She has been described as fierce, curious and unconventional — an independent thinker, role model, avid gardener and keeper of the soul of the community. To her patients and colleagues, she was a brilliant geneticist.

Genetic research at the Faculty of Medicine began with the appointment of Dr. Penny Allderdice in 1973 as a cytogeneticist, one of the early female pioneers of the medical school. Her most widely known scientific contribution was identifying and naming what became known as Allderdice syndrome.

Allderdice syndrome is a rare inherited condition found in some families. It occurs when a section of a chromosome is inverted — similar to a page in a book printed upside down. While the genetic information remains present, its altered order can disrupt normal development.

Dr. Allderdice traced this chromosomal inversion through nine generations of the same family, back to an 1817 founder couple in the rural Newfoundland town of Sandy Point. By studying affected relatives, she demonstrated that the inversion could result in a recognizable set of features, including developmental delay, distinctive facial characteristics and congenital anomalies. While the severity varied, the pattern was consistent enough to define a distinct genetic syndrome.

This work represented one of the earliest and clearest demonstrations of a single structural chromosomal change persisting across many generations within a real population. The so-called “Allderdice family” became a classic case study in medical genetics, used internationally in both teaching and research. Her findings helped advance scientific understanding of how chromosome structure influences human development.

Her work, however, extended far beyond the laboratory. Dr. Allderdice combined scientific rigour with compassion and ethical awareness, emphasizing that genetics is not just about data, but about people, families and communities.

 

Brenda Earles and Dr. Penny Allderdice, circa 1973. Photo by Dr. Brian Payton from Memorial University Archives.

 

After becoming aware of widespread functional illiteracy and limited health knowledge among adults, she developed an education initiative called Ask Your Family Tree. The project was designed to help families identify and track inherited traits without formal genetic knowledge, while highlighting the importance of genetic screening.

Following a long and successful academic and medical career, Dr. Allderdice felt drawn to explore the deeper theological and ethical dimensions of life. In 2001, she was ordained by the Third Unitarian Church of Chicago, where she served as executive director and an affiliated minister. She later worked as a hospital chaplain in Buffalo, Hamilton, Toronto and St. John’s, bringing compassion, insight and ethical guidance to patients, families and staff in each setting.

Dr. Allderdice grew up in a former Shaker village in Harvard, Mass., where her family embraced self-sufficiency. They planted, harvested, preserved, cooked and cared for their own crops and animals — practices she would later revive when she and her husband, Bill, became guardians of the Limeville property in 1973.

They referred to it as their land, not their property. Their cedar-shingled Southcott house sits on a large green lot in the historic Battery. There, she became known for her ducks, turkeys and hens; her tulips, daffodils and scilla; and a remarkable collection of trees, including beeches, lindens and even a ginkgo grown from a nut harvested in Toronto.

She delighted in sharing the pleasures of gardens, animals, cooking, music and arts and crafts with those around her — including colleagues and students — leaving a legacy of care, curiosity and creativity. Her door was open to all. She was known to sit with anxious strangers and invite them home for supper.

She also brought her love of nature to campus. She could often be seen striding across Memorial in plaid, moleskin or well-worn corduroy, buckets and plants in hand, working to diversify and beautify green spaces. The Allderdice Garden, which she established in 1981 in memory of those who left too soon, continues to grow.

Before she died earlier this year, she had one more gift to give. Dr. Allderdice formed a friendship with staff at Signal Hill Campus, her neighbours on Signal Hill. They welcomed her to a tea on campus, and she arrived bearing snowbells from her garden, advising them to save the seeds for planting.

Those seeds have now been planted. With luck, a small piece of Dr. Allderdice will bloom at Signal Hill Campus next spring.

 

Leaderboard photo of Dr. Penny Allderdice courtesy of Malin Enström.