Head and shoulders image of Dr. Jim Pepper, professor of Chemistry.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. James Morley (Jim) Pepper was born 30 March 1920 in Morse, Saskatchewan. His family moved to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1930 where he attended high school. He received a BSc (1939) and an MSc (1941) from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Pepper earned a PhD from McGill University in 1943. Following graduation he began his career in 1945 at the Dominion Rubber Research Laboratories in Guelph, Ontario but in July, 1947 accepted a position of associate professor of Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. He was promoted to professor in 1955, serving as department head from 1970-1976. Dr. Pepper retired in 1986. Dr. Pepper’s research interests centred on wood chemistry, focusing on research involving the isolation, structure and potential chemical utilization of the lignin component and liquefaction of wood as an alternative energy source. He published numerous papers in this area before retiring from the department in 1985. Dr. Pepper was married to Thelma Pepper (1920-2020) for 58 years; he supported and assisted Thelma's widely recognized work in photography. Jim Pepper died in May 2012 in Saskatoon at age 92.

Bio/Historical Note: Thelma Vivian Stephens was born 28 July 1920 in Kingston, Nova Scotia. Her father Lester was crazy about photography, nature and history and had a huge influence on Thelma in these areas. Thelma received a scholarship to attend Acadia University (BSc, 1941) and McGill University (MSc, 1943) where she played on the university tennis team. While at McGill she was attracted to one of her lab students, a chemistry Ph.D. candidate named Jim Pepper. On one of his lab assignments she said he could do better! They were married in the Annapolis valley of Nova Scotia in 1945 just as WWII came to an end, and they spent the next 58 years together. Jim was offered an associate professor position at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon where for the next 30 years, Thelma's focus was on supporting Jim, raising four children, and thoroughly enjoying learning about the birds, flowers and history of Saskatchewan. At 60 years of age, she tried reading to pioneer women at a local seniors care home. It was exciting for Thelma to see them so happy telling their life stories. It was a natural thing for her to try and capture this personal enjoyment with a photograph like her father and grandfather had done before her. That experience with the pioneer women started a second career that consumed her and gave Thelma great personal satisfaction. With the support of the Saskatoon Camera Club and the Photographer's Gallery, Thelma produced four major photography exhibitions over the next 30 years that toured across Saskatchewan, Canada and Europe. In a pre-digital era, Thelma did all the photograph printing herself, a skill she learned from her father in the Kingston house bathroom that doubled as a darkroom. Her panorama photographs captured the emptiness but beauty of the prairie landscape and towns. A common theme for all the work was a celebration of the dignity and happiness that exists in everyone including pioneer women, the disadvantaged and the elderly. Her work celebrated the uniqueness, spirit and history of Saskatchewan people. For her unique contributions, Thelma received many awards including The Saskatchewan Arts Board Lifetime Achievement Award (2014) and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2018). Thelma worked actively on her photography until the age of 92 when her energy and determination allowed her to fully recover from open heart surgery. Thelma Pepper died on 1 December 2020 in Saskatoon at age 100.