Maud ni'n Fhraing mac Alasdair 'ic Dhòmhnuill Thàilleir

Maude Joan MacKenzie (née MacLennan, Maude ni'n Fhraing mac Alasdair 'ic Dhòmhnuill Thàilleir) was born on September 5, 1894, in River Denys, Nova Scotia. Her MacLennan ancestors came from Lochcarron to River Denys in 1821. Her parents were Frank and Barbara (MacDonald) MacLennan. She was the 2nd youngest of five children. She grew up on what was known as the ‘backlands’, which is now called the MacLennan Road in Melford. She grew up in a strong Gaelic household and Gaelic was her first language. Like her siblings, she learned English only when she went to school. She attended Gladstone School, which was a one room schoolhouse near William’s Hill. Maude loved the Gaelic language and culture and promoted it greatly during her lifetime. She taught herself to read and write Gaelic using the Gaelic bible.

Maude graduated in 1921 as a registered nurse from the Cambridge School for Training Nurses in Massachusetts. She worked for four years at Corey Hill Hospital in Brookline, Mass., and later did private pediatric nursing in and around Boston. She returned to River Denys in 1925, and married Rod J. (Roddie) MacKenzie and they ran the store in River Denys where Maude served as sales clerk for 36 years. All the while she used her nursing skills to tend to the health of her neighbours. Maude was, in effect, what is known today as a nurse practitioner. During her community nursing career, Maude was present at 68 births in River Denys and the surrounding communities, helping the mothers and assisting the physician. She delivered 26 of those babies before the doctor even arrived. Maude passed away in 1991 and is buried in Fir Grove Cemetery, River Denys.