Agnes Robina Salter (née McGee) was born on September 21st, 1926, to Hector D. McGee and Margaret G. Brewster in Brampton, Ontario. She was the youngest of seven children, separated in age from her oldest sister by 18 years. Robina earned a scholarship from the University of Toronto to study community health and nursing. One summer, she explored Northern Ontario public service at Copper Cliff Sudbury – an impoverished mining town. While studying nursing at the Toronto Western Hospital she met Robert B. Salter who not only convinced Agnes to use her middle name, Robina, (which he greatly preferred) but also to marry him.
Immediately after their marriage, Robina and Robert went to the Grenfell Mission (St. Anthony) Newfoundland for two years (1948-1950), when their first son (David) was born. Together they did house calls by dog sled and along the northern Newfoundland coast by schooner. Robina administered anesthetics during Robert's surgeries. They both took up painting. In 1950 Robina and Robert returned by boat to Montreal and then to Toronto, where Robert began his surgical residency in general surgery and orthopedic surgery in the Gallie Course.
Robina studied English and French, medical writing, and editing at the University of Toronto. She studied classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
For many years, Robina worked as: a Medical Science Writer and Editor (Publications Department, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto), a Medical Science Reporter and Photographer, Staff, University of Toronto, a Correspondent from the University to The Medical Post, Writer, and Producer of BIOLINES, (house journal for the Connaught Laboratories).
She wrote scripts for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, articles for newspapers and magazines (under the pen name of Beth Dale), articles on science included in Patterns of Research (23 published), children's stories, and adult fiction and poetry (50 published). In 2013 Robina started a blog: (Robina's Report - 148 pages) “Moving from being a science reporter at the University of Toronto ... to having a website and writing its blogs, is a huge shift. I learned to trade the excitement of discovering a scientist, and a story, as he or she uncovered a new truth in the world for a glimpse of my life as a work-in-progress.”
Perhaps her proudest achievement was publishing her novel “Hannah” (January 1 1986).
Robina taught Creative Writing at the YMCA and The Avenue Road Arts School, using her original program, Writing From Your Inner Ink, English to immigrants. Throughout her life, she continuously focused on "ways to awaken creativity."
She was a member of the International Women’s Writing Guild and The Writers’ Union of Canada and raised funds for The Writers’ Development Trust. Professional services that she offered included consultations with authors to plan a book (strategy, theme, how to present material to a publisher, organization, etc.), editing (manuscripts, dissertation theses, proposals, articles, etc.), and mentoring rising writers (support and insights for writing, "works–in– progress.")
In her later years, she became interested in how people can better survive substantial and disruptive life stresses. She focused on how post-traumatic stress disorder may be prevented and instead become pre-traumatic stress disorder. She was fascinated by the healing process and became a Reiki master.
Her honors included: a Community Health scholarship from the University of Toronto, four Awards for Academic Proficiency in Community Health, Best Article of the Year Award for the best article to appear in any college or university publication in North America - on the chemistry of the brain and how we influence it, including using Superlearning, two awards from the Canada Council for the Advancement of Education and a Hon.D.Litt (Wolfe University of Kings College) for excellence in interpreting science for lay readers
In her own words: “I fervently want the time of my passing to be an occasion of gladness and appreciation for a life lived long and in joyous fullness.”
“The character that we gradually build is made up of all of the 24-hour bricks we create each day. These are our ultimate legacy. These are what are left behind. The quality and value of our ultimate building depends on the quality of our day-to-day bricks. Building our daily bricks with anger and negative emotions is like building a home of straw. Love, faith, generosity, and kindness are the components of solid bricks that endure. When I pass, my bricks will stand alone. There is no need to attempt to reconfigure, dismantle or embellish them. I am who I am. I was what I was. I worked very hard to build my character and to teach these values to others along the way.”
“I have been blessed with a long and eventful life, which I ascribe as much to good genes as to good living. I have always believed that the time to show that we care and to share our own cares with others is now, while we are living. The past is buried, the future is uncertain. We only have today to give the best that we can to each other. We all have an equal gift of time each day. If we waste it or abuse it, that’s our choice. In my opinion it’s a poor choice.”
