The 1990s – Wyatt Foundation distributes the estate
Editor’s Note: 2017 marks the 150-year existence of two architectural gems that grace Summerside’s streetscapes. The Lefurgey Cultural Centre and the Wyatt Historic House Museum, both owned by the City of Summerside, occupy a whole block between Granville and Spring Streets, with Prince Street to the south and Winter Street to the north. Built in 1867, each building has an interesting history. In tribute to their milestone anniversaries, 15 weekly articles, focusing on decades, will highlight the changes that have taken place within their walls and in the community. This is the 14th in that series. The last decade of the 20th century was significant for the town of Summerside in many ways.
First and foremost, the town achieved city status, and not without some upheaval. There was resistance on the part of some citizens in the neighbouring villages of St. Eleanors and Wilmot, as well as part of Sherbrooke, which became absorbed into the larger community.
In addition to that major change, other significant developments were the closing of CFB Summerside and the announcement that an Aerospace Centre (Slemon Park) would be established, as well as the welcome news that the federal government would erect a building on Pope Road to house the offices of Goods and Services Tax employees. Spinnakers’ Landing and Loyalist Country Inn opened on the waterfront, the former CN building became the Rotary Regional Library, and the Rotary Friendship Park was opened.
In 1998 Summerside was noted in a Globe and Mail report as one of Canada’s top five growing cities.
There were significant changes connected to Wanda Wyatt, through her foundation, as well. A donation was made on her behalf to the College of Piping expansion in 1996 and the Wyatt Centre, named in her honour, was built after a contribution of $500,000, which was matched by the community. The facility, located on the waterfront, featured the Harbourfront Theatre, and provided space for the Eptek Art and Culture Centre and the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame.
Financial gifts of a provincial nature were made by the Wyatt Foundation to the University of P.E.I., where both the Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall and the Wanda Wyatt Lecture Theatre are testimony to her belief in higher education. There is also an annual scholarship in her name.
Wanda Lefurgey Wyatt died in January 1998 at the age of 102. Her last years were spent quietly with round-the-clock assistance from caregivers, which allowed her to stay in her own home.
She enjoyed being taken for drives and commented in her diary about the beauty of the Island, the last entry in her own hand being made in July 1994. Her last appearance at a major event was to accept an honorary doctorate at the UPEI convocation in the spring of 1992.
A comprehensive account of her life lives on in the pages of her biography, “A Century on Spring Street” written by Deirdre Kessler.
The executors of Miss Wyatt’s estate deeded her two properties to the Wyatt Foundation in 2000, along with the MacNaught house at 75 Spring Street that it had acquired in 1998 to serve as an administrative and historical research centre for what could be considered a cultural complex. An arrangement was then made with the city to accept the properties and contents as a gift to the community, the announcement being released on Jan. 1, 2000.