Marjorie McLean was born at Ladner, BC, on March 25, 1903.
She was the second child of Duncan McLean and his wife, Margaret (née Clark) McLean of the Badenoch district of Puslinch.
Marjorie was of Highland Scottish stock. Her great-grandfather was Donald McLean, one of the first six Badenoch settlers. Her grandfather was “Little Peter” McLean, also known as “Peter the Councillor” McLean, as he was a member of Puslinch council.
Her parents returned east and McLean grew up on the farm in Badenoch and attended Badenoch School. She completed grade 10 at the Guelph Collegiate Institute in 1917, at the age of 14.
During 1918-19, she attended business college in Guelph. Her first job was as a stenographer and book-keeper at Harris Woollen Mills in Rockwood in 1924-25. From 1925 to 1929, she was stenographer and book-keeper with the Department of Agriculture in Milton.
In 1929, McLean enrolled in nursing school. She graduated from the Hamilton General School of Nursing and received her registration on July 15, 1932.
From 1932 to 1937 she was employed as general duty nurse and dental assistant at Mountain Sanatorium in Hamilton.
For four months in 1937, she worked as a surgical nurse at Herman Keifer Hospital in Detroit but returned to Canada to become an operating room nurse and assistant superintendent at Essex County Sanitorium in Windsor.
From 1942 to 1944, McLean was employed as first aid nurse by the Ford Motor Company in Windsor.
She gave up the security of this job and the comfortable lifestyle that went with it during the Second World War, when she enlisted in the Canadian forces in 1944, reporting for duty on June 15.
Second Lieutenant Marjorie McLean nursed at Ipperwash Military Hospital, which was attached to the military hospital in London, Ontario. She was promoted to Lieutenant on Aug. 10, 1944. On Oct. 17, 1944, she was posted to the Military Hospital in Weston, Ontario (now part of Toronto).
On May 12, 1945, she was assigned to the Embarkation Travel Unit and on June 6, 1945, she left port on the first of three trips on the Canadian Hospital Ship, Lady Nelson.
Throughout the Depression in the 1930s, prior to the advent of the war, travel overseas was still largely the prerogative of the wealthy, not something a girl raised on a farm, or even a nurse, could afford. The war brought this opportunity. As well as being a terrifying nightmare, it was an adventure.
Like most Canadian and American servicemen and women, Marjorie made the most of her chance. And, she kept souvenirs.
It began with letters from the Department of National Defence, verifying her enlistment and date to report for duty; then cards from her co-workers at Ford Motor Co., wishing her well when she left the company; and a typewritten list of the required items in an enlisted nurse’s outfit and receipts for purchase.
The Lady Nelson was the first of a fleet of five Caribbean cruise ships known as the “lady ships,” owned by Canadian National Steamships.
In March 1942, it was torpedoed and almost sunk dockside by a German U-boat in Castries Harbour in St. Lucia. The ship was raised, towed to Mobile, Alabama and refitted as the first of Canada’s two floating hospitals, the second one being the Letitia.
The Lady Nelson was re-launched in April 1943. Operated by the Royal Canadian Navy, it was staffed with 70 medical personnel and held a surgery, x-ray equipment, autoclave facilities, pharmacy, as well as patient wards, storage for medical supplies, kitchens and dining room.
Within the next three years, it transported 21,099 wounded Canadians home.
While with the navy, McLean used layovers in England to see the sights, attend the theatre and make a trip to Edinburgh and Inverness in Scotland, the land of her ancestors.
McLean pasted her keepsakes into a scrapbook that has survived to this day. It is a trip back in time to look through it.
In April 1946, with its work completed, the Lady Nelson was transferred to repatriation duty, carrying healthy personnel home. After its war work ended, the ship continued to ply the Caribbean until November 1952 and was finally scrapped in 1968.
McLean was transferred from active to reserve status on March 12, 1946. She was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp on April 11, 1946.
In 1947, McLean developed an acute case of rheumatoid arthritis. At that time, there was little available to treat the disease, except cortisone, which had a very harsh effect on the stomach. By March 1948 the condition was considered chronic and not yielding to treatment. McLean was no longer able to work at the Ford Motor Co., where she had returned.
With her brother, Peter, who was also single, and her brother-in-law Elgin Patterson, McLean purchased a house on Victoria Street in Morriston.
She suffered a great deal, as the joints of her hands and feet became swollen, deformed and immobile. By about 1954, she was confined to a wheelchair. Despite this, she continued to write to friends and relatives.
McLean made frequent trips to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, as well as to Westminster Hospital in London, Ontario for treatment and several times was taken by ambulance in emergency situations.
McLean died on Feb. 15, 1967, at the age of 64. Her war-time scrapbook is safely held in the Wellington County Archives.
This is an edited version of an article by Marjorie Clark (with files from Lois McLean and The National Archives of Canada) originally published in the 2015 Wellington County History journal (Volume 28).
