Didi was born Mary Madeleine Skublics March 29, 1914 in Czechoslovakia, the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Jan Skublics from Vesels. Educated in Lausanne, Vienna, and Dresden, Didi married Canadian William (Billy) Yule Stuart, a family friend, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. They had a daughter Jean in 1939, who lived with Didi's parents during WWII. Didi helped open the "Canada House" Royal Canadian Air Forces leave center in Cairo in the spring of 1943, and managed it until February 1945. Billy Stuart died in action on June 9, 1943. In 1945 Didi met Jake Woolgar at the Canada House while he was on leave.
Didi came to Winnipeg in the spring of 1945 to visit Billy Stuart's friends and family, and it was there that Jake Woolgar met her again and proposed to her. They moved to Yellowknife and were married the same day, August 10, 1945. Didi became quite active in the arts and handicrafts community in Yellowknife, and was once president of the Yellowknife Guild of Crafts.
Described as an "artist, craftsman and sophisticate", Didi was well known for her drawings and paintings of northern flora. She had exhibitions in Ottawa and New York, and had two paintings presented to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Didi died June 9, 2002.
Sources (in Vertical File): "The vivid world of Didy Woolgar." Imperial Oil Review, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 1960, p 37.
"The lady of the soapstone." Family Herald and Weekly Star, November 25, 1954, p 42, 45.
"From Cairo to Yellowknife." Mayfair, November 1945, p 82, 83, 108.