In A Place Called Eady

The edited version of this story first appeared in Simcoe Life Magazine

Spring 2008

Volume 4 Issue 1

 

A woman’s work is never done. Pre-deceased and self-sufficient at 88 years of age, Evelyn Reid continues to donate selflessly of her time to those in need in and around her community.

The long time resident of Eady, a tiny community situated between Coldwater and Moonstone, Reid began her nursing career in 1941, at the age of 23, at Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Orillia. After marrying a local farmer in 1948, she began private nursing duties.

“Back then married women did not have permission to be in a supervisor’s position within the operating room. I was forced into private and didn’t like it much. You were stuck with one person all day, everyday. In addition to private nursing, I was working alongside my husband performing mixed farming duties. We were milking by hand long before acquiring a milk machine. It was a busy time.”

With the first of two children being born to Reid in 1959, she became director of nursing at Jay Haro Nursing Home in Coldwater in 1965 (now a retirement home) and an on-call emergency ward nurse at Soldiers’.

No longer farming, Reid is still a member of Soldiers’ Memorial Nurses Alumni and Retired Nurses Group, and is secretary/treasurer for the Eady Community Hall Board. She heads the Eady fowl supper, a fundraiser to support the upkeep of the hall. In addition to all of this, Reid donates her time to the yearly “old fashioned” Christmas concerts as well as St. George’s Anglican Church Women at Fairvalley, east of Eady.

Reid is one busy lady. For fifteen years, up until three years ago, she worked with the Red Cross Foot Clinic, giving foot care to seniors in the local area.
“A broken arm put a halt to that,” she laughs.

In her spare time, she writes for North Simcoe Community News. When asked why she does it all, she replies, “It keeps me young!”

Imagine.

Photo © Sam Brown