Lillian (Lu) Rider
Lu was a great reference librarian, and a wonderful human being with a dry sense of humour. We at McGill University Libraries were lucky to have her as a colleague and friend for so many years.
RIDER, Lillian Madelyn
1939 - 2018
On Sunday, October 28th, Lillian Madelyn Rider, Lu to all family and friends, passed away peacefully after a brief illness.
Pre-deceased by her parents Hamilton Milford and Margaret (nee Fuller) and siblings Frederick Fuller (Jill), Martha Russell Chamberlain (Ken d.) and John Hamilton Fuller (Sandra). Lu was a loving sister, sister-in-law, aunt, great aunt, and friend!
Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, on August 31st, 1939, her affinity with the Eastern Townships brought her to Bishop’s University in 1956, graduating in 1959 with her BA. Back to get her High School Teaching Certificate in 1960, a lifelong athlete, Lu participated in various sports and a number of University Clubs and became a loyal and dedicated fan of the Bishop’s Gaiters.
In 1967 Lu decided on another path, enrolling in the McGill University Graduate School of Library Sciences and earned an MLS in 1969. For the next 26 years, she was a Reference Librarian at the McLennan Reference Library at McGill, active in the AMUL and served as its President.
In 1995 she retired to Lennoxville in the Eastern Townships, and in 1997 embarked on “her third career” volunteering as Archivist and past President of the Lennoxville-Ascot Historical & Museum Society at “Uplands”, the Georgian-style mansion that houses the museum and archives. She gloried in the Eastern Townships way of life and her many friends and neighbours!
So many of us will miss this amazing woman.
Godspeed Good Lady!!
A celebration of Lu’s life will take place at Uplands Spring 2019. Date and details to follow closer to the event.
With appreciation, donations in Lu’s memory can be made to Bishop’s University Library or Lennoxville-Ascot Historical & Museum Society Archives (at Uplands)