Person

Elliott, Gordon

1920-2006

Gordon Raymond Elliott was born in Vancouver in 1920 but spent childhood in Pemberton, Williams Lake, and Revelstoke. In 1942, Elliott joined the Canadian Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He later transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a navigator on Lancaster bombers based in England. In 1945, Elliott was injured during a plane crash and was sent home to a Vancouver hospital. Upon his release, he attended UBC from 1947-54 and earned a B.A. and M.A. in History. Elliott taught in Williams Lake briefly before enrolling at Harvard University, earning a second M.A. in History. From 1957-65, Elliott taught in the English Department at UBC. During this time, he encouraged novelist Margaret Laurence to publish her first books. In 1965, he joined the Department of English faculty at SFU. He taught courses in Canadian Literature until 1985 when he retired as Professor Emeritus. Over the years, he edited Canadian texts such as British Columbia: A History by Margaret Ormsby (1958) and wrote several books of his own. Elliott was also a leading member of the Vancouver Historical Society, serving as Vice-President (1968) and President (1970-1972). He introduced ethnic history as a field of study for the Society with a speakers' series on local ethnic groups. Later, he launched a publication program with three local histories, the Occasional Papers Series. Elliott died in 2006.