June 21, 2000
Father Lawrence Anatole Walker, OMI, Elected Fellow of The RPSC

(Toronto, ON) The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada (RPSC) elected Father Lawrence Anatole Walker, OMI, as a Fellow at its annual convention held in Winnipeg, April 28-30, 2000.

Unbeknownst to The RPSC Fellows who elected him, Father Walker passed away in his native Quebec several hours after his election.

New Fellows are elected at the Annual Meeting of Fellows, held during The RPSC Convention. To qualify for Fellow status, candidates must meet at least one of the following criteria: they have actively worked for the betterment of The RPSC; they have promoted Canadian philately extensively through writing; and/or have, through a number of activities, made Canadian philately better at the international level.

Father Lawrence Anatole Walker was a distinguished philatelist whose contribution to philatelic literature was immense. His legacy of more than 50,000 items relating to Quebec postal history and donated to the National Archives of Canada will aid extensive philatelic research. His books and hundreds of published articles are also valuable research assets. The RPSC extends its condolences to his family and his religious colleagues.

Father Lawrence Anatole Walker, OMI, FRPSC, 1911-2000 (biography)

Father Lawrence Anatole Walker, OMI, who died on April 28, 2000, was born on June 8, 1911 at Côteau Station, Quebec. He was a priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and was for a time a professor and Bursar at the University of Ottawa. Always interested in philately, he had a general collection of stamps while at the same time specializing in his Canadian collections. In the past 30 years, he became widely known, respected, and consulted for his interest in the postal history of Quebec.

Father Walker was a pioneer and a leader in recording Quebec's postal history. He was the first person to publish articles and books on postal history in a systematic fashion. In over 30 years he published more than 28 studies and compilations. They include the series entitled Philathéque (6 titles); the counties of Quebec; also grouped by larger regions (9 titles); particular postmark types (5 titles); photocopies of his collections (7 titles); and his best-known work, Les bureaux de poste du Québec, published in 1987.

In addition, he published more than 100 articles on postal history and the postmarks of Quebec in periodicals such as Philatélie Québec (FQP), the Cahiers de l'Académie (AQEP), the Bulletin d histoire postale et de marcophilie (SHQP), Reflets de la philatélie au Québec, and the PHSC Journal. He was a founding member of the Société d'Histoire Postale du Québec, and until recently was a member of all the important philatelic societies of North America.

In the course of the past 30 years, he participated actively in the diffusion of knowledge on postal history through his publications, by his lectures, and by his participation in local, national, and international exhibitions. He regularly took part in the exhibitions of the Lakeshore Stamp Club, at the ORAPEX national show, and in several international exhibitions, including Philexfrance in 1989.

In 1995 he bequeathed his Quebec postal history collections, containing more than 50 000 items, to the National Archives of Canada, with the wish that they become accessible to all researchers.

He was honoured on several occasions by different philatelic organizations, including the Fédération québécoise de philatélie in 1994 and the Salon des collectionneurs de Montréal in 1995. He received the PHSC's Stan Shantz Award in 1984 for his joint authorship of the series of articles on Canadian duplex cancellations, and was named an Honorary Member of the Société d'Histoire Postale du Québec. He was named a Fellow of The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada shortly before his death.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Michael O. Nowlan @ 506-357-2698
Carol S. Law @ 416-979-7474