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. Brigids assisted living in Quebec City, Quebec as a coordinator. Sister Martina Marie was her sister, also in the Mount Saint Vincent community.
Patsy MacIntyre attended the Mount for one year in approximately 1940, possibly taking the Secretarial degree. She was from Moncton, NB.
Michal Alexis (Rankin) Crowe was born in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in Bermuda, England, and Newfoundland. In 1967 she moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she worked as an Administrative Assistant for the Atlantic Institute of Education. While living in Halifax she also attended Mount Saint Vincent University where she graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in Sociology. While attending Mount Saint
Vincent University she was a member of the Senate Committee on Continuing Education and received several merit scholarships. Upon graduating she was hired as the Alumnae Officer (1977-1982), where she was responsible for facilitating programs, projects, and policies with the Alumnae Association, initiating and maintaining student alumnae liaison programs, producing a quarterly newsletter, and co-ordinating an annual fund raising drive.
Cynthia H. Plant-Hansen graduated from the Child Studies program at Mount Saint Vincent University in 1981 at the age of 27. She entered the program in the second year, as she had previous education and work related experience.
Catherine Sarah McGowan, daughter of J.W. McGowan, attended Mount Saint Vincent Academy and was later a student at Mount Saint Vincent College, Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 1940's. In the summer of 1946 she was given the opportunity to work as a junior dietician in the Convalescent Hospital in Montreal, Quebec. In 1948 McGowan graduated from Mount Saint Vincent College with a Bachelor of Science. In 1949 McGowan was employed at the Department of Agriculture doing demonstration work in foods. Catherine later joined the Sisters of Charity and took the name Sister Catherine Joseph Marie. By 1997 Sr. Catherine was running daycare centres--the Jardin de los Ninos, and Centre Elisabeth Seton, and continues to work in the Dominican Republic.
Rosemary Eaton was born in England and received some of her early education in Geneva. Her father owned a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, where she spent some of her summers. During World War II, while living in Britian, she joined the Home Guard. She worked in bookshops and other retail positions. Eaton studied photography and did some photography in Britain, northern Canada, Quebec and Nova Scotia. and has had photos published in magazines. She later moved to Toronto and then to Cole Harbour, N.S. in 1966 where she took an avid interest in the area. Eaton has written various newpaper articles relating to Cole Harbour issues and began documenting the area in photographs and journals. She married Michael Eaton and did not have any children.
Robert Blackwood was born 29 September 1789 in Coldrain, Fossoway & Tullibole Parish, Kinross-shire, Scotland, the son of William Blackwood (1750-1812) and Janet Keltie (1761-?). He studied theology and graduated from Divinity Hall at the University of Edinburgh. In 1816 Blackwood married Ann Macara of Perth, Scotland, with whom he had nine children. That same year he and his wife left Scotland with the intention of settling in the state of Ohio. On his way to the United States, he stopped in Halifax, where he was persuaded to remain since there was a demand for Presbyterian ministers. In October 1816 he became pastor for the congregation of Nine Mile River, Gay's River and Shubenacadie, residing at Shubenacadie. In 1840 he left Shubenacadie to preach at Tatamagouche. Prior to his arrival in Nova Scotia, Blackwood had acquired some medical training and was known to occasionally treat members of his congregation. In 1852 Blackwood resigned his charge at Tatamagouche but continued to minister in New Annan, Nova Scotia at Willow Church. He died on 12 December 1857.
Clarissa Archibald Dennis was born 24 November 1881 in Truro, N.S. After attending Mount Allison College, Dalhousie University, and Halifax Business College, she worked for her father, Senator William Dennis, at the Halifax Herald office. As a reporter and author, she published numerous newspaper and magazine articles on topics including Nova Scotia history, prominent citizens, and Mi'kmaq folklore and customs. Her books include Down in Nova Scotia (1934), More about Nova Scotia (1937), and Cape Breton Over (1942). Clara Dennis died in Halifax on 16 February 1958.
David Earle Lewis (1919-1975), short story author and teacher, was born November 15, 1919 in Melvern Square, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia to Earl Gordon Lewis (1893-1964) and Isabel Jean (Laing) Lewis (b.1891). David E. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1940 from Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. He worked in the Treasury Branch of the Department of National Defence (Navy) in St. John’s, Newfoundland (1943-1946) before returning to Acadia University to earn his Bachelor of Education in 1950. He received a teaching license for high school in 1951 and was hired by the newly constructed Bridgetown Regional High School in 1954. By 1957 he was living in Montreal, Quebec running his own bookstore, “David Lewis Books”. He returned to Bridgetown, NS and resumed teaching high school Latin and English in 1963, until retirement in 1972. He wrote regular columns for the Bridgetown Monitor newspaper, under titles “Here and There” (1967-1974) and “Bridgetown Scene,” had some short stories published in Maclean’s Magazine (1972), and published a book of humorous short stories titled “A Lover Needs a Guitar” (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973). David E. Lewis died at home in Bridgetown on October 13, 1975 at age 56.
Son of William Existe Surette and Esther Jane Mary d’Entremont, Charles « Melvin » Surette was born in Salem, Massachusetts on October 29,1931. His interests included genealogy, woodworking, cooking and tracing family histories especially those of Acadian families. He translated the book “Acadians in Quebec” by Pierre-Maurice Hébert from French to English. He wrote several articles on genealogy and history in the American-Canadian Genealogist.