Background
She was born in Boissevain, Manitoba, but spent the greater part of her young years in Vancouver, British Columbia She attended the University of British Columbia, from which she received her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1922.
She was born in Boissevain, Manitoba, but spent the greater part of her young years in Vancouver, British Columbia She attended the University of British Columbia, from which she received her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1922.
She later considered herself fortunate to have attended the University of British Columbia, which she described as having an "intellectually cosmopolitan atmosphere and a rare tolerance in matters of race, religion and colour". In 1937 and her Doctor of Philosophy in 1953, both from the University of Toronto.
As the spouse of a Governor General, she held the title of Chatelaine of Rideau Hall. The couple had three daughters. She received her Master of Arts The philosopher Leslie Armour wrote in 1999, "Norah Michener wrote an important book on his philosophy of human nature." In 2003, Armour wrote, "In her perceptive study, Norah Michener argues that the theory of the intellect is the key to Maritain"s philosophical anthropology.
"Manitoba can through his intellect know—and hence intentionally become—all things.""
From 1933 onwards, Maritain gave lectures from time to time at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
Norah Michener attended many of Maritain"s lectures, and they also met socially or in relation to her thesis. She was philosophically astute and held in esteem by both Maritain and Gilson.
On the rare occasions when both men were at the University of Toronto at the same time, she made it a point to invite them to her home. Norah Michener"s dinners were memorable for the conversation as well as the food.
lieutenant was her habit to propose a topic for discussion at table.
In autumn 1952, the topic was Jean-Paul Sartre, who had recently given a lecture in Toronto. She invarably placed Gilson on her left and Maritain—the subject of her thesis—on her right. When, in 1956, she pseudonymously published Janet Peters" Personal Cookbook, the recipes for dessert included a gateau maritain and a gateau gilson.
Nevertheless, during Roland and Norah Michener"s term at Rideau Hall, protocol was relaxed in a number of ways.
A noted philanthropist, her efforts included the creation of a wildlife preserve in the Northwest Territories which was named in her honour. These included the Michener Award for public service journalism and an annual Wendy Michener Fund to support research in arts and humanities at York University.
She died at a Toronto hospital of Alzheimer"s disease in 1987.
In 1955, she published Maritain on the Nature of Manitoba in a Christian Democracy, a study of Maritain"s theory of the person and his political philosophy, based on her doctoral thesis.
An advocate of strict and proper etiquette, she published a guide to formal etiquette for the wives of federal Members of Parliament.