Wilson, Lois, 1927-

Lois Miriam Freeman was born in 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of Rev. E.G.D. Freeman. She earned her B.A. and Bachelor of Divinity degrees at the University of Winnipeg. She married Rev. Roy Wilson in 1950. Lois Wilson was ordained in Winnipeg in 1965 and shared team ministries with her husband in Thunder Bay, Kingston and Hamilton before becoming first woman president of the Canadian Council of Churches in 1976. In 1980, she was elected the first woman Moderator of the United Church. From 1983 to 1991 she served as one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, the first Canadian to do so. She travelled extensively to visit member churches in all continents and was central to initiating the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women. She was appointed to the Senate in 1998, retiring in 2002. She was Ecumenist in Residence at the Toronto School of Theology from 2006-2009 and is currently Distinguished Minister-in-Residence at the Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto. She has the received the following honours and awards: the Queen’s 25th Anniversary Medal, 1977; The Pearson Peace Medal, 1985; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1984; Order of Ontario, 1991; Companion of the Order of Canada, 2003; Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Award for Christian Unity, 2010; and the Heart and Vision Award, 2011.