Naming of Mary Fix School

In the spring of 1973 the Board had actually earmarked a site for a school in the Paisley Boulevard area since they were aware of the expected growth that would become a reality in the next few years. At that time, as is the Board’s policy the local community including the parish priest, was canvassed for the purpose of selecting a suitable name for the school. Names that were considered were as follows:

Kateri Tekawitha

Jeanne Mance

Marguerite Bourgeois

Our Lady of Wisdom

Mary Fix

St. Luke

St. Mark

St. Matthew

Canadian Martyrs

Father Eugene O’Reilly

Father Joseph Pranzo, assistant pastor at St. Catherine of Siena parish suggested the name of a local personality in the person of Mary Fix (1895-1972) That was the name chosen by the Board.

Mary Fix was born in Ottawa and there received her education. She attended Ottawa Collegiate and Notre Dame Convent. At the age of 16 she joined the Women’s Franchise Association. She studied law at Osgoode Hall and graduated in 1918. While a law student she drafted the legislation to give women the vote. She practiced law in Ottawa for two years. Then she became a legal secretary for the Canadian bankers’ Association. Later she changed occupations and joined Eaton’s as department manager in a Montreal store. She became Eaton’s head buyer in New York. Then she spent two years as Eaton’s buyer in Paris, She later claimed that she was responsible for introducing Canadian women to shorts.

She returned to Canada during the Depression. She married Albert Fix a pianist from Vienna. They moved to Toronto Township and built a house at 1068 Centre Road in Port Credit. The house is situated at the intersection of the Q.E.W. and Hurontario. There is talk that her home will one day be turned into a museum. She quit work and wrote magazine articles and raised show dachshunds until Albert’s death in 1945. Then she opened the Cloverleaf Dress Shop in her home.

In 1952 Mary Fix led a delegation of women asking for a probe into the financial affairs of Toronto Township. She ran for Deputy Reeve to “protect the taxpayers’ pocketbooks.” In 1953 she was elected Reeve and became the first woman to hold any seat on council. She was acclaimed as Reeve in 1954. During the new few years she tried systematically to attract industry to the area. She was defeated in the 1955 election, but bounced right back in 1956 when she was again elected Reeve. In 1959 she was appointed Warden of Pell County. From 1960 to 1967 she served on the Board of Directors of the Lewis Bradley Museum which was moved, restored and furnished. Up until 1967 she was a member of the Library Board. She became ill in that year, but, still managed to write the introductory chapter to the Peel County Centennial History and the third chapter which deals with the history of industry in Peel. For two years prior to Centennial she served on the Mississauga Centennial Committee.

Mary Fix died on April 29, 1972. Her funeral mass was celebrated at St. Mary’s Church in Port Credit. She willed her entire estate to the City of Mississauga. The Dufferin-Peel Roman Catholic Separate School Board made a wise choice in naming a school in her memory. She was certainly a fine lady.