Bertha Parsons
Chimney Cove, , Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Canadian, 1911 - 2013
Canadian, 1911 - 2013
| Biography: | In her teens, Bertha Parsons moved to Corner Brook, Newfoundland for work at a hospital. At 18, she married Thomas Parsons. At the end of the Second World War, the family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick. Bertha's husband died at age 47 in 1954. They had six children, five of whom were living when they moved to Saint John. Thomas worked at the sugar refinery and Bertha went to work at the Saint John Hospital as a ward clerk until she retired. They lived at Lily Lake until the passing of Bertha's husband and then moved into an apartment building. She moved in with Betty Lou when she was seventy-five. Bertha grew up doing crafts such as hooking, quilting and knitting. She hooked for income and designed for her friends. Bertha said I hate it when tell me how they want it done, I am the one doing it. She quilted when she got tired of hooking. She hooked a lot for a local doctor well into her nineties. Bertha only went to grade six but was actively involved with the Anglican Church women. She displayed her mats at Chester or Halifax at a museum, one is still on display. One of her mats was donated to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America, it has the accession number 2014.29.01. She learned to hook from her mother at age nine, all her siblings were taught. The hooks were made by her father and brothers out of nails. She taught rug hooking at the craft center in Saint John and to a group of ladies in Bathurst one winter when she stayed with her daughter. |
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