Laura Sabia, 1916-1996

Laura Sabia 1916 - 1996

Laura Sabia who died October 17, was, as she said herself, on more than one occasion the link between "the white glove set and the hob nail boot set."

Born in Pembroke, Ontario but raised in Montreal, she rebelled against patriarchal restrictions in her church and in society all of her life. Her father, an Italian immigrant, encouraged her when she refused to play with dolls and took on neighbourhood boys who called her names. Her more traditional mother put her into a convent boarding school to turn her into a lady. She chafed at the way the nuns always had to bow to visiting priests. Her father scandalized the Mother Superior by whisking his little daughter away to visit the stock exchange, and smuggling stock market reports into the convent in boxes of candy.

To the world Laura Sabia appeared to be a typical club woman -- hair perfectly coiffed, hats stylishly extravagant. With her combination of lady - like manners, energy, and charm she charmed men and women alike. In the early 1960s she wheedled $30,000 -- an unheard of sum -- out of the Ontario government for a study on women returning to work. But underneath that genteel and vivacious demeanour, there always lurked a true, passionate...