Hazel B. Smith was born on May 14, 1906 in Toronto, ON and moved to a farm south of Carberry with her family when she was 2 years old. The family then moved to Arizona, MB, then back to Carberry while she was quite young. Hazel attended country school and then school in Carberry. She took nurses training at Winnipeg General Hospital but was unable to finish her second year due to health problems. Although unable to complete her training, Hazel helped with maternity cases and did some home nursing after returning to Carberry in the 1930s. In the years after the Second World War she worked in a doctor's office. She also worked at the Children's Hospital (BC?), a logger's hospital at Alert Bay, spent two years at Fox Memorial Hospital, then moved to Sioux Lookout. Upon returning to Manitoba she worked with the Inuit and then spent nine years at Grace Hospital after she and her mother settled in Selkirk, MB. Arthritis forced her to change occupations and in 1967 Hazel was hired as custodian for the then new Carberry Library. She retired in 1969, and was replaced by Audrey Harburn. Hazel never married. Hazel Smith died on May 3, 1996 in Winnipeg, MB. She is buried at the family plot in Carberry, MB.
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 Hazel Smith about her life as a nurse and library clerk. Interviewer is Audrey Harburn.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Smith's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Audio Tracks
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