Was surprised to find my grandmother’s wedding announcement in the Guardian from this date in 1951. This was her second marriage, as my father’s father, Alvin, had died in 1936 at age 45, leaving Gladys with four sons under the age of 17 (and one only a year-and-a-half).

She had a rough time of it after Alvin’s death, trying to keep a small mixed farm going, with the help of neighbours and her eldest son, who was 23 when his father died. To make ends meet, she and her sister, Dot, cooked and lived at Shaw’s Hotel in Brackley Beach for a couple of summers. Gladys would also attend births and nurse the sick, which is how she came to know Clark MacQuarrie when she moved to Summerside to look after his first wife, Priscilla, who was ill for a couple of years before her death in 1950.

Clark and Gladys were hired as the first caretaker/janitor and cook at Stewart Memorial Hospital in Tyne Valley on June 2, 1951, so I supposed they had to get married as it was a position that came with room and board, and the chance of them being allowed to live together in such public positions without being married would have been nil. They lived in a small apartment in the hospital basement. Clark was 67 and Gladys was 57 when they were hired, for which they each got $100 a month, a great sum.

My mother’s grandmother, Eva, was one of the first patients at SMH in 1951, and at times the only patient as it cost $5 a day and was still user pay. My mother often told me how highly Eva regarded Gladys and how good her cooking was.

I don’t remember Gladys or Clark as they both died when I was very young. I didn’t even have a nickname for my grandmother until a few years ago when one of my cousins referred to her as Nan; I suppose I would have called her that as well.