Tait

(from various newspaper clippings)

George E. Tait (1910–2000) was born in Sarnia and raised in Watford. He was the son of James Edward Tait and Maude Eliza Harrower. George had one brother, Donald. James Edward was a civil engineer who worked for the railway; his wife taught school. George also taught school, in London, Ont.

George Tait married Reginae Stapleford of Watford in 1938. They had one son, Gary E. Stapleford. During World War II the couple was stationed in Bogota, Columbia, to run an English school. Later George became a professor of education at the University of Toronto and then a school inspector in Huntsville and Welland. Dr. Tait became a well-known author and illustrator of over 20 children’s literature and history textbooks. His books include The Silent Gulls and The Unknown People: Indians of North America.

Reginae, a committed volunteer and social activist, led a life of “firsts”. She was one of the founding members of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and one of the first women serving as Lay Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada (1974–1987). She served as the first woman president of the Health League of Canada (1980–1982) and governor and the first woman executive member of Frontier College. Reginae, during her long involvement with IODE, a national women’s charitable organization, initiated projects for the care of premature babies and hearing impaired children in the Yukon and the North West Territories.

The Taits both toured the Arctic to document and establish the needs in health and education in Eskimo settlements. In 1974 they were part of the second Franklin Probe Expedition under the command of Stuart Hodgson, commissioner of the Northwest Territories. The purpose of this probe was to gain further knowledge about Sir John Franklin’s 1845 tragic expedition in the Arctic.

Reginae Stapleford and her husband George Tait, 1999. Courtesy L McGregor.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Tait Family

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