Persona

Rowles, Phebe Winnifred

1907-1995

Phebe Winifred Rowles was born at Manchester, England, on 28 July 1907. She was educated at Crandall, Manitoba, and Empress, Alberta, where the family homesteaded. She graduated from Nutana Collegiate in Saskatoon and enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1926-1927, she competed in high jump at an inter-varsity meet, the first time that women had entered as a team. In other meets she competed in discus and javelin. Rowles was the jump centre on the basketball team. Rowles also was vice-president of the Student Representative Council and a member of the University Athletic Directorate and Women's Athletic Council. Rowles earned her BSc from the U of S in 1930. She was secretary to C.J. MacKenzie, Dean of Engineering, when he was consulting engineer on the construction of the Broadway Bridge. Rowles later worked in Winnipeg and Montreal before serving as Director of Women’s Personnel at the C.I.L. nylon plant in Kingston, Ontario. Phebe then joined Dorothy (Riches) Catto in operating Turkeys Deluxe at Dewittville, Quebec in the 1950s and 1960s. After two years as an official with the Vancouver YWCA, she retired to Saskatoon. Rowles was named to the U of S Athletic Wall of Fame in 1984 for her basketball and track and field exploits. She was involved with Knox Personal Theatre, Summer Players, the Dominion Drama Festival and the film “Paperback Hero.” Phebe and her sisters, Jessie Caldwell and Edith C. Rowles Simpson, were three of 100 Saskatonians honoured on the city’s 100th birthday. Rowles died 29 May 1995 in Saskatoon. The Phebe Rowles Scholarship recognizes academic achievement among U of S students pursuing a graduate degree program with a major in Political Studies.
Sister of Dr. Edith Rowles Simpson.