Echo Lidster was born in 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1942, she graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in Agriculture. From 1942 until 1957, she worked for the federal Department of Agriculture in British Columbia. In 1957, she attended Cornell University and obtained an M.A. in Community Education and Sociology. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Adult Education in 1963. In August 1967, the Federal Government, with funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC), appointed Miss Lidster as their Housing Education Officer for the Western Arctic. Her duties entailed locating and training indigenous northerners to deliver federally designed programmes to people in the communities. These programmes related to the building of southern-style housing in the north, the upkeep and maintenance of the housing and domestic programmes designed to improve health and personal hygiene. From 1967 until 1970, Miss Lidster lived in Hay River. In 1970, she was promoted and given responsibility for delivering the Housing Education Programme throughout the Northwest Territories. In 1971, the grant from CMHC ran out; Miss Lidster was appointed Supervisor of Adult Education Programmes in the Northwest Territories and was given the responsibility for developing Adult Education Programmes in the north. Her duties entailed establishing community colleges, developing adult literacy programmes and hiring instructors to teach in the communities. She wrote a number of reports on adult education in the north and published a report "Some Aspects of Community Adult Education 1967-1985." In 1975, Miss Lidster left the north for an extended vacation. In 1976, she returned to Hay River where she worked as an Adult Educator until 1980. While living in Hay River, she was very active in community activities and helped establish the first community radio station there. In 1980, she moved to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory where she worked as an Adult Educator until 1981, at which point she retired and moved to Vancouver.
Person