SHE FOLLOWED HER DREAM AND ACHIEVED GREATNESS
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ACK IN THE l950s,Gwendolyn(Peters)Tonge was a young home economist working in Antigua. She happened to read a brochure about Macdonald Institute and thought: "I would like to attend that school." And so she did, but it wasn't easy getting here. Tonge began her career as an unpaid teacher-trainee in a village school. She eventually gained housecraft training in Barbados and later studied home economics at the University of Puerto Rico. She taught home economics, but wanted to improve her skills. When she came across that Macdonald Institute brochure, she set her sights on coming to Canada. First turned down for a government scholarship, Tonge was eventually offered a scholarship provided by two wealthy Antiguans who were impressed by her work with low-income families. They sent her to school, but not in Canada. She went instead to Cornell University. At Cornell, Tonge told two classmates about her desire to attend Macdonald Institute. They secretly wrote to Prof. Margaret McCready, then principal of
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the institute. Even though McCready had never met Tonge, she wrote a letter to the minister of education in Antigua to ask permission for Tonge to transfer to Guelph. What a surprise when Tonge received a letter advising her to report to Prof. McCready in Canada. Tonge graduated in I959, returned to her family in Antigua and began a career that has earned her recognition far beyond the borders of her island homeland. She worked as a home economist to improve the quality of life throughout the British Caribbean. She was president of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists, published the first collection of Antiguan recipes and hosted a television cooking show for more than 40 years. She has also been a strong advocate of women, retiring only last year as the prime minister's commissioner for gender and special adviser to the minister of health and social improvement in Antigua. Tonge has received the Queen's jubilee Medal and the Order of the British Empire and is a Member of the British Empire.
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Winter 2005 13