Mildred was one of 13 children who grew up in Western Shore, NS. Her father was a cooper and fisherman and from all accounts, he was very fond of his family. Mildred was baptized on April 17, 1911 St.Stephens Church, Chester,NS.

Unfortunately in 1926, the family life took a turn for the worst as her dad suffered a massive stroke while rowing to Chester with his wife and two sons, Ray and Murray.

Mildred had been a good student and had looked forward to continuing her education but her dad's death put an end to those dreams. There was no high school in Western Shore where she lived and now there was no money to for her to go to Chester for High School. The family was destitute and Mildred helped make money where she could - she picked blueberries, hooked rugs tended other people's children and worked on the farmland they owned until it was deeded to the overseers of the poor to provide maintenance for the family.

In 1928, Mildred's mother moved the family to Bedford, NS to be with George Dooley who became Mildred's stepfather. In Bedford, money did not come any easier and it was found necessary to remove some of the children from the home to provide food and shelter for them. Only Mildred, Lloyd, Lester and Alice as well as baby George Dooly remained at home.

Mildred went out to work as a housekeeper and later as a waitress. She took a bookkeeping course but never practiced the training as she met and married Milford Pye and within quick succession had three children. It was not natural in that era for a woman to go outside the home to work after the children were born. In 1937 they moved to Kirkland Lake, Ontario where Milford worked in the gold mines. The family returned to Halifax in 1940. Their second daughter died of suffocation in 1937 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario and their only son was very ill as a baby.

In 1942 or there abouts, Milford left the family to fend for themselves. He had taken all the furnishings except for the kitchen table and wicker laundry basket. Mildred approached Trinity Anglican Church for help and was told that they could place her children in foster homes which was not the help she was seeking. She tried several day jobs as housekeeper and waitress and put her children in the Jost Mission Day care at 10 cents a day but Wayne kept running away trying to find his mother so she stayed at home during the day. She found a job cleaning the Department of Lands and Forests offices for the province of Nova Scotia at night and hired sitters to be with her family while they were sleeping.

During these hard times, Mildred kept her family in two rooms on the third floor over a restaurant. There was no running water except for cold water in the bathroom and no central heat. She had a coal stove for heat and cooking and coal was bought in small bags for $1.00. An ice chest, with the ice blocks delivered every second day preserved the food. Baths were taken in a galvanized steel tub with all water heated on the stove. The welfare brought bags of clothes once in a while. When holes developed in shoes, pieces of cardboard were used to extend the life as long as possible. All furniture was either given to her or bought at a second hand store.

Her brothers brought fish and game that they caught to augment the diet - rabbits, smelts, lobster, gaspereaux, herring, mackerel, scallops and occasionally deer roasts. The Department of Lands and Forests where she worked gave her a turkey each year for Christmas and the city allowed her to purchase $10.00 a week at the IPC for staples. These Staples were closely monitored and packaged foods such as Corn Flakes were not allowed but rolled oats or cream of wheat had to be purchased.

There was no health plan. Dentist's visits were solely for the removal of the teeth at 10 cents a tooth at Dr. Barnstead's. The children's health was not good at this time - Wayne had scarlet fever for which he had to be hospitalized. He also developed tuberculosis which required a long time in the TB sanatorium for recovery. All the children had appendectomies and tonsillectomies. However, because they were on welfare, these costs were born by the city. In 1950 Mildred rented the other two rooms on the floor and took in borders to augment her income from the province. Now she could go off welfare. Lorraine found a job after school and on weekends to help as well. An oil stove was purchased as well as a refrigerator. Gradually Mildred was able to keep only one boarder and turn the newly acquired rooms into bedrooms for the family. An extension was run into the kitchen from the bathroom to provide cold running water in the kitchen. However, no amount of improvement to the living conditions ridded the place of cockroaches which appeared everywhere when the lights were turned off.

Through all the above adversities, Mildred kept a clean home and offered her children much encouragement in their schooling and general well being. She took them regularly to Point Pleasant Park or the Dingle for outings and to the Public Gardens for band concerts. The home was a happy one with the necessities provided somehow.

Mildred helped live her dream through her daughter, Lorraine, when Lorraine graduated from teacher's college in 1954.

Unfortunately, as life became easier for Mildred, her health worsened. In February 1958, Mildred succumbed to a long and painful bout with uterian cancer. She would have been so proud to see the happy marriages of her children and extra proud that her son, Wayne, was a successful Chartered Accountant with his own firm.


From recollections of Her Daughter Lorraine.