Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. Agnes Hudson Chapter (Salmon Arm, B.C.)

The Agnes Hudson Chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire was based in Salmon Arm, B.C. The group organized on April 3, 1947. Mrs. R.J. Sprott, of Vancouver, presented the charter as the provincial organizing secretary.

The organization was named for Agnes Hudson, a pioneer of Salmon Arm. Mrs. Sarah Agnes Hudson McGuire owned and operated McGuire's General Store and an eating establishment in Salmon Arm at the turn of the century.

Charter members were Mrs. John Boydell, Mrs. A.B. Ritchie, Miss A.M. Day, Mrs. G.S.M. Larder, Mrs. A. Bedford, Mrs. Frank Burne, Mrs. Robert Turner, Mrs. David Johnson, Mrs. Don Cameron, Miss Gertrude Bennett, Mrs. Frank Marshall, Mrs. K.A. Hunter, Mrs. Stuart C. Elliot, Mrs. C.R. Barlow, Mrs. E. Belli-Bivar, Mrs. E. Dettelbach, Mrs. S.M. Edgar, Mrs. J.R. Graham, Mrs. E. Max Ladner, Mrs. Rex Lingford, Mrs. W.H. Preston, Mrs. G.P. Sharpe and Mrs. W.E. Whitlock.

The parent body, a national concern, was established earlier in 1900 as the largest voluntary, patriotic, non-sectarian, non-partisan, and philanthropic women's organization in Canada. Its motto was "One Flag, One Throne, One Empire".

According to IODE literature, some of the aims of the national organization were to: stimulate patriotism, foster unity in the Empire, assist the youth in Canada in furthering their education, give aid, in peace and war, to men and women of the services and to dependents of ex-service personnel, promote high citizenship among all citizens, British and "foreign born", and cherish the memory of brave and heroic deeds.

Projects undertaken in Salmon Arm were to: send two food parcels every month to Great Britain, sponsor a fashion show, supply indigent parents with clothing, milk and bottles, contribute to the Manitoba Flood Relief, donate to Queen Mary's carpet, subscribe to Westminster Abbey Fund, showed films at a nursing home, place a wreath on Cenotaph yearly, donate to Cancer and Arthritic Societies yearly, donate to Flood Relief Lowlands of Europe, sent three Christmas parcel/year overseas, provide linen to Salmon Arm General Hospital, parade for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, 1951 and the Viscount and Lady Alexander, distribute 100 flags among school children, donate trees to the new High School Grounds, knit for Koreans and Save the Children Fund, provide picture frames for 9 silk prints and 8 paintings by Canadian artists, and raise funds by bake sales, musicals, bridge and card parties, and garden parties.

Salmon Arm, B.C.

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