Goldie Roberts fonds

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of news clippings and seven photographs of her volunteer work.

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of news clippings and seven photographs of her volunteer work.

History Biographical: Goldie Roberts, her husband Morris, and their three daughters, Molly, Celia and Eileen emigrated to Canada in 1924 after Morris had served in the Russian Army in World War I. The family settled first in Chatham, Ontario and subsequently moved to Ottawa in 1928. Morris’s death in 1938 left Goldie Roberts with three children to raise. She made use of her talented hands and worked as a seamstress and dressmaker for the rest of her career. During World War II, Goldie Roberts made an important contribution to both the Jewish and non-Jewish servicemen of Ottawa. “She carried on throughout the war years, soliciting, packing, shipping, working night after night until 12:00 or 1:00a.m., only to make certain that a steady flow of cigarettes, comfort parcels, and relief parcels were sent”. She also sent hundreds of parcels to the concentration camps and at the conclusion of hostilities turned her attention to local post-war activities which included the caring of the soldiers’ graves and the sale of poppies for Remembrance Day. Over the years Mrs. Roberts received recognition for her wartime efforts. Returning servicemen, Ottawa B’nai B’rith, Ottawa Hadassah and the Ottawa Branch of the Canadian Legion all paid tribute to her years of volunteer service. Goldie Roberts died November 7, 1973.

Notes: 1. Biography taken from Elliott Gluck’s Goldie Roberts’s Exceptional War Effort, unpublished and located in Elliott Gluck fonds, Ottawa Jewish Archives. 2. Quotation taken from Samuel Cass Collection, National Archives of Canada. 3. See Executive Minutes of the Ottawa Vaad Ha'Ir 1945 and 1946 for information pertaining to oversees work by Mrs. Roberts.