One afternoon in early January, Dr. Sylvia Moore put on her coat, retrieved a story from her printer and left her office at Memorial University’s Labrador Campus in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
She was on her way to meet with her colleague and friend, Elder G. Jean Crane.
Outside, light rain mixed with snow as winter whispered its arrival in Labrador. At Elder Crane’s home, there would be warm tea, conversation and stories.
As the interim dean of Memorial’s School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies, Dr. Moore has been working with the campus elder for years.
Elder Crane was instrumental in the evolution of the Labrador Campus. She’s an artist, an activist and, at the age of 96, an endless source of stories about her community.
But on this day, the story Dr. Moore printed and carried with her was a story about Elder Crane herself.
Dr. Moore was on her way to tell Elder Crane she was the first person selected for The Centennial 100.
After The Centennial 100’s official launch on Jan. 9, 2025, staff and faculty at the Labrador Campus gathered to celebrate Elder Crane.
CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning covered the event and interviewed some of the participants.
Life at Labrador Campus revolves around a belief in relationships between people and communities. The gathering for Elder Crane was an opportunity to show gratitude for someone who has dedicated more than 50 years to building and sustaining those relationships.
“We wanted to acknowledge her,” said Dr. Moore, “and let her know how grateful we are for her and her guidance and all that she has done and continues to do.”
100th anniversary anthology
While The Centennial 100 focuses on celebrating 100 individuals who’ve made important contributions to the university, the project has also created an anthology that symbolizes the aspirations of a community.
From the story of Memorial’s first president, John Lewis Paton, to recent grads like Nicole Obiodiaka, the carefully researched articles reveal a century-long continuation of the values on which Memorial was founded.
Each story is unique.
But together they generate a narrative far greater than the sum of their parts.
They tell a communal story as inspiring as it is informative.
The word anthology comes from the Greek for “a collection of flowers.”
As an anthology of stories, The Centennial 100 unveils Memorial’s history from seed to bloom.
Century of connections
Prof. Lisa Moore is Memorial’s biggest literary star.
A major force behind the English department’s creative writing program, Prof. Moore’s story appeared in The Centennial 100 in March.
But she admits that she’s sometimes felt like an anomaly in her family. Her parents own a small business. Her sister is a well-known lawyer.
Prof. Moore thought she was the only person in her family history to dedicate her life full-time to the arts.
Then she read The Centennial 100’s article about her great aunt, Dr. Sadie Organ.
“I knew she worked at Memorial,” she said, “but that was all I really knew about her. I had no idea she was an artist or that she directed plays and acted on stage. She lectured on literature and read Dickens and Austen over the radio. She was so involved in the arts scene.”
When she read the story, Prof. Moore says she felt a profound sense of connection with her great aunt and the work she did to carry the university’s values into the community.
The Centennial 100 has made other profound connections, as well.
The most popular story released so far is the story of former Sea-Hawks basketball star Michelle Healey, who died in 2024 at the age of 51.
To date, more than 4,300 people have visited the page dedicated to Ms. Healey. The article features a touching tribute by her friend and former teammate Andrea Dinn.
It’s one of the most emotional moments captured by The Centennial 100 thus far.
Nominations now closed, 44 individuals yet to be revealed
Nominations for The Centennial 100 closed on July 1 (Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador). A total of 412 nominations were received.
The difficult process of selecting individuals from so many nominations is ongoing. And a new group of stories will be published every month until November 2025.
There are still 44 individuals to be revealed, and countless more connections to be made.
