TIMELINE

1911

Born Gertrude Janowski in Passau, Germany

1933

Flees Berlin for Paris

1940

Arrives in Canada

1942

Moves to Ottawa

1946

Launches a career in arts volunteerism by helping organize the popular Ottawa Children’s Concerts

1960

Marries Hugh Le Caine, a pioneer of electronic music

1969

National Arts Centre opens with Le Caine as an early supporter of the idea and a booster until her death.

1971

The Rideau Canal opens for skating with Le Caine credited for proposing the idea to NCC Chairman Douglas Fullerton. “I decided that Ottawa should have what New York has. So I thought wouldn’t it be nice if we had 500 or 600 feet in front of the National Arts Centre where people could skate. And then that would be fine, and so I rolled up my sleeves and I started. And you know, sometimes it’s good to be pigheaded,” she said in 1999.

1984

Opera Lyra Ottawa launches; Le Caine describes herself as “a midwife of this outfit.”

1991

Le Caine is invested in the Order of Canada for her support of organizations including the National Arts Centre Orchestra Association, National Youth Orchestra and Opera Lyra.

1999

Le Caine dies at home in Ottawa, at 87.