Hazel Partridge-Smith Scholarship in Creative Writing
Hazel Partridge-Smith (1902 - 1991)
Hazel Partridge-Smith loved to write. She remembered the tales her father told her about being a pioneer in Fort Victoria, and she wrote them down. They were later produced as a series of short stories on CBC Radio. She also wrote a column for the Oak Bay Leader. When Hazel died at the age of 88, her niece remembered her aunt's love of writing and created a scholarship and a bursary in her name.
Hazel's father, Frank (Francis) Partridge, was born in England and came to Victoria in 1862 as a small boy on a clipper ship named Silistra. Also on that clipper ship were Hazel's maternal grandparents, who were just married; Hazel's mother, Gertrude Moss, was born in Victoria after they arrived. After Frank and Gertrude were married, Hazel was born, also in Victoria. She attended and graduated from Victoria High School.
Hazel's paternal grandmother was one of Victoria's first teachers, teaching aboard a warship anchored in Esquimalt Harbour.
Remembers Gertrude Dennis of her aunt Hazel: "She was the brightest, most cheerful person. She lived 60 years in her house on Bond Street in Fairfield and had so many friends. She was so dearly loved by myself, my three daughters and four grandchildren."
It was Gertrude Dennis who read her aunt's stories on CBC Radio. As executor of her aunt's estate, she decided the most fitting way to remember her aunt was to offer a new generation of aspiring writers the opportunity to pursue the same dream dreamed by Hazel Partridge-Smith.