Hall of Fame
Arlene Gryfe
by Helen Hatton
Arlene Gryfe was educated at the University of Toronto, and obtained an Honours B.A. in Household Economics 1957. The School of Household Economics was founded by Lillian Massey to teach women, and presumably their maids, more refined and I suppose efficient methods of running a household.
When Barbara McLaren became Dean, she chose to make Household Economics a real science course. Arlene got to know Dean McLaren very well as the Dean had had a stroke and was cared for by Arlene and her three room mates while they were doing their Home Suite course.
A summer university job was at Moffats Limited where Arlene trained women to demonstrate general appliances as well as their newly introduced microwave oven. It was a monster; the size of a Buick, and just beginning to be used in restaurants and other food service locations.
After graduating, Arlene went to work for an ice cream company to develop more flavours. Her boss wanted alcoholic ice creams for special events (and idea whose time has now come!), but he became ill and the son had to cancel the research. Arlene’s career in ice cream was over.
But that was Arlene’s gain as she decided to go back to university and get her Master’s degree in Nutrition; and what would you have studied after a year in ice cream? Arlene’s thesis subject was: The Psychological Aspects of Obesity; one of her examiners for the oral was Dr. Elizabeth Chant Robertson. Arlene said you can really sum up my research as: "You’re unhappy, you eat more!"
Arlene, now in university and pregnant with their first son Alan, ran a weight loss clinic at the U of T two days a week, and when she graduated in 1959, she was no longer pregnant but a full fledged Mom. Alan's sister Brenda was born in 1960, and Leah in 1965. Many of us remember Leah, she’s the talented graphic artist who created and designed our OHEIB logo.
Arlene had a part time job as a Public Relations speaker for Standard Brands. She would give talks at night and provide sandwiches spread with Fleischmann’s margarine! Not surprisingly, these lectures were quite popular!
Later, she joined the Faculty of Food Sciences (now the Department of Nutrition within the Faculty of Medicine) at the University of Toronto, where she lectured to undergraduates and conducted nutritional surveys. Arlene did very well, and rose to the rank of Assistant Professor.
In 1970, the Gryfe’s moved to England where husband Cig specialized in Geriatrics. The choice by the way, was London or Baltimore! After a year, they had a six months travel fellowship award, so spent the first half of 1971 driving around Europe studying international geriatric programs. Amazingly, they wound up in Russia when it was still very much a closed country, and Arlene says as a result of that experience none of the Gryfe family ever, ever fails to vote.
Back home the family settled in. Arlene returned to teaching at Humber College, Family and Consumer Studies Program as a course lecturer in "General Nutrition" and in "Nutrition for the Developmentally Handicapped", and became a Brown Owl with the Canadian Girl Guide Association.
For 10 years beginning in 1975, Arlene was a Resident Home Economist for Dominion Stores Limited, providing information to customers on food, nutrition and products, and interpreting consumers' attitudes to company personnel.
In this capacity, she also lectured and gave food demonstrations to community groups and on TV.
This work in the community got her a "Priory Vote of Thanks" from St. Johns Ambulance, signed by Lt. Governor Ed Schreyer. She earned it; Arlene described an all day holiday demonstration in St. Catherine’s; her part was stuffing the turkey; the crowd then moved on to the next booth for another demo. Arlene said "All day long I stuffed, and then unstuffed that bird; I would then wash it out and have it clean and ready for the next group. I took back to the hotel room that night and threw it in the garbage fearing that if it were left at the demo site, someone would have taken it as a "free" turkey." Ah, the glamorous life of a home economist…
In 1984, she and Cig established Gryfe Health Services Consultants Incorporated. Some of the work included lectures on nutrition, recipe development and translating American recipes to British. For instance, "roast" to "joint" and all the different measurements that each country seems to use.
Then, in June 1996 they sold their house; the closing was set for August. However, a plum assignment in Bermuda came along, so they moved tons of packed boxes to their apartment in Market Square. Arlene continued her consultant work on one phone line while Cig organized Bermuda on the other. One of Arlene's clients was Weight Watchers. Seems that the original package instructions were not clear on their Rice and Pasta products, and wisely, Heinz hired Arlene to "do everything possible that a consumer could do wrong to these prepared dishes", The company would counter that with detailed and clearer directions supplied by Arlene.
After the move, Arlene commuted between Bermuda and Toronto. Most of the time, all went well, but on one project she found to her horror that all the cookie recipes developed in Bermuda for a publisher in Quebec just couldn’t be reproduced in Canada. Oops, realized Arlene; the humidity in Bermuda is about 90%, and Quebec less than half; they were redone on Arlene’s next trip home.
Arlene’s other work has included recipe development, food photography, cookbook translations and editing of food and nutrition publications. Her clients included the Ontario Educational Television, the Ontario Milk Marketing Board where she was one of the authors in their best selling "Good and Thrifty" cookbook and the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency where her recipe booklets were also translated into French.
