Charles Balish was born 15 January 1896 in Beirut, Lebanon. He emigrated to Nova Scotia, settling in Lockeport and married Eva May Knickerson (born 11 November 1900 and died 11 November 1980) of Cape Sable Island. The Balishes ran a general store which may be seen on the 1938 Lockeport Lockout film. Mr. Balish documented events which were important to the growth of his family, his community and his province. Charles Balish died in February 1986.

Aubrey Earle Lavers was born at Hantsport on 8 January 1889, the son of George Edward and Odessa Alberta (Earle) Lavers. He attended school in Halifax, finishing at Grade 8. Thereafter, he went to work as a pattern maker and joined the army on 12 October 1917, serving until 1919. He served with the 11th Siege Battery in France where he was slightly gassed and had a shrapnel wound. Upon his return to Canada he worked for a year as a pattern maker in Halifax and then went west to settle in Winnipeg, where he worked for the CNR in Transcona as a coach carpenter for 33 years. He died on 9 July 1964 in Winnipeg.

Donald Roy Wiles (1924-2022), amateur linguist and chemistry professor, was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada in August 1924 to Neil Douglas Wiles (1899-1983) and Hilda M. (Vaughan) Wiles (1896-1986). Educated in Amherst, then Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick he earned a Bachelor of Science degree 1946, and Bachelor of Education degree 1947. Before his career in chemistry took him to Norway, the United States, and Western Canada, he spent the summer of 1946 visiting his mother’s family in Martin’s Point, Lunenburg County. Both sides of the family could trace their roots back to the “Foreign Protestants” who first settled Lunenburg. While there he recorded the German language spoken by the elders of that community and wrote down some of the German customs persisting there. After earning his Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States in 1953, he worked at the University of British Columbia 1955-1959, then joined the Chemistry Department faculty at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario from 1959 until his retirement in September 1990. He continued teaching occasional courses in chemistry until just before his death on July 13, 2022 in Almonte, Ontario.

Cora de Jong Greenaway, C.M., D.F.A., D.Hum.L., F.R.S.A., teacher, broadcaster, history researcher and author, was born in Medan, Indonesia 4 July 1915 to Klaas and Bernardine Antoinette Louise (Calkoen) de Jong. She was educated at universities in Europe until the German occupation of Holland in 1940, when she became active in the Dutch Resistance and subsequent liberation of Holland. On 7 July 1949 Cora de Jong married British Major William (Bill) Greenaway, MC, and together they immigrated to Canada and settled in Paradise, Nova Scotia. From 1956 to 1979 she worked for CBC Radio as a freelance broadcaster on cultural and heritage subjects. She was a founding member of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia in 1959. In 1963 she became a teacher and vice-principal of Dartmouth Academy private school in Dartmouth, NS until 1979. In 1960 she discovered the painted 19th century wall murals of the “Croscup Room” in Karsdale, NS, now preserved as part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada. Subsequently, Dr. Greenaway received funding from the Canada Council and became a full time researcher on historic interior decorative painting. She discovered and documented examples in private homes (including folk artist Maud Lewis), published several articles, curated an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (1986), and lectured nationally and internationally, from 1980 to the late 1990s. In 2011 she published the book Painted Dreams, the culmination of her life’s work on the subject. She received multiple awards, including the Order of Canada in 1996. Dr. Greenaway died in The Hague, Netherlands, February 2, 2017.

Charles Wyndham "Chuck" MacNeil was born on 2 December 1944 in New Glasgow, N.S., son of Edgar William MacNeil and Elizabeth Adelaide (Weir). He was educated at East Pictou Rural High School and Mount Allison University (B.Sc., 1964). He later attended Dalhousie University (MD, 1969). He practiced as a family physician in Yarmouth, 1969-1981, and in Sherbrooke from 1981 on. From 1982 to 1984 he was a municipal councillor for the Municipality of the District of St. Mary's. In 1966 he married Elizabeth Alison Fleming of Stellarton, N.S. and they had four children. MacNeil was elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature in 1984 as MLA for Guysborough and re-elected in 1988. He served as a member of several legislative committees, including Education (1985), Law Amendments and Veterans Affairs (1986), Economic Development (chair, 1987), Community Services and Public Accounts (1990-1991). In 1988 he was chairman of the Progressive Conservative Caucus and later chairman of the Caucus Committee on Youth. On 23 December 1988 he was appointed minister of lands and forests, and was also appointed minister of mines and energy in February 1991. Under his direction the two departments merged in September 1991 and became the Department of Natural Resources. On 24 February 1992 he was appointed minister of finance. On 25 May 1993 he was defeated in the provincial election. Throughout his career MacNeil has participated in numerous organizations including the YMCA, Guysborough Progressive Conservative Association, and the Canadian and Nova Scotia Medical Societies. Dr. MacNeil died 18 June 2022, New Glasgow, N.S.

