I believe the things you have learned in your past will come back to help you face the things you need to deal with in your future.

One person who has taught me from my past is my great, great, great grandmother, 17 year old Jane (O’Driscoll) Wilcox. Jane and her new husband, William left Ireland at the height of the potato famine and arrived on Grand Manan in 1846. She arrived in her delicate dresses and dainty leather shoes to a place where rough clothing and boots were the ladies’ attire. I’m sure she couldn’t sing for awhile but her granddaughter, Helene, remembers her singing ‘Isle of Beauty” later in life…she made it and contributed greatly to island life. In fact, from her experience during the fever and the deaths in the potato famine she had learned the importance of cleanliness when facing an epidemic. When a serious flu epidemic hit Grand Manan, she is credited with saving many lives. She had a practice of washing her hands and shedding her apron at the door of the home where she had gone to help the sick. Years later people realized her practices had meant the disease wasn’t carried from home to home and GM didn’t lose as many children as other NB communities.