Background
Thérèse Vanier was born on February 27, 1923 in Camberley, Surrey to Pauline Vanier (née Archer), an appointed member of the Queen"s Privy Council for Canada and Georges Vanier, a decorated soldier and former Governor General of Canada.
Thérèse Vanier was born on February 27, 1923 in Camberley, Surrey to Pauline Vanier (née Archer), an appointed member of the Queen"s Privy Council for Canada and Georges Vanier, a decorated soldier and former Governor General of Canada.
She co-founded L"Arche United Kingdom, a branch of the international organization dedicated to the communal care of people with learning disabilities, establishing the first community near Canterbury in 1974. Her third name, Chérisy, marks the location in France where her father lost a leg in the trenches during World War I. Vanier was the eldest of five children. Her brother Jean Vanier, a trained naval officer and Catholic philosopher founded the first L"Arche community in Trosly-Breuil, France in 1964.
As a young adult Vanier studied at Mayfield in Sussex.
At the age of 19, she signed up with the British Mechanised Transport Corps and sailed in a convey as part of the Battle of the Atlantic. Vanier went on to join the Canadian Women's Army Corps, eventually rising to the rank of captain.
After the World World War II Vanier studied medicine at the Sorbonne and Cambridge University. Vanier completed her clinical studies at Street Thomas’ Hospital in Central London where she became the first female consultant in haematology.
In 1972 Vanier resigned from her position at Street Thomas" Hospital to join Saunders at Street Christopher"s where she taught and pursued clinical work in the burgeoning field of palliative care.
Vanier opened the first English L"Arche community in January 1974 near Cantebury. She went on to personally oversee the opening of four other communities. Today there are ten communities in the United Kingdom, including one in Lambeth, South London where Vanier lived until her death in 2014.
