Isabel MacKay
Isabel "Byng" Hatt (Babbitt) MacKay was a popular and accomplished member of the Class of 1927. A biographical note in The Brunswickan remarks on her loyal support of social functions at UNB and her prowess at basketball and especially tennis - she "annexed the New Brunswick Ladies Singles title" in 1926. After graduation, "Byng" as she was known took up a teaching position in Madison, Maine, but soon gave it up to study for a business course in Fredericton where she began working for the Royal Bank in 1930. In the mid-1930s Byng married UNB grad and lawyer, E. Allison MacKay, who later became the clerk of the New Brunswick legislature. MacKay maintained her link to the university, becoming President of the Associated Alumnae in 1936. Upon the death of her husband in 1948, Byng MacKay returned to the service of UNB in the position of secretary to UNB president Albert W. Trueman. She went on to serve five presidents before retiring in 1973. At her retirement celebration, MacKay was presented with a composite photograph of "Byng's Boys", showing the five presidents with whom she worked.
Source(s):
- UA Case 135; Box 3, no. 12.
- Montague, Susan. A Pictorial History of the University of New Brunswick. Fredericton: University of New Brunswick, 1992, p. 229.
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