It was the sort of support, the role modelling I’d had from Marion Hilliard that made me able to say ‘to heck with the chief of police. If she needs birth control, she can have it despite her age or what her mother thought, or anything else’.
Dr. Marion Powell was born in Toronto, Ontario, on April 19, 1923, to Gladys and Joseph Gray. Both her parents were teachers. Shortly after they married, her mother left her career to raise their children and focus on volunteer work at her church.
Marion grew up during the Great Depression and completed high school at the beginning of the Second World War. To her parents’ delight, she was accepted at the University of Toronto’s medical school. She graduated with the Class of 1946.
Dr. Powell completed a senior medical residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. The hospital was known for its all-female medical staff and its special focus on women’s health.
Her supervisor was Dr. Marion Hilliard, head of the department, and a well-respected doctor in her field. By the 1950s, Dr. Hilliard had become a household name in Canada and was the country’s best known woman doctor. She published an advice column for women in Chatelaine magazine, wrote books on women’s health, and made frequent appearances on television and radio talk shows.
Working with Dr. Hilliard made a lasting impression on the young Dr. Powell. She was in awe of the ease with which Dr. Hilliard could openly talk about certain women’s health issues that were seldom discussed in public. She admired her frank and honest approach to subjects such as puberty, sexuality, pregnancy, and childbirth. Dr. Hilliard became one of Dr. Powell’s first role models in the field of medicine.
