​Cathy Boucher graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. 

The Home Economics, Dietetics Department was located in its own small, two story, grey, building on Waller Street.  There was a large food laboratory on the main floor, along with a library and a common room. Mme Dagenais looked after the lab, buying supplies and making sure everything was in its place as the labels on the cupboards and drawers dictated. The textile laboratory for sewing was located on the second floor with a few small classrooms which were also used by the Arts Faculty. The common room had green wicker furniture from the Estate of Mackenzie King, as we were told.  It was very comfortable, and many students took naps there. We had our own library and librarian before the University amalgamated all the libraries into one. The basement had lockers and washrooms. We were across the street from the cafeteria housed in the basement of the administration building-easy to get there even in the winter. We did the daily long trek to the other side of the campus to take our science courses, biology, chemistry, biochemistry etc. We were fit.  

The majority of our professors were Sisters who belonged to the Congregation Notre Dame. Sister Lucie Blondeau was the head and I recall fondly Sister Gisele Dube’ my foods professor. They were all awesome and cared about us as human beings. I enclose a letter of reference that Sister Gisele wrote for me to get my first job at Best Food/Canada Starch in Montreal. I also include a reference letter after leaving Best foods for the Government of Canada. 

I was student president of the Department in third year. That meant I attended the faculty meetings which I enjoyed. I was there when the Sisters decided to give us a coffee spoon for graduation. We all received a pinky gold ring with ten facets which was sponsored by the Canadian Home Economics Association, which also came with a pledge. 

With the textile courses came tailoring and a fashion show each year in the spring. I took tailoring, and flat pattern design but was never great at it. We had to make a gingham blouse, oh the stress. We had to do food demonstrations in third year and in fourth year we did a major research project. I can vividly remember the demonstrations; I did one on cocktails and Anne Gourley one on sandwiches and Carmen Smith on bannock. My research project was on canola, then known as rapeseed. 

There was a holistic approach to home economics and although I majored in foods, I also took the textile courses and family management. That approach has stood me well in a career in the food industry and as a long-time public servant in communications. 

Many of the graduates were dietitians who were, and still are, required to do an internship before they become an RD, registered dietitian. After graduation they went to hospitals for their internship. Some in the Home Economics stream went to teachers’ college, some to public service and some, like me, to industry. Twenty-five students graduated in 1973. 

Although the Department was disbanded in the 1980s, its legacy lives on in the good works of its Home Economics and Dietetics graduates. 

​I worked as a student with  Home Economist, Anne Burns in the Brooke Claxton circa 1972. She authored the famous books—“The Canadian Mother and Child “ and "Up the Years from One to Six.” 

What I learned could fill a very large book and her love of all things Home Economics remains with me to this day. Her niece and my friend, Elizabeth Larmond Elliot  and I met through her Aunt Anne. May I add--- both very proud of their Saint John, New Brunswick roots. 

Farewell to the Brooke Claxton Building — many, many Canadians are healthier and happier thanks to the excellent public servants who served there. A parting shot,  the cafeteria was great and the public servants had the habit of eating delicious  home made soup during the morning break. Anne told me that was the best example of how food habits rule our lives. 

Judy Joannou offers wisdom to home economists interested in a career in fashion. Her father, an executive in the fashion industry introduced her to sewing and fashion design which suited her creative spirit. She graduated from Cornell University, in Apparel Design and studied abroad at the London College of Fashion. This led to her dream: becoming a fashion designer in New York City. At 23 she was travelling the world.

Several years later she met and married a Canadian, settled in Ashton and established her home-based business on a dime. Judy created one-of-a kind vests made from discarded upholstery samples and vintage buttons purchased at a garage sale, before re-purposing was a trend! Home sewers assembled them for her. Then she travelled throughout Ontario and sold them to boutiques and through the craft show circuit. As the business grew so did her collection, noted for mix and match high end fashions which she had produced in Toronto. After 26 years of being on the road she opened her first retail store in Almonte and introduced other brands to her offerings. In the Spring of 2020, nudged by the pandemic's forced store closure she upgraded her website to a full online store and brought the shop to her customers with video fashion shows. She continues to run both her retail store and website https://www.judyjoannoudesigns.ca

Judy’s Wisdom 

• Find your passion-what you love doing 
• Figure out the steps to get the ideal job
• Don’t give up
• Feel failure
• Be curious 
• Be a team player
• Meditate every day
• Be calm to solve problems
• Be honourable and kind
• Give back to the community
• Business can start on a dime
• Engage a mentor, now

Test Kitchens may be a thing of the past, but friendships made among Home Economists who worked in them have lasted for decades. Home Economists now are more informed and look to sustainability, farming, vulnerabilities and opportunities galore. The Home Economists like me, who worked in the Best Foods test kitchen, were about product promotion. That is not a bad thing and I can still make anything with a jar of Hellman's mayonnaise. 


My first test kitchen friend, Jane Carman, worked for Standard Brands in Montreal, and now Margaret Macdonald, whom I met just three years ago, worked for Manitoba Hydro. Strong women, women of science. We understand the losses we are facing in Home Economics. Let me plug in for our new Professional Practice Course soon to be launched. You ought to follow it; Sue McGregor, who wrote about the Home Ec ring, also read it — who knew? And the link here to Betty Crocker — my friend Ellie Topp told me she had a job offer there. 

Happy 40ieth Anniversary Ontario Home Economics Association (OHEA)

Passing the torch onto new and future Home Economists defines who I am as a Professional Home Economist (P.H.Ec.). 

It has been a privilege to live up to the ring pledge. 

The most important life changing skill I mastered at my first job when working for a large food company, was how to relate to our customers through relationship building and complaint handling. First, as a Home Economist and then Director of Consumer Services, I also developed technical skills in recipes, food styling, publishing and media relations. ​