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- Barton, Madge
- Sister Magdalen Barton, SOS
- Sister Madge Barton, SOS
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Born 3 November 1906, in Cheadle, Cheshire, England, daughter of George Barton and Margaret McGlone; entered 21 April 1927; first vows 15 August 1928; final vows 15 August 1934; died 11 April 2003.
Born near Manchester, England, Madge grew up in Levenshulme, also near Manchester, to an Irish Catholic mother and Protestant father. After the death of her father in February 1918, Magdalen began to attend a parish school and won a scholarship to attend Notre Dame convent school at Chetham. Meanwhile, her mother was persuaded by travelling immigration officials to come to Canada. Arriving in Halifax aboard the Empress of France in June 1920, the Bartons settled in the east end of Toronto with her mother working in a munitions factory. Madge attended Holy Name school and St. Joseph's High School. After completing Grade 10, she worked at the United Drug Company for three years.
She credited Rev. Arthur Coughlan, co-founder and Provincial Superior of the Toronto Province of the Redemptorist, with the first contact knowledge of the Sisters of Service. Drawn to the community, Madge said, "I wanted to teach and I wanted to go west. It was pretty well assured that was what you were going to do." At the age of 20, she entered the novitiate and professed first vows on August 15, 1928 and final vows on August 15, 1934.
For 37 years, Sister Barton lived and served in Western Canada as a catechist and teacher. In 1928, she travelled to Edmonton, where she helped in the newly-opened catechetical mission while completing high school at St. Mary's high school. Moving to the community's women’s residence (1928-1930) in Edmonton, she completed high school and attended Edmonton Normal School for teacher training and certificate. Sister Barton began with a teaching assignment at Camp Morton, Manitoba (1930-1934, superior 1931-1934). From teaching, she moved to Regina to establish the community's second catechetical house and religious correspondence school. As the first superior (1934-1940), Sister Barton adjusted the Edmonton catechetical lessons, sent free to the 5,000 correspondence students.
During the summer of 1941 after the first year at the teaching mission of Marquis, Saskatchewan (1940-1943), she attended summer school in Saskatoon. After Marquis, she studied at St. Thomas More College (1943-1944) affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. At the end of that 1943-1944 academic year, Sister Barton helped in Fargo, North Dakota, teaching the religious vacation schools during the summer. After balancing teaching and subsequent summer courses, she obtained a bachelor of arts from the University of Saskatchewan in 1949, the first SOS to earn a university degree. Similarly, from summer school and correspondence school, she graduated with a master of arts degree in religious studies at the University of Ottawa in 1975. For the next 30 years, a series of teaching appointments followed in Alberta and Saskatchewan: Sinnett, Saskatchewan (1944-1951, 1957-1962); Peace River, Alberta (1951-1952); Rycroft, Alberta (1952-1957, 1962-1972); Regina separate schools, O’Neill High School, (1972-1974) and Spirit River, Alberta (1974-1975). In Regina, she also tutored new Canadians in English and citizenship, preparing them for high-school equivalency exams.
Retiring from teaching, Sister Barton embarked on a new religious venture with Sister Agnes Hearn in Clarenville, Newfoundland. Both 69 years old, the pair opened the community's third religious correspondence school in September 1975. Interrupting her catechetical work, she came to Toronto (1981-1982) to write the community’s new constitution with Sister Rosemarie Hudon. After a stay at the Regina catechetical house (1982-1983), she returned to Clarenville in October 1983 until 1988. Moving back to Regina (1988-2001), she embarked on a project of researching and writing the community's religious education history. The resulting 561-paged work of Gather Up the Fragments traced in detail the emergence and transitions of the catechetical houses and correspondence schools in Edmonton, Regina, Fargo and Clarenville. The history was published in 1997 as part of the community’s 75th anniversary. She also wrote histories of Father Joseph Paquin, OMI, a missionary and pastor of the Rycroft church in 1982, the Rycroft missions of Wanham and Woking in 1983 and St. Peter and Paul parish in Rycroft in 1993.
When the Regina mission closed in 2001, Sister Barton joined the retired Sisters at Scarborough Court in Toronto. In 2003, Sister Barton died suddenly at Scarborough Court at the age of 96. Due to the SARS quarantine, the wake service was held at Rosar-Morrison funeral home. Fr. Joseph Schuk, S.J. celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady of Lourdes church. Her body was buried in the community's plot in Mount Hope cemetery in Toronto.
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Created by F Rousselle June 25, 2025.
Revised by F Rousselle June 27, 2025.
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Biographical sketch adapted for brevity from complete biography written by SOS congregational archivist MC Havey.