It is a very special day on Art’s History as we get to send out special anniversary greetings and congratulations to former Prime Minister Joe Clark and his wife, Maureen McTeer. The couple are marking their 50th wedding anniversary today.
It was on June 30th 1973 that a rookie MP, Clark, wed an up-and-coming political assistant, Maureen McTeer. They are now the proud parents of Catherine, are enjoying retirement from politics, and the grandparent business
While it is hard to believe today, Maureen and her husband faced criticism when the bride chose not to use her husband’s last name. But, thanks in part to their courage, Canadian women are not today criticized when making the similar decisions regarding the married name they choose.
“Maureen wrote in her autobiography that she hoped she would be judged to have been brave,” Clark said of his life-partner when his official portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill. “Well, brave and much more.”
Their partnership has always been strong, and together, they traveled to the highest political office in the land and enjoyed countless other milestones over their 50-year marriage.
I know that partisans of all stripes will join me in celebrating and congratulating the special couple that is Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer on their 50th anniversary today.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.