A late Guelph woman is one of four women featured on a new Canadian stamp released to mark Remembrance Day.

Mary Barnaby Fountain was a 16-year-old high school student at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) in 1944 when she filled out an application to work with the Ontario Agricultural Service to join a group called the Farmerettes.

Barnaby Fountain wrote about his agricultural work in Thedford, Ontario, in a memoir reproduced in the book Onion skins and peach fuzz: memories of Ontario farm women.

“Most of the work was hoeing celery, pulling onions, and threshing them on the big screen,” wrote Barnaby Fountain.

“This way the outer skins were removed before the boxes of onions were stacked to dry.”

The book was written in 2019 by Shirleyan English and Bonnie Sitter. Both began their research individually and later joined forces.

Since its publication, the Farmerettes’ story has been made into a play which premiered at the Blyth Festival in Blyth, Ontario, and a soon-to-be-aired documentary.

The Farmerettes were young women aged 16 and over who worked in the agricultural fields of southwestern Ontario and the Niagara region. The program began during World War I and continued through World War II.

The family of Mary Barnaby Fountain provided the archival photo of four young women, including their relative, which appears on the stamp.

Canada Post honors the men and women who worked in the fields to feed Canadians during the First and Second World Wars.

Remembrance Day postage stamps also pay a nod to the Soldiers of the Ground, the 22,000 men who enlisted during the First World War and who tended and harvested fruits and vegetables, helped with haying and took care of livestock.

Letter writing campaign

Efforts to put the Farmerettes on a stamp began with a letter-writing campaign led by a group that included author Bonnie Sitter of Exeter, Ontario.

“A group wrote a letter with photos and sent it to all of our MPs across Canada,” Sitter said.

“And the only one who responded to us was Senator Rob Black and he was very supportive. He was very encouraged. And I think it was probably the day he received our request that he actually contacted Canada Post and supported our stamp request.”

Senator Black is a native of Wellington County and has worked in the agricultural sector for most of his career.

Georgina Fountain-Taylor is the daughter of Mary Barnaby Fountain. She said growing up, her mother would tell her about the work she did on farms and she saw the photo that is now on the stamp.

“We were very proud, excited and a little stunned,” Fountain-Taylor said of the news that her mother would be featured on the stamp.

“We were very happy for my mother. It was our family’s war effort during (World War II) and we were very proud of it.”

Mary Barnaby Fountain died in April 2021 at the age of 93. Her daughter says the family plans to buy books of stamps to use on Christmas cards this year and also plans to have one framed.

“Women could face the toughest challenges”

Senator Rob Black stood in the Senate chamber last month to pay tribute to the women of Ontario.

“The Farmerettes embodied resilience, commitment and the ability to rise to the occasion. They demonstrated that women could take on the toughest challenges and make significant contributions to both agriculture and the war effort,” said Senator Black.

“Their work was essential not only to keeping Canadian farms running, but also to showing the world that women had their rightful place in traditionally male-dominated sectors.”