Editor captures lives of extraordinary "little old ladies"

Rachel Brighton, the editor of the Nova Scotia Policy Review, has authored a "community book" about 21 senior women living in Kings, Annapolis and Digby counties in an effort to preserve their stories. According to a story on NovaNewsNow.com, Brighton talked to war brides and teachers; homemakers and a secret cipher operator; a wartime gunner; businesswomen and farmers. They told stories about their careers, communities and family life. As a result, said the article by Heather Killen, Brighton will never see little old ladies the same way again.

The project was initiated by The Women’s Place in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia (where Brighton lives) and Brighton worked from transcripts of taped interviews she conducted earlier this year.

“A little old lady would walk in the room and sit down,” she said. “As soon as she began to tell her story, her eyes sparkled, the old lady would disappear and I would only see the girl she has always been.”

Brighton added she was impressed with how each woman persevered through hardships and came shining through the other side with grace and dignity.

“You could see the girl that was and how the journey had shaped the person who came shining through,” she said. “Despite the hardships they experienced along the way, these women are happy, gracious, hopeful and optimistic...I always thought that old age was something that happens at the end of your life, a phase,but it happens throughout your life and you have to grow into it.”

The Western Area Women’s Coalition published the book, with proceeds to go to the Frances Mills-Clements Bursary, a scholarship fund that helps women build their futures.