lives lived

Jean Beverly Payne: Scrabble aficionado. Bridge enthusiast. Secretary. Mother. Born Oct. 11, 1920, in Wickham, N.B.; died March 20, 2025, in New Glasgow, N.S., of natural causes; aged 104.

Jean Payne

Jean was not a typical Canadian woman of her era, if there is one. She lived for more than 104 years, had four names over her lifetime, spent her working life as a secretary and was the principal wage earner for her family.

She was born Violet Catherine Maud Bramble, and due to family breakdown was placed in a New Brunswick orphanage when she was four years old. Echoing the Anne of Green Gables story, she was adopted by a couple in Atlantic Canada who wanted a boy to help out on the farm and general store. When she turned up, and after some correspondence with the orphanage

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