DRESS

Description: THIN WHITE COTTON FULL LENGTH DRESS, HIGH WAIST WITH PLEATS AT TOP OF SKIRT AND WHERE SLEEVES ATTACH TO BODICE. FRONT OF BODICE WITH TRIANGULAR PANEL, HAND EMBROIDERED LACE ON SIDES OF PANEL AND DOWN MIDDLE, RUNCHED FABRIC MAKES UP PANEL. BACK OF DRESS WITH BOW, SAFETY PIN HOLDS TOP BACK OF DRESS TOGETHER WHERE HOOK AND EYE USED TO BE.

History: DONOR'S GRANDMOTHER, GLADYS HORNE, RECEIVED ITEMS FROM HER FATHER, JOHN HORNE, WHEN HE PASSED AWAY IN 2008. JOHN HORNE IN RETURN RECEIVED ITEMS WHEN HIS MOTHER, GLADYS, PASSED AWAY IN 1978. GLADYS HORNE NEE DOWNER, 1893-1978, WAS BORN IN COLUMBIA FALLS, MONTANA. GLADYS’ FATHER, FRED DOWNER, IMMIGRATED TO CANADA FROM BRIGHTON, ENGLAND. HE EVENTUALLY SETTLED IN COLUMBIA FALLS, MONTANA WHERE HE BEGAN HOMESTEADING WITH HIS ENGLISH WIFE. DOWNER BEGAN MANAGING THE GAYLORD HOTEL, WHERE GLADYS WAS EVENTUALLY BORN. IN 1897, WHEN SHE WAS 4, GLADYS MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, WITH HER PARENTS. AT THE TIME, LETHBRIDGE HAD A POPULATION OF 3,500. GLADYS GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL AT THE HAVERGAL LADIES’ COLLEGE IN WINNIPEG BEFORE RETURNING TO LETHBRIDGE TO WORK AT THE HERALD. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, IN 1912, HER FATHER HOSTED A COMING-OF-AGE PARTY FOR GLADYS, WHICH WAS COMMON DURING THAT TIME. GLADYS REMEMBERS WEARING A “VERY LOVELY GOWN, THE VERY LATEST OF THE DAY” AT THIS AFFAIR (SEE P20090002002). IN SEPT 1917, GLADYS MARRIED FAIRFIELD HORNE. EARLY INTO WWII, SHE BECAME A WIDOW. GLADYS WAS AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE LETHBRIDGE COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT HER LIFE. SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE SIR ALEXANDER GALT CHAPTER IODE, THE PEMMICAN CLUB, THE LETHBRIDGE COUNTRY CLUB, AND NUMEROUS OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PERMANENT RECORD.