Katharine Youdall Memorial Scholarship
Katharine Bertha Youdall (1916-1987)
Katharine Youdall was born in Vancouver, B.C. on January 11, 1916. Her grandfather came to Newfoundland in 1859, and moved to British Columbia shortly after. Her father was a B.C. land surveyor and her mother a graduate in nursing of the Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Katharine attended South Park School and Oak Bay High, graduating in 1931. She attended Victoria College at Craigdarroch Castle, and the University of British Columbia (UBC), from which she graduated in 1935 with first class honours in French. She was active in drama in high school and at university where she belonged to the Players' Club.
She took Teachers' Training at UBC and taught at Fernie and Ocean Falls before serving in the Air Force in World War II. After the war she joined the staff of Oak Bay High where she became Head of the French Department. Her interest in drama persisted, and she directed many plays for Oak Bay students. She was an active member of the Victoria Little Theatre.
Katharine loved to travel and she was an exchange teacher in England for one year and then in Tanzania for three years. This was followed by two years in Trinidad where she taught in the Normal School. On her return to Victoria in 1967, she was appointed to the staff of Victoria Secondary School, but in 1971 she was off again, this time to Germany for two years to teach children of Canadian Armed Forces personnel. She returned to Victoria Secondary School and was Head of the French Department there until her retirement in 1975.
In addition to her lifelong interest in drama, she was an active gardener and a first class amateur photographer. She was active in UNICEF, and served as its president in Victoria.