Whiting, Ragnhild (1912-2018) : Born in Norway in 1912, Ragnhild Whiting (nee Almqvist) came to Canada in 1927, when her father took a position with the Canadian International Pulp and Paper Company (CIPP) of Temiskaming. Carl Oscar Almqvist had been recruited by the CIPP of Temiskaming to work as an engineer. He had first come to Canada to supervise the installation of some equipment the company had bought in Norway. Liking his work, the company took him on permanently and he remained with the Canadian International Pulp and Paper Company for the rest of his working life.
At the age of 18, Ragnhild returned to Norway to study physiotherapy. Returning to Canada at the age of 21, she got married and for the next 30 years worked as a housewife. In 1963, she entered McGill University and successfully completed her Canadian Physiotherapy Registration exams. During the next 15 years she organized departments of physiotherapy in Hawkesbury and Ingersoll, campaigned for better nursing homes and was instrumental in the development of a very modern home in Ingersoll. She then moved to Windsor where she continued her professional career at Windsor Western Hospital until her retirement in 1977.
In 1980, on behalf of the Huron Diocese of the Anglican Church, Mrs. Whiting went to Haiti to work with poor children. At Sister Joan's St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, she worked as a physiotherapist in the orthopaedic clinic that served the 250 handicapped and destitute children living at the school. Since then she has returned every year at her own expense to work for 6 to 8 months with the poor. In 1984 Mrs. Whiting helped to organize the Physiotherapy Association in Haiti. She has also devoted considerable time to founding a school for rehabilitation workers in Haiti for the French-speaking Caribbean. Ragnhild Whiting and write-up on Ragnhild Whiting when she received her Honorary Doctorate from the University of Windsor in 1990.
Ragnhild Whiting passed away in 2018 at the age of 106.
