Wayne Hambly, Chair of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust, has expressed sorrow at the recent death of Elaine Campbell, co-lyricist of Anne of Green Gables-The Musical™ and a great patron of the arts in Canada.
“On behalf of the board, CEO David MacKenzie, management and staff of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, I wish to extend deepest sympathy to Mrs. Campbell’s family,” says Hambly. “Elaine was a talented person who made a tremendous contribution to the arts in Canada, and she was a great friend of the Confederation Centre. She was part of the team who brought L.M. Montgomery’s Anne to the stage in Anne of Green Gables-The Musical™, now in its 43rd year. She was very proud of Anne™ and of the Charlottetown Festival, and always looked forward to attending our opening nights.”
A mother of five children, Campbell worked on behalf of many national arts groups. She graduated from the University of British Columbia, and made her first venture into lyric writing with Take It To The Woods, an Eric Nicol satire of the then Banff School of Fine Arts. She was lyricist for The Wonder of It All, and co-lyricist of Anne of Green Gables - The Musical™. She also contributed lyrics to a musical version of She Stoops To Conquer, The Charlottetown Festival’s Turvey, and many television productions including CBC’s The Karen Kain Superspecial, Christmas at Rideau Hall, and two galas for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In May 2006 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Prince Edward Island.
Campbell spent summers on Prince Edward Island, returning to her home in Toronto during the winters. After her husband Norman’s death in 2004, she established the Norman Campbell Legacy Fund: Anne of Green Gables-The Musical™ Endowment to support the Festival orchestra.
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