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"I'll never be anything else. It was never just a job to me. I don't remember ever hesitating to give first aid. I feel I've done something with my life, Nursing is such a wonderful profession."
She said she'd originally wanted to be a doctor, but didn't have the wherewithal to finance her training. "People used to ask me why I didn't go back to school and become a doctor, but in the Dirty Thirties, you just didn't go back."
After graduation from the three year nursing program at VGH, Woodward said she worked part time, when work was available. "I was 'night float' on the maternity ward there and worked on the men's surgical ward, and that experience stood me in good stead later."
When she saw an ad for a nurse for Red Cross Outpost nursing services, she applied and the next month was on her way by train from Vancouver to Edmonton and Dawson Creek. From there the mail truck took her to Fort St. John. This was quite an adventure I had set out on," said Woodward. "It was so cold, about thirty below."
One of the many bachelors in the area, George Lin, arrived with his homemade cutter and team of horses to take her the last 18 miles to Cecil Lake. "He gave me a canvas hood that had just a slit cut for the eyes and told me that would break the wind."
Woodward said the trip across the Beatton hills took about 12 hours. "The challenge was there. I don't think anything could have deterred me." Woodward said melting snow for water and keeping the wood stoves going became part of her daily routine. The outpost was not only the medical centre of the community, but also the social and religious centre, with a chapel upstairs. "The Cecil Lake church hadn't been built yet," said Woodward.
Her duties included visiting homes and three area schools. "I had never been on a horse before in my life, but someone brought me a horse from the abbey, and I learned to ride."
Woodward said she was riding along one day and saw a large black animal in the road. "Nobody told me the horses were scared of bears. Just as I realized what it was, my horse turned around and we were going the other way."
She said the community was very supportive, and even after she had married and had children of her own, and was no longer nursing at the outpost, many still looked to her as the nurse. "There were lots of families in the area. You could always stop for lunch." She said one of the bright spots in the community was the three young men who taught at the schools. She married Welsh homesteader Dick Woodward in May 1941.
Woodward's reminiscences were filled with names of pioneering families of the area: Dr. Kearney, with whom she worked; Monica Storrs; Agnes Ailing, Red Cross nurse; Mrs. Groger and Mrs. Cuthbert of the Women's Institute; Miss Claxton and the Prependary Gough Outpost Hospital. "There'll be some oldtimers who will remember that one," she said.
She remembers meeting Father Emile Jungbluth as he made his rounds. "He'd have his goggles on, and come along his motorcycle. My horse jumped into the ditch to get out of his way."
Woodward said a large part of her job was leaming how to cope, "You had to use a lot of instinct in those days. You had to improvise. You might not have had the knowledge or equipment you needed."
One other most memorable experiences was delivering a set of premature twins that weighed three pounds and three pounds, two ounces, one cold winter night in December. "We only had Aladdin lamps. I'd feed the babies with a medicine dropper."
Woodward said many people she has nursed over the years still keep in touch with her, "There's lots of 'my' kids around. Some of the kids I delivered are grandparents now."
She said she still has the letter she received from the Red Cross when she left the outpost in 1941. "They paid me one month's salary as a bonus, and that was $120."
After the war, the family farmed in Cecil Lake and then in 1959 moved into Fort St. John. "Dick took over as yardman at the Department of Highways, and I went back to nursing, at the hospital," said Woodward. She retired in 1972, but said she is still a nurse.
By Pamela den Ouden, May 9, 1990, The Northerner
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