Emma Houlder

Emma Houlder was a woman whose decades of volunteer work helped shape two of her community’s most enduring institutions: its hospital and its public library.

From 1918 to 1930, she served as honorary librarian, volunteering her time to operate a library that opened just once a week. When the first public library was established on Main Street in 1930, she became its first official Librarian. She remained in the role in 1947 when the library moved to its Second Avenue location, the building now known as the Mission Museum. Emma continued there until her retirement in 1959, closing out 29 years of service to the library.

It was in the midst of this long volunteer service that Emma also stepped forward to help establish the town’s hospital. On April 9, 1920, a group of 23 local women came together to form the Auxiliary, electing Emma Houlder as its president (1920-1924). She soon took on a second role as well, joining the newly established Hospital Board.

Before 1920, Mission had no hospital of its own; the nearest public facility was in New Westminster. In 1919, Mrs. Beryl Lambarde first called for a hospital in the pages of the Fraser Valley Record, envisioning it as a living memorial to the men lost in the First World War. The Mission Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and the newly established Hospital Board worked together to rent a two-story house at the corner of Third and Birch, converting it into a temporary hospital. Successful fundraising allowed the Auxiliary to purchase bedding, table linen, nightshirts, and towels, and the temporary hospital opened its doors on May 15, 1920.

With the temporary hospital established, fundraising began in earnest. The Auxiliary worked to support both the hospital’s day-to-day operating costs and the construction of a planned new hospital at James and Fifth. The original hospital served the community from May 1920 until February 1925, when the new facility finally opened its doors. Yet the work of the Mission Memorial Hospital Auxiliary had only just begun.