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DIANNE GRAVES (1947–2021) n early June, historian Dianne I Graves passed away from complications of cancer. Dianne Graves (nee Burton) studied languages and began working in marketing and public relations in Britain. She always had a strong passion for history and travel and these interests were combined when she was hired as the marketing manager for Holts’ Battlefield and Historical Tours, the largest firm of its kind in the English-speaking world during the 1990s. She became interested in John McCrae, the Canadian doctor who wrote the famous poem “In Flanders Fields,” and decided to write a book about him. On a research trip to Canada she met Canadian historian Donald E. Graves and the two were married in 1996. Dianne wrote four books. Her biography of McCrae, Crown of Life, was published in 1997 and revised in 2014. It gained favourable notice; historian Jonathan Vance wrote that Dianne had done “a wonderful job of recreating the milieu in which he moved.” Her next book, Ellen and the River Pirates, was a children’s adventure book centred around the Battle of the Windmill in 1838. Her third project was In the Midst of Alarms, a study of the experiences of American, British, Canadian and Indigenous women during the War of 1812. It proved very popular – remaining the definitive account of a broad subject – and was adapted for the stage by the senior drama students at Sheridan College in 2012.
Dianne’s final title, which appeared in March of this year, was In the Company of Sisters, a study of the personal experiences of Canadian women in the combat zone during the First World War. It was praised in The Fife and Drum (by Debbie Marshall) as being “a fascinating, brilliantly researched, and often poignant book that adds much to our understanding of the Great War.” It should, she added, “be on the shelf of anyone who wants to have a deeper understanding of the experience of Canadians in that long-ago conflict.” In addition to her own work, Dianne served as the skillful and dedicated copy editor and indexer – and sometimes the photographer and translator – of the 16 books written or edited by her husband from 1999 onward. She was also a partner in their consulting firm, Ensign Heritage Group, which specialized in military historical work. Dianne Graves made a very positive contribution to the study of Canadian history and she will be sorely missed. Consideration is being given to establishing an award or book prize in her name for publications concerned with the experiences of women in Canadian wars and conflicts.
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