Hall of Fame
Margaret Howard
by Helen Hatton
The OHEIB Hall of Fame Award was established 25 years ago when it was realized that some of our younger members did not know of the many accomplishments of our pioneer Home Economists. These outstanding women helped define our profession and were indeed often the first in their fields. All past Hall of Fame Award recipients and their fascinating biographies are profiled on the OHEIB website. This year, the award goes to Margaret Howard.
Marg’s impressive professional accomplishments in her long career include dietetic internship, Canada Packers food laboratory, Consumers’ Gas, Lawry’s Foods, Thomas J. Lipton, and Foodland Ontario plus 16 best selling cookbooks including the “Choice Menus” series, frequently recommended by diabetes educators.
Born in London Ontario, she was instructed by her father that she must have a profession, as a degree was simply not enough. At the University of Western Ontario, there were many possibilities. Nursing was one choice but it required a first year of basic studies there, then training elsewhere. Marg didn’t want to leave London so she switched to Home Economics at Brescia College within Western, and lived at home with her family. She graduated from Western in 1952 majoring in Home Economics, and then interned at Toronto General Hospital.
Her internship at TGH, with a salary of $25 a month, was described as “slave labour! We did 12-hour shifts, 7 to 7 with a couple of hours off, but all meals had to be covered. Plus we counselled patients, worked with diabetics, created low-sodium and low-residue diets and worked on other specialty food needs. If you weren’t on the floor, you were in lectures or standing at the kitchen conveyor belt checking meals for correctness.”
After internship, Marg was offered a job in the hospital bakery but said “I didn’t come through all this schooling to supervise pastries!” It was time to move on! Marg went to Canada Packers where she worked in the bakery research lab, noting that it was more interesting and scientific than supervising bakery products. While there, she assisted with promotion and advertising, developing cookbooks and recipes, and running cooking schools.
When Marg went for her interview at Canada Packers, John Howard (whom Marg had known for a while) was working there at the time, and spotted Marg. He waited until her interview was over and suggested a coffee date. Marg got the job, and John got Marg. They were married in 1955.
In those days you couldn’t work in same company as your husband, so Marg found another job at Consumers’ Gas as one of the “Betty Bright” Home Economists. What an operation! Four Home Economists/dietitians were on staff answering consumer calls, working on advertising and promotion, writing recipes and cookbooks and running the popular cooking schools not only in their huge Blue Flame Room on Toronto Street but as far away as Windsor.
She left Consumers’ Gas in 1956 when their first child was born, but continued teaching hostess cooking, holiday cooking and gourmet cooking at night school. Their second son was born in 1959. Meanwhile, John left Canada Packers to take a position with Ontario Hydro in Barrie, where they had two more children. They returned to Toronto in the mid-60s when John was promoted to the Ontario Hydro head office.
In Toronto, Marg taught night school for Etobicoke Hydro and in the 70s, started freelancing for Foodland Ontario. Marg said, “Our family kitchen became a test kitchen for Foodland Ontario. They’d come to our kitchen to taste. It was a godsend for a young family with four children; there was always a lot of food which we also shared with the neighbours.”
In the early 80s, Marg started working for Lawry's Foods collaborating with the headquarters’ Home Economists in California on a cookbook, attending cooking schools in Mexico and doing media tours across Canada. When Lowry’s merged with Thomas J. Lipton, Marg was promoted to Manager, Consumer Services.
At the same time Marg became more involved with THEA, then CHEA, OHEA and OHEIB. Through her contacts with other consumer products corporations, Marg worked hard to increase the visibility of Home Economists and promote their value. She also encouraged those working with her to become members and get involved in these professional associations. Marg became a mentor to many Home Economics students who worked for her during the summers, who then in turn, became mentors for others.
When Marg’s position at Lipton’s dissolved, she used her past experience with recipe testing to coordinate and test entries for the Canadian Dietetic Association’s cookbook, “Eat Well, Live Well,” coauthored with Helen Bishop MacDonald. This was a turning point in her career. At an age when many begin to think about retiring, Marg and Home Economist Ellie Topp coauthored “Healthy Home Cooking” for CHEA, and Marg never looked back.
Eighteen years ago Marg and John moved to Leith, just outside Owen Sound, where Marg just keeps on producing cookbooks. She and her coauthors have produced a total of 16 books on everything from sensible eating, barbecuing, preserving, and even baby food. The “Choice Menus” cookbook, written with Marjorie Hollands, is the latest in the best-selling series that is still being revised and updated.
Marg is also very involved with her local community, and volunteers for the Big Sisters Organization, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Grey-Bruce Home Economics Association, Owen Sound Canadian Federation of University Women and the Leith United Church. In her spare time she writes food columns for the local newspaper and lectures locally, promoting healthy eating.
Marg and John have celebrated 53 years of marriage and have four children and nine grandchildren. She's a great role model for all of us, and a great friend. No one deserves the OHEIB Hall of Fame more than Marg Howard.
- condensed from a presentation by Helen Hatton