Watson, Avra Peter Ginieres

1922 – 2014

Avra Watson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Reverend Panos and Antigone Ginieres.  She earned bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degrees in English at the University of Boston in 1945 and 1949 respectively, and her PhD in anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh in 1976.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, she taught at the American Farm School in Salonika, Greece.  She has studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and lectured at the University of Puerto Rico.  She worked with Head Start, an organization associated with the American War on Poverty, in Pennsylvania’s steel area.

Avra and her husband, Linvill Fielding Watson, were anthropological researchers who arrived at the University of Saskatchewan in 1966.  Avra was initially a research associate for the Canadian Centre for Community Studies and then as an assistant professor of cultural anthropology in Educational Foundations.  In the mid-1980s, she worked as a sessional lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology.

In 1983, Avra Watson and Mike Kindrachuk were credited with negotiating an arrangement with the Saskatoon Catholic School system to provide facilities at Holy Cross High School for the Saskatoon Multilingual School. A similar arrangement was subsequently established with the Saskatoon Public Schools.  In 1989, she worked with the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan to establish a certificate program in teaching heritage languages.

Avra served on the boards of Saskatoon Folkfest Inc., the Saskatoon Multicultural Council, and the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages.  In 1992, Avra was awarded the Betty Szuchewycz Leadership Award by the Saskatchewan Multicultural Council.

Following Linvill’s passing in 1996, she returned to Massachusetts.  At the time of her death in 2014, she was survived by her son, Alex.

Researched by: Ken Pontikes, May 31, 2023

Sources:  USRA Newsletter (University of Saskatchewan), September 2020, No. 110, p. 16; Socrates Ginieres (Obituary), Lowell Sun, June 23, 2004; Past Honours Recipeints, Saskatchewan Multicultural Council; “Saskatchewan Multilingual School”, The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, University of Regina; Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 15, 1966, p. 8 and October 11, 1986, p. 94.

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Watson, Linvill Fielding

1918 – 1996

Linvill Fielding, Ph.D., beloved and friend of Avra and Alex (Michelle), passed away peacefully at the Royal University Hospital in his 78th year because of the cumulative effects of a stroke suffered in 1991.

Lin was born in Philadelphia into a family of Quakers and Scots-Irish immigrants and received all his education in that city. He took his doctorate in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania where he began a lifelong interest in the native peoples of the Americas, in East African Ethnology, and in Acculturation theory. His career began in Pennsylvania and encompassed teaching posts in Minnesota, Boston, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Washington D.C. among others, where he gave classes in Sociology and Anthropology. A five-year stint with the University of Maryland overseas program gave him opportunities to teach and travel in North Africa and Europe.

In 1966 he joined the Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, after which he moved into the Department of Anthropology where he remained until his retirement in 1985.

In Saskatoon, Lin was able to engage his interests in all the above disciplines. He began his research here among the Saskatchewan Cree and was active in the establishment of the Indian Friendship Centre and sustained those interests in studies among Saulteaux, Chipewyan and Haida groups. His supervision of graduate theses in both Sociology and Anthropology underlined his broadly based ethnographic interests as he worked with students of Northern Nigeria, the Hutterite and Doukhobor communities, the Franco-Canadians of Saskatchewan, comparative ethno-religious groups of Saskatchewan, the Chinese in Malaysia, schooling among the Saulteaux, and a study of the Plains Cree of Little Pine Reserve.

In 1977 he completed his research monograph on the effects of television among the Inuit of Keewatin District for the Institute of Northern Studies. From 1978 on, his academic career was centered on the study of the urbanization of New World Greeks with a focus on the Greeks of Saskatoon. As he developed an interest in the adaptation of Greek culture to Canadian society, he became an active member of the local Parish Community of Koimisis Tis Theotokou.  He worked for ten years with the International Fraternal and Educational Organization of AHEPA, viewing it as an aid to social integration of Canadian Greeks.

Throughout his active career, Lin maintained an abiding interest in Chess and Japanese Go and was able to continue playing until recently. Upon retirement he had no wish to leave Saskatoon. “All I need is here”, he said and later endured the six years of disability with grace and determined courage.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial Donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan. 279 3rd Avenue North, Saskatoon, S7K 2H6. The Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, October 29 at 2:30 p.m. at Koimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church, 1020 Dufferin Avenue, Saskatoon. Arrangements entrusted to the Saskatoon Funeral Home.

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 29, 1996, p. 17.

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