.”

In an interview that year in the Forum newsletter – a forerunner of TorontoMet Today – Bowes noted, “We all seemed to have a common understanding of what we were trying to do. Dr. Kerr had a vision of the future and we felt we were part of that.”

When Bowes retired 11 years later, Terry Grier was president and the institution was made a university. When she started, the tools of her trade were manual typewriters and carbon paper, but she was constantly moving with the times and on top of the skills of her trade.

The first Audrey Bowes Award for Women in Engineering will be awarded in September of 2024.

To find out more about planning an estate gift like Audrey’s, please visit torontomu.ca/plannedgiving.