Robena Mary (Bell) Hipson

It is with profound sorrow that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Robena Hipson.  Mom died at the Northside General Hospital on Sunday 20 July 2025.  She was 98 years old, and four months shy of her 99th birthday.

Robena was the youngest daughter of the late William and Mary (Kay) Bell and the last surviving member of her immediate family.  Her parents emigrated from Durham and Northumberland counties, respectively, in the North East of England.  Her mother, Mary, left her position “in domestic service” at the home of a sea captain in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and travelling alone, arrived in Halifax on the TSS Grampian on 7 April 1912, one week before the Titanic disaster.

Robena was a member of St. Andrews’ Presbyterian Church in Sydney Mines.

She is survived by her loving daughter, Charlene Hemmingson.

Robena was predeceased by her three sisters, Jean Joseph, Zena Horne, Margaret Bell R.N., and a brother, William Wheatley Bell, in infancy.

She was a graduate of the Business College, the Nova Scotia Normal College, and attended Xavier Jr College in Sydney as well as 13 consecutive summers of teachers’ educational programs in Halifax.

Robena resided in Halifax for approximately 15 years in the immediate post-war period working for various departments of the federal government.  She had been selected from her Business College class as one of two students to take the Civil Service exams in Sydney; and in August of 1946, at the age of 19, she boarded a train in Sydney Mines and set off to begin a new life in Halifax.  Ultimately, she became the personal assistant to the Head Dietician at Camp Hill Hospital, who was responsible for directing all veterans’ hospitals in the maritime provinces.

Robena returned to Sydney Mines and for the next 28 years, was employed as a teacher with the Northside Victoria School Board teaching in North Sydney at Fairview School, Park Street School, and Central School; and in Sydney Mines, at Sydney Mines High School and Memorial Composite High School.

She retired as Head of the Business Education Department at Memorial Composite High School in 1987.  In 1966, she had been recruited personally by the Superintendent of Schools in Sydney Mines as Head of a new-concept business education department, in a progressive shift in education to provide young female students new career opportunities that, to date, had been unavailable.

Robena sought support from local business leaders developing an innovative work-experience program for her students, designed to improve their chances of greater financial independence as they stepped out into the world.  Many of those well-trained young women went on to be significant contributors to our local economy.

Robena was imbued with an immutable sense of fairness for all students.  She was fearless in seeking equity for them individually and collectively in what was the unforgiving, rigid system of earlier days.  She lobbied upper echelons of the local educational hierarchy enabling students’ progress towards their chosen careers.  Some even became teachers themselves, and many would return years later to thank her.

Teaching was Robena’s dream job, and being an advisor to power was her way of advocating for students and teachers alike.  Robena’s thinking was always modern and progressive.

When her idea of opening-up business courses to males and females alike was met with resistance, undeterred, Robena determined to teach the male classes herself. Today, those boys, now men, say that hers was the most useful course they ever took.

In retirement, with time under her own control, Robena lived by times in Montreal, in Belgium, and in the UK with her daughter, Charlene, and late son-in-law, Bo.  In Montreal, she worked in their family business, setting up systems as it expanded.  She was a regular on the Habitat ’67 Bus travelling into downtown Montreal.

Then it was to Europe – motoring throughout France especially, and often staying in Paris visiting favourite places in the 8th arrondissement and catching the Champs-Elysées Christmas illuminations from time to time.

Almost two decades of wintering just outside of London each year was also excellent stimulation for my super-ager mother.  Making new friends fed her curiosity and provided engaging conversation driven by her remarkable clarity of thought.  World cruises gave ‘eyes-on’ perspectives.

It was an idyllic existence and a wonderful life of excellent health and genuine love.  Robena and Charlene were a team, devoted to one another for the better part of seven decades.  Good fortune saw them share countless splendid adventures and years’ worth of excellent conversation.  Age did not rob Robena of the discipline of critical thought.  She retained her clarity of analysis and did not hesitate to share opinions. 

Robena was a ‘poster girl’ for 98-year-olds still enjoying life and looking forward to the future.  Old age can be a moment of looking forward as much as one of surveying the past.  Robena believed that there was beauty in old age and did not accept that it had to be anything other than the next stage of life.  They say that whatever you put into life, you get more out of it.  Robena was still thoroughly content with that view.  For Robena, age was just a number.

In keeping with Robena’s wishes, cremation has taken place and a private committal service in the family plot will follow at Brookside Cemetery, Sydney Mines.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robena Mary (Bell) Hipson, please visit our floral store.