Arlene is warm and loving, always helpful, well organized and has worked long and hard to forward the profession of home economics and foster growth in our professional groups. I suspect that she’s held every office available several times over. Arlene is also a born teacher; she’s been doing it most of her adult life, and is still teaching. She loves her large extended family. Next month, 50 plus family will be at the Gryfe’s for a Show and Tell. Each person, no matter the age, gets a few minutes to stand up and talk about something important. One of her grandsons is doing Tinker Toys!
A very nice ending to Arlene’s Biography so Far is that she and Cyril are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary next year! What a life! Congratulations Arlene!
From Arlene Gryfe
I’m greatly honoured to have been selected for this award, but I realize that I have now officially been moved to a different category. For years, Helen has been saying to me, "We agree that you deserve this award, but you’re not old enough." Well, I guess I’m now deemed to be "old enough."
When I graduated in 1957, I was part of a small class of 17 at the University of Toronto. At that time, jobs were plentiful, and we all just sat around discussing whether we wanted to go into business, dietetics, or teaching. Can you believe that we simply made a few phone calls, and all was set? The job situation is much more difficult now, but as you can see, the Home Economist In Business still survives.
My affiliation with various Home Economics Associations began in 1975 when I joined other Home Economists at Dominion Stores Limited. Back then, businesses had tons of money. We could convince them of the important liaison role that an In-Store Home Economist would play as a provider of nutrition and product information to the public, and a surveyor of consumer opinions to manufacturers and purveyors of goods and services. (However, when money became tight a decade or so later, they had no qualms about cancelling the service.) Back then, we were urged to get involved, and I joined THEA, CHEA and HEIB.
When I joined, Mary Adams was the Administrator for both the Toronto Home Economics Association, and the Ontario Home Economists In Business. Since both organizations were growing in size, she wished to sever the two positions, and asked for a volunteer to wear one of the hats. I volunteered because I knew it would be a good way to get to know other people. I realized that I had big shoes to fill when I went through the records that were passed along to me. Mary always recorded how many meeting notices were sent out, and how many actually attended. At one particular meeting, she had sent out 84 notices, and 84 people came! I was going to have to work hard to match that record!
However, my obligations did not seem like work at all. As many of you are aware, I enjoy organizing things, sometimes to a fault. (While watching me prepare a meal, my sister-in-law once commented on the fact that I keep my spices in alphabetical order. During cleanup, she commented, in surprise, "You even put them back in order!")
Eventually I grew to know all the members, by face, by reputation or by affiliation with a particular business. I came to realize how varied and extensive are the talents of our members, and the multiplicity of their businesses. Many, of course, are food-related, but even here there are many kinds of jobs – recipe development, food preparation, photography (with all its tricks), writing, teaching, regulatory affairs, and so on. Other home economists had jobs in counselling, textiles, research of various sorts, and design. But all had a common background and training, bringing us together.
When our organization approached 100 in numbers, we realized that we could no longer continue on a casual basis, and arranged to become incorporated. Here again, the multiple talents of our members shone through and the process of incorporation was carried out by volunteers within our own membership.
To-day, while other organizations are grappling with the problems of declining membership, our own seems to have continued to grow. Some years there are more members, some years a few less, but always well above the hundred mark. What is it that we are doing so well?
I believe that it is our willingness to share ideas, actively seek and mentor new members, trust the younger ones in responsible positions, and general help each other when we can. We developed the Freelance Directory and when one of us was called upon for a project for which we could not be available, we recommended one of our colleagues. This helpfulness was demonstrated to me in ample detail when my husband was offered a position in Bermuda in 1996. Although his position was full-time, I kept my contacts and obligations and travelled back to Toronto for one week each month. During that week, I tried to do the month’s work that awaited me and then return to Bermuda. I had a great deal of help from my daughter, Leah. Not only Leah, but all the HEIB executive were understanding of my predicament, and offered unlimited help when needed. As I recall, they even arranged some Executive meetings to coincide with the times that I would be back in Toronto.
As beautiful as the scenery is in Bermuda, and it is truly magnificent, we terminated our stint in Bermuda after nine months. (I could have had a baby---and my older daughter actually did!) Although we could have extended the contract if we wished, we were anxious to return to our family, friends, colleagues, and our comfortable routine. Being away for that time emphasized the point that none of us is indispensable. I began to feel that 25 years as Administrator was ample contribution, and that I should allow someone else to bring forth new energy and ideas. Barb Holland applied and was accepted for the position, and we can all see how ably and effortlessly she works.
Because HEIB is composed of such a great group of women, I can now withdraw from active participation knowing that the future of this organization is in good hands. To have been chosen by my peers for this award is truly a great honour. I will treasure this bowl always, and I thank all of you very much.