Ada Louise Silver was born on 22 October 1859 at Lunenburg, N.S., the daughter of Charles Silver (1833-1913) and Louisa (Gerhardt) Silver (1836-1908). She attended Pictou Academy ca. 1867 for teacher's training and then taught school in the Lunenburg area. In 1885 she married Frank Powers (1853-1911), son of Peter and Elizabeth Thomson Powers of Halifax, with whom she had three children: Archibald Forbes, Frank, and William T. She also cared for Flora, a grandchild to Frank Sr. descending from an earlier marriage to Emma Sophia Morash (1855-1883), following the death of Flora's mother. Throughout her life Ada Powers was actively involved in education, temperance, missionary, and social service work. In 1922 she was the first woman appointed to the Lunenburg School Board. She was president of the Lunenburg Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) for 50 years and held several executive positions in the Nova Scotia WCTU. She represented Nova Scotia at World WCTU conferences in Stockholm, London, and across Canada, and was superintendent on the national executive of WCTU. Powers also served as an officer of the Lunenburg Presbyterian Church. She died at Lunenburg on 29 April 1942.