Hilary Yates Clark

About

Where was your favourite place study on campus?

My favorite place to study at UBC was in the Riddington Room in the Library.

How did your time at UBC help you on your career path?

I learned from every aspect of UBC. I was very active on the executive of the Home Economics student society, planning events and also representing our faculty on the L.S.E. I played grass hockey for UBC and have my "Big Block". I sang with Mussoc, did make-up for their operettas, and belonged to both Phrateres and Alpha Delta Pi sorority. I loved all the dance events, especially Mardi Gras and the Engineers' Ball and was a member of the (noon hours) Dance Club. All of this on top of a 6 day week of classes from 8:30am- 4:00pm. I maintained a 2nd class average, and in my final year was inducted into the women's honorary society, Delta Sigma Pi.

I had a wonderful time! All of this helped my career as a teacher, a journalist, and especially as a mother of three allergic children, whom I know I couldn't have kept alive and healthy without my Home Economics nutrition training.

What was a highlight of your time at UBC?

Realizing the absence of any help in the community (this is 1966) for people trying to feed hypo- allergenic children, I founded "Allergies Unlimited" as a night school class in meal planning. This eventually morphed into the Toronto chapter of the Allergy Information Society, writing this for an article in "Chatelaine". This started my writing career. I returned to UBC for my master's degree in 1990 after I had started teaching at Capilano University, and it was great getting back on campus. I'm still writing today, at 91, and during the Covid pandemic, I published two memoirs of my parents' lives.

For Hilary’s commitment to community service, she was honoured to receive the Queen's Jubilee medal in 2012.