Born in Ontario in 1918, Doris Shadbolt was a major force within the Vancouver Art Gallery, influential in furthering her husband Jack Shadbolt's career, while establishing a parallel career as an important critic and writer. Her books include major studies on Bill Reid and Emily Carr. She died on December 22, 2003 from a heart attack suffered while on vacation in San Miguel, Mexico. [The Woodcocks had lived with the Shadbolts in Burnaby in the early 1950s upon their arrival from Vancouver Island where they had tried to homestead. Neither the Woodcocks nor the Shadbolts had children, so the foursome often spent their Christmases together.]

[BCBW Summer 2004]