Dolores And Me

The Out Patient Department in our hospital is where Dolores had worked for many years. She trained as a Registered Nurse at Payzant Memorial Hospital in Windsor, NS, a school of Nursing that is now closed. A new Hants Community Hospital has been built, and Dolores had worked at the Payzant Memorial and was working at the new Hants Community Hospital when we met. She had grown up in Hants County, NS, married her highschool sweetheart, and raised two children while practicing her career. And, no doubt about it, Dolores is a dynamo.

She is short of stature but big in heart. Dolores has sarcasm honed to a work of art and at times she is unbelievably funny. We became good friends, thought a lot like each other, and our husbands knew each other. Therefore it just became a friendship of four people, a friendship strong and long lasting to this day.

Dolores and her husband Frank had a cottage on a lake. It was a cottage that everyone liked to visit so consequently we had countless parties, games, conversations, and special meals and events at this special little cottage. It was at this small cottage on Lake Mockingee that most of the children learned to water-ski as Frank had the patience to drive the boat all afternoon for them. The fathers took turns being spotters and ensuring the children were safe as they learned the technique of water skiing. It was a rite of passage on Mockingee Lake that every child experienced at some point and will forever remember.

We enjoyed trips to Tancook Island in Mahone Bay, taking the ferry in the morning and returning at night. We shared countless shopping trips, and outings to various places, and also we shared our joys and sorrows. I well remember the morning that Dolores worked through the tears, knowing that her father was dying upstairs on our Medical Unit. It must have been horrible for her, but she did it. There was nobody to replace her it was said. So she put up her shield and got through the day.

It was Dolores and Frank we would call in times of trouble, and they would be there as soon as possible, wherever they were required to be, they would be there. For years Frank and I did a Mr.& Mrs. Santa at Christmas time. Dolores and I would get together at one of our homes and bake dozens and dozens of shortbread cookies. It was just understood that we would do it, and we did. Mrs. Santa had to have cookies! My kids would love to watch and gobble up any cookie or cookie bits that we cast aside.