Angels of Mercy in our Midst
Oda Everilda Weldon
(1885-1954)
Library and Archives Canada, PA-005544
From left, Alma Finnie, Jean Bennett and Oda Weldon
cast votes at the Canadian military hospital in Orpington, England 1917
“You are following the example of the noble Florence Nightingale, and like her, may your work be crowned with loving appreciation from the sick and suffering.” Such were the words of the Rev’d. J.U. Robins, in addressing Oda Weldon before she and her brother Harold departed for England in the spring of 1916, Oda having enlisted on February 2 of that year.
Oda Everilda Weldon was born on June 23 1885 in Mariposa Township, Ontario. One of seven children born to prominent Mariposa citizen Jesse B. Weldon and Ellen Lownsbrough, the family resided in the village of Oakwood. Called to the nursing profession, Oda graduated from the Toronto General Hospital training school in 1905. Between then and her enlistment, Oda worked as a nurse in Battle Creek, Michigan and eventually took on a supervisory role at the Vancouver General Hospital.
June 1 1917 saw Oda being taken on strength of No. 16 Canadian General Hospital at Orpington, Kent and it was during her tenure here that she joined Jean Bennett and Alma Finnie in being among the very first Canadian women to cast votes in the Canadian federal election later that year. Following the war, Oda served as an inspector for the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment (DSCR) in Toronto. Twice married and well-travelled, Oda played golf and attended Sherbourne Street United Church in the city for several years prior to her death in 1954, aged sixty-eight.
Frank Weldon (b.1899)
Served as clerk of Victoria County
for a period of over 40 years
beginning in 1927.
Resources:
Library and Archives Canada, PA-005544. Miss Weldon’s name is misspelled as “Olga Weldon,” Lindsay
Obituary, “Nursing Sister Served Overseas In First World War,” Globe & Mail, February 16 1954
