VELLACOTT, JO Born April 20, 1922, had a long, adventurous life, spanning three continents. She graduated from Oxford and worked as an air mechanic during the war. In South Africa, she married Peter Newberry and had two children, Douglas and Mary, and a daughter Soo after returning to England. In 1955 the family immigrated to Canada. In the mid-70s, Peter, Jo and Soo worked on the mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows.
In 1976 Jo and Peter separated and she went on to earn a PhD in history. Her publications include Bertrand Russell and the Pacifists and From Liberal to Labour with Women’s Suffrage: The Story of Catherine Marshall. Thanks to Jo’s scholarship, in 2018 Marshall’s name was placed on the plinth of the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square, London. Jo worked as a teacher and scholar and was an active Quaker. In 2018 she published a biography of her first 25 years, Living and Learning in Peace and War.
Jo died on February 22, 2019, at age 96, leaving behind son Douglas and his wife Irene and grandchildren Vanessa and Daniel; daughter Mary and her partner Rory Gus, their son Sean, and grandson Slade; and daughter Soo, grandchildren, Acorn Dylan and Siara (and their father John) and Siara’s husband Jean-Philippe and great-grandchildren Hugo and Eliane.
A memorial Meeting for Worship for Jo Vellacott will be held at Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave., Toronto, June 29th, at 1:00 p.m. For more information, call June Pollard, 647-995-5459.