Blodwen Piercy will be especially missed by colleagues fortunate to have worked with her over the years in Canadian Humanist Publications (publisher of Humanist Perspectives Magazine), Humanist Canada and Humanist Ottawa.
Those who knew Blodwen Piercy were sorry to learn that she died on January 12, 2024, at the age of 97. She will be especially missed by colleagues fortunate to have worked with her over the years in Canadian Humanist Publications ( publisher of Humanist Perspectives Magazine), Humanist Canada and Humanist Ottawa. Here is a short account of Blodwen’s good and productive life.
Blodwen grew up in Montreal, Quebec. As a youth, she was an accomplished swimming and diving competitor. After high school, Blodwen moved to Vancouver to study physics at the University of British Columbia. This was followed by a PhD at Imperial College in London in the 1950s.
It would be difficult to reminisce about Blodwen without including her husband of 57 years, Joe Piercy, who started working at the National Research Council in 1948. Blodwen became acquainted with him while going on canoe trips organized by the Ottawa YM-YWCA. Joe went to study at the Imperial College in London at the same time as did Blodwen.
After returning to Canada in 1955, Blodwen returned to the National Research Council as a research physicist. Joe joined the Acoustics Section in NRC, also as a research physicist, and they married in 1956. They had three children: Peter, Megan and Jocelyn, and Blodwen retired early to care for them.
While raising a family, Blodwen was also a committed feminist and social activist. She worked in organizations such as Educating for Peace and the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League. Records of her work in these organizations are stored in The Canadian Women’s Movement Archives at the University of Ottawa: https://arcs-atom.uottawa.ca/index.php/blodwen-piercy-fonds.
With the young children, they all enjoyed canoeing and swimming, then skiing and skating in winter. Joe designed and drew plans for the house he and Blodwen built in 1960. Eventually, they decided to also build a cabin on a lake property in Quebec. By 1972 they had a willing helper in their 14-year-old son and there were some construction jobs for the girls in the family too. All went well and the whole family appreciated spending much time at the cabin.
Blodwen became interested in the abortion issue in the late 1960s and attended an event in 1968 put on by AMCAL (Association for Modernization of the Canadian Abortion Law — a small but active Ottawa group) with Dr Henry Morgentaler as one of their speakers. Everything that Morgentaler said about the abortion issue was so rational and humane that she asked an AMCAL friend about him, and thus was introduced to humanism. Dr Morgentaler was active in the Montreal Humanist Fellowship and also in founding the Humanist Association of Canada that year.
Meanwhile, the Humanist Association of Ottawa (HAO) was also being formed, so Joe and Blodwen attended an early meeting of HAO in 1969. The meeting was chaired by Joan Gawn, the first HAO president and a remarkable schoolteacher from England. Joan briefly described humanism, including its ethics and goals. She spoke passionately and virtually radiated humanism. Neither Joe nor Blodwen had been believers for many years, so they joined the HAO in 1969 and became lifelong members. They quickly subscribed to the Humanist in Canada magazine which was published in Victoria at the time by Lloyd Brereton.
Production of the Humanist in Canada magazine moved to Ottawa in 1983, and Canadian Humanist Publications (CHP) was created to be its publisher. Blodwen was a key contributor to the quarterly magazine (renamed Humanist Perspectives in 2005) for nearly 30 years. She and Joe were both long-time editors of the magazine. Blodwen was certainly a dedicated supporter to what has been the only humanist magazine published in Canada.
Blodwen firmly supported Henry Morgentaler and the abortion rights movement and was always eager to include articles submitted to the magazine by him. She felt that Henry exemplified humanism.
Blodwen and Joe were also active members of Humanist Canada and Humanist Ottawa. They served as President of both these organizations. The Piercys enjoyed hosting many lively Humanist gatherings at their home in Rothwell Heights. In 2018, Blodwen received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Humanist Ottawa.
It was always a pleasure to be in Blodwen’s company. She was congenial, attentive, motivated and intelligent. Her contributions to this magazine will be missed, including having her present the CHP board meetings.
Blodwen and Joe served the humanist cause faithfully, if I may use that word, over the years. They were recognized for their contribution in 1998 when jointly presented with the Humanist of the Year Award by Humanist Canada. The foundation that Blodwen and Joe helped to build for Canadian Humanism will continue to serve Canadians as society becomes increasingly secular.
Blodwen Piercy’s fifty years of commitment to improve the quality of human life through reason and compassion has been a valuable contribution to humanism and to Canada. 