Another early woman mayor was Ottawa's Charlotte Whitton, appointed in late 1951 after the sudden death of the elected mayor at the time.
Extra Information From Quiz Committee: Born on Christmas Day, 1895, to Thomas and Mary Parkinson, Bernadette was one of 7 children. The family lived in a stone farmhouse on what is now Parkinson Road.
She was raised in Woodstock, attended St. Mary's School and went later to Woodstock Collegiate Institute. A red-haired beauty with green eyes, she met
and married Norman (Nick) McHardy, a young pharmacist, in about 1919. They moved to Toronto after a few years, but divorced in 1932.
Bernadette moved to Ottawa, to live with her brother, Colonel Richard Parkinson, and worked as a stenographer with many high-profile figures.
She returned to Woodstock in 1939 to look after her ailing mother, who died in January, 1940. On March 30, 1940, she married Mike Smith, Woodstock's Market Clerk, a local man who had admired and loved her when they were teenagers. Mike enrolled in the RCAF during WWII, while Bernadette Smith worked at the local liquor store: the first Woodstock woman to do so, and in the payroll section of Oxford County Victory Loan Drives.
A group of five of her women friends, concerned that 'city hall was sweeping too much under the rug', persuaded Bernadette to contest the 1948 municipal elections. Her advertised theme was that while city affairs might be a man's job, there were still enough matters concerning women that she should be elected to represent them. They set up a pyramid scheme in which each of the five agreed to contact another five, and so on; and were the first to use Woodstock's phone system to contact potential voters. It worked, and Bernadette Smith was first elected an alderman of the City of Woodstock on Dec. 6, 1948. She failed re-election in 1949, but succeeded again in 1950.
First elected as Mayor in 1951, she stayed Mayor until she was defeated by Charlie Tatham in 1956.
Bernadette always had an interest in history and took over in July 1956 as Curator of Oxford Museum after the death of the former curator, Effie Nesbitt. Oxford Museum, later renamed Woodstock Museum, was then housed in the upper floor of the Old City Hall. Two years later, her beloved husband, Mike Smith, died.
Re-elected as Mayor in 1960, Bernadette was defeated the next year by Bill Downing. Later, she won and retained a seat on council from 1962 until she was defeated in the elections for 1970. Very interested in Woodstock's heritage, she was mainly responsible for saving the Old City Hall from demolition in 1965. It is now completely taken over by the Woodstock Museum.
But, a diabetic, her health and eyesight were failing. Bernadette died on April 24, 1972. In her lifetime, Sentinel-Review editorials had praised her civic contribution, 'that few in Canada could parallel'. In final comment, it called her 'a pioneer in her own time'.
Bernadette Smith was the first woman elected Mayor in Oxford County, in the Woodstock municipal elections of 1951. Until our Curator of Woodstock Museum, Sheila Johnson, found out about Mayor Hanley's 1936 election, while on a recent family vacation in northern Ontario, it was locally believed that Mrs. Smith was Ontario's first elected woman Mayor.
Sources:
- Gail P. Puddicombe, 'Bernadette Smith, Service Above Self,' (Woodstock Museum)
- Midnorth Monitor, Feb. 1, 1994 (email: monitor@cyberbeach.net)
- Canadian Who's Who, 1948 annual edition
- James Doyle, 'Ontario History', Volume LXXIV, Vol. 2, June 2, 1992