Whose House? Dr. Trimbee’s House
When Dr. Annette Trimbee became the seventh president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg in 2014, it represented a major life change. Trimbee, born and raised in Winnipeg, had spent the last several decades in Edmonton, where she worked as a civil servant in the Government of Alberta. After living in the same house for 25 years, finding the right Winnipeg neighbourhood was a bit of a Goldilocks-and-the-Three Bears situation.
“I wasn’t sure what community my husband would like,” Trimbee says. “We experimented. First we rented a house in St. Vital. That was too far of a drive. Then I rented a condo across the street from the university. That was too close. I’d show up at 7:30 every morning wondering where everybody was.”
Eventually, Trimbee arrived at her current home in Charleswood, which she says is a perfect blend of location and access to nature, with nearby trails and green space aplenty.
“It feels like I’m at the lake,” Trimbee says of the home. “We never had a cabin or cottage, but, my dad worked for the railway, and, growing up, he’d always take us to the lake on days off. There’s a pool next door, where we hear the local teenagers partying. There’s even a little boy sleeping in a tent in the next house.”
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1) Screening room
“This is why the house works for my husband, too. You’ve got to realize, he gave up his job to move here. This is a giant projector screen with great sound. My grandniece watched Harry Potter in here and was doing cartwheels through the whole movie.”
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2) Open concept kitchen and living room
“I like entertaining large groups of people, but I’m not a formal dining room person. I’ve had 35 people comfortably in this space. I like to have a few people from the university, my brothers and my cousins over, so it’s a really weird, less formal mix.”
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3) Brian Jungen print
“When I was Deputy Minister of Service Alberta, we had a fundraiser. Everyone who participated got a print from Jungen. Each of these drawings is a prototype for some future art piece.”
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4) Family artworks
“My oldest sister did these, a spitting image of my little sister. My youngest sister did the sketch of my mom and aunt. On the right is a self-portrait my daughter did in Grade 9. You have to be a mama and daughter to know how she captured what she didn’t and did like about herself.”
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5) Lion sculpture
“My daughter made this in Grade 9. I love the detail of the hair.”
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6) Three-paned window
“The first thing I do in the morning is look through these windows. The trees are far away, but it looks like they’re right on top of us. It makes me feel great every day. I wouldn’t have known how important the green space was to me if I hadn’t had the experience of living across from the university.”
Published in Volume 72, Number 1 of The Uniter (September 7, 2017)