Mary Evelyne Conley (nee Dixon) was born on November 30, 1919 in Carievale, SK. She lived in Carievale until 1940, at which point she moved to Brandon, MB. In Brandon she received her nurses training, graduating as an RN in 1943, and then working at Brandon General Hospital (BGH). In 1945, she moved to Toronto where she continued working as a nurse and also married Murray Ross Conley (1919-1998) on April 21, 1945. The couple had three children: Judith, Sharon and Bradley. After a year in Toronto, Evelyne returned to Brandon to raise her family and work as a private nurse at BGH. She retired from Fairview Personal Care Home in 1971, to care for her son, who developed multiple sclerosis (MS) in his 20s. This experience precipitated Evelyne's involvement with the MS Society. Evelyne Conley died on September 3, 2013 in Brandon, MB. She is buried at Rosewood Memorial Gardens.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Evelyne Conley about health services, specifically the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. The interview includes a brief history of the MS Society, the trials and tribulations of funding, and Evelyne’s personal ties to the organization. In particular she discusses the Prairie Division and the Brandon chapter. Interviewer is Phyllis Long.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Conley's obituary. Transcript by Kyle Head (2020). Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Audio Tracks
Media missing or recording not available.
An unexpected error occurred.
Update Required
To play the media you will need to update your
browser to a recent version, or update your Flash plugin.
