Arquivo F2891 - Jessie Deslauriers fonds

Jessie was the only child of author, journalist and nature lover Jack Hambleton and Nora Nelson. She married Andre Deslauries in the 1950s and had one son, John. She was a staff member at Queen’s University for over 25 years, and served on Queen’s University Council and the Board of Trustees, as well as the Kingston Symphony Association Board of Directors. Jessie was also an Ontario Chairperson and member of the National Executive of Citizens Advisory Committees to the Correctional Service of Canada from 1982-1993.

Over the years Deslauriers developed a writing career as well as earning two degrees when she entered University as a mature student earning a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science. She authored a history of Hotel Dieu Hospital Kingston 1845-1995 and the history of Beach Industries in Smith Falls, but was perhaps best known for her Nature Notebook column published in Kingston This Week for over 20 years.

In 2013 Jessie donated generously to the creation of the Jessie V. Deslauriers Centre for Biology at the Queens University Biological Station at Chaffey’s Locks. She passed away in 2019.