Phyllis Jean MacPhersonPhyllis Jean MacPherson was born on 11 February 1917 in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She was the daughter of George Albert MacPherson (1884-1961) and Blanche Maye Phillips (1884-1948). She was educated in local public schools and entered Mount Allison University to study Fine Arts. While in attendance, she was a member of the Choral Society and served on the Executive of the Student Christian Movement (SCM). She was also involved in the decorating committee of most events held on campus. In 1940, one of her pieces was displayed at the spring exhibit of the Montreal Art Association. In 1941, she was one of three students to receive the first Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees issued in Canada. Before her marriage, she taught at King's Hall in Compton, Quebec, instructing English school girls who had been displaced by the war. Later in life she lived for a year in Trieste, Italy and six months in Exeter, England. After losing her husband, Phyllis Coish returned to her love for art, taking courses and expanding her skills including printmaking. After losing her eyesight in her seventies, she learned to read Braille and, in her eighties, took up the violin. She was married to Allisonian, Harold Roy Coish (1918-1984), at her parents' home at 201 Esplanade, Sydney, Nova Scotia on 2 July 1942. Thereafter, the couple lived in Sydney and Halifax, NS; Montreal, Quebec; Chalk River, Deep River, and Ajax, Ontario. In 1949, they settled permanently in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They had four children: Carolyn, David, Robert and Philip. She died on 9 August 2009 at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg.
Bertha Alexandria WarrenBertha Warren came to Mount Allison from Boston, Massachusetts. She received a certificate in Applied Arts from Mount Allison University in 1932 and subsequently taught art privately while working in commercial advertising. She was also Supervisor of Wardrobes in the Community Theatres of Boston and taught at the Camping Institute of the New Jersey State Teacher's College. In the fall of 1939, she returned to Mount Allison University as part of its staff and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1941 as one of the first class.