Paul Warren Bennett (1949- ), is an author, education commentator, and consultant. He began his career in education in 1974 as a history teacher in Ontario, then joined Upper Canada College in Toronto in 1980 as Chair of the History Department and served as their academic vice principal until 1997. He then moved to Montreal QC to become headmaster of Lower Canada College from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 Bennett moved to Halifax Nova Scotia to be headmaster at Halifax Grammar School, a post he held until 2009, when he established his own consulting company Schoolhouse Institute and Consulting Inc. As part of his business, Bennett conducted research into education policy and produced reports for the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies (AIMS), the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS), the Northern Policy Institute, and Thinkwell Research for the Nova Scotia Department of Education. In addition, he wrote research commentaries, opinion editorials, and book reviews for The Halifax Chronicle Herald Newspaper, and gave public talks on the history of schools in Nova Scotia. Bennett is also a community organizer, being a founding member of two education reform movements in Nova Scotia, an extension of his earlier work with the Ontario School Board Reform Network and the Coalition for Education Reform in Ontario. The Students First NS movement focused on school board reform and was active from 2010 to 2011. The NS Small Schools Initiative citizen activists group formed in 2012. They lobbied school boards and the Department of Education to keep rural schools open and were active until 2017. Bennett also taught graduate education courses at Mount Saint Vincent University and then taught as Adjunct Professor of Education at Saint Mary’s University, both in Halifax. Since 2017, he has been founder and National Coordinator for ResearchED in Canada. As of 2023, Paul W. Bennett continues to teach, write and comment on educational matters.

Mark Edward Simkins (1954-2022) was a freelance photograph journalist and film maker in Halifax, Nova Scotia (NS), Canada and LaHave, Lunenburg County, NS. Born in 1954 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, to military Captain Harold Edward “Ted” and Mary Shirley (Martindale) Simkins, Mark Simkins graduated high school in Peterborough, Ontario in 1973, then studied Journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, 1974-1975, and Dalhousie University in Halifax 1977-1978. After University he worked as a reporter-photographer for the Truro Daily News 1979-1980, and sold photographs to the Canadian Press 1980-1981, and the Atlantic Bureau of United Press Canada (UPC) 1981-1982 under the name “Mark Simkins Photography”. In 1998 he moved from Halifax to LaHave NS where he sold photographs to local gift shops for re-sale and covered sports and town council meetings for the local newspapers, until 2003. Simkins also worked as a film technician and cinematographer until 2002. He served as president of the Nova Scotia Photographers Cooperative in 1986 and was a member of the Atlantic Filmmakers Coop (AFCOOP) with whom he directed the docu-drama “Mary and the Mayor: the Housing Crisis”, from 1988 to 1990. Mark Simkins died in Halifax NS on November 19, 2022.

Betty Peterson was born in the United States in 1917. As social activists, pacifists and Quakers, she and her late husband, Gunnar Peterson, were conscientious objectors during World War II. They also participated in the civil rights movement in Chicago for 23 years and in Vietnam War protests before leaving the United States to settle in Halifax in 1975. In Nova Scotia Peterson continued her advocacy for the peace movement, especially with the Voice of Women for Peace and Halifax Society of Friends (Quakers), and also supported causes concerning the environment, feminism, education, nuclear disarmament, and aboriginal rights. She participated in several out-of-province crusades, which were supported in part by Canadian Society of Friends and chronicled in national media reports, including a 1988 trek to Little Buffalo, Alberta, to support the Lubicon Cree Nation's land-claim fight and a 1987 trip to Goose Bay, Labrador to stand with the Innu protesting low flying military planes. Among her many activities in Halifax were participating in ecumenical movements for social justice (with Kairos), protesting the 1991 Gulf War, and promoting an alternative People's Summit (P7) during the 1995 G-7 meeting held in Halifax, NS. In the early 2000s she participated in public vigils protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a founding member of the Raging Grannies, a greying band of activists who used street theatre to promote peace and women's rights. In most of these organizations Peterson had a major role such as organizing, planning, and keeping detailed records of activities, names, strategies and results. She died on February 24, 2018, at the age of 100, in Halifax, NS.

Wayne Ingalls was born in 1939 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He received a BA from the University of British Columbia and pursued his studies at the University of Toronto, where he received his MA (1964) and his PhD (1971) in Classics. He taught at Bishops University (1967-1972), and later moved on to Mount Saint Vincent University where he worked for many years as a senior administrator. His posts included Assistant Academic Dean (1973-1979), and Director of Research and Publications (1973-1979). This position changed in 1979 and Dr. Ingalls was then Director of Research and Special Projects (1979-1987), which included overseeing and developing the MSVU international development work. Dr. Ingalls also served as Assistant to the President for Research, Planning and Information Services (1987-1991), Acting Vice President Academic (1991-1992) and Interim Vice President Academic (1996-1997). Throughout his time at the Mount, Dr. Ingalls continued to teach and was Associate Professor of History and Speech and Drama (1973-1999). Since 1999 Dr. Ingalls has held the rank of Professor and will until 2005. Dr. Ingalls' research has ranged broadly, including early work on Homeric composition, then on institution building in higher education, especially in the third world, and most recently on children and education in ancient Greece. Examples of his research can be found in the following publications: Canadian Journal of International Development Studies (1998); Canadian and International Education (1996); Phoenix (2002, 2000, 1982, 1972, 1971, 1970); Echos du monde classique (2001, 2000, 1998); Canadian Journal of Higher Education (1981), Mouseion (2001), History of Education (1999), Higher Education (1995), and Transactions of the American Philological Association (1979, 1976). He has travelled widely in North America, Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa.

Lua Gavin entered as a postulant to the Sisters of Charity at the age of 16. Sister Lua Gavin taught biology at Mount Saint Vincent College and University in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She was also involved with the Alumnae Association. She retired as chairman of the Biology Department in 1979, and in 1982 went to St. Brigid’s assisted living in Quebec City, Quebec as a coordinator. Sister Martina Marie was her sister, also in the Mount Saint Vincent community.