Obituary of Elin E. Thorpe

Elin Elgaard Thorpe died of lung cancer on December 11th in the Sackville Memorial Hospital. Born Elin Berg in 1950, daughter of a university administrator and an actress, she grew up in Aarhus, Denmark. Elin graduated from Aarhus University with the Danish equivalent of an M.A. degree. In 1971 she met Michael Thorpe at a conference at that university. She later joined him in Canada and became his wife in 1972. They moved from Calgary to Mount Allison in 1974. She was multi-lingual, but her loved language was English, in which she became a writer and teacher. She published stories, articles and reviews in International and Canadian journals; her novel, Wafer Thin, was published in 1992 by Cormorant Press. Her translations of novels by Timothy Findley, Marian Engel and David Adams Richards were published in Denmark; she also translated a Danish children’s book and stories and poems into English. She began teaching at Mount Allison in 1987, pioneering for the Education Department courses in International and Canadian Children’s Literature, her passionate interests; she later taught the Canadian course in the Canadian Studies Programme. For many years she taught in the Continuing Education, now Continuous Learning Programme. Her appointment as Mount Allison’s Writer-in-Residence in 1993 was blocked by the Newbould/Visentin administration: she appealed to the N.B. Human Rights Commission and won a moral victory after a lengthy struggle. She was admired and loved by many students with whom she formed long-lasting relationships: one, learning of her fatal illness wrote, “You have done your best in life”. Elin leaves behind a husband of 36 years and her son Jacob, sorely bereft by her premature death. She bore a sudden, intense illness bravely and hopefully, supported by generous friends and the capable and compassionate aid of Dr. Blake and Sackville Memorial Hospital and its Extramural Department and Dr. Long and the nursing staff at the Moncton Hospital. Those wishing to celebrate her are urged to donate to that department or to her favorite charity, the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare). Arrangements are entrusted to Campbell’s Funeral Home, 89 Bridge Street, Sackville, N.B. (364-8188). Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation or memorial service at this time.