Page 16 - Giv'er Miramichi Magazine - Spring Giver 2026

A Century of Care:

Celebrating Lois Grady’s Lifetime of Compassion

By Les McLaughlin

In January, family, friends, and obstetrics at the hospital in
generations of grateful parents paused Newcastle. She often said
to celebrate a remarkable milestone: the nursing wasn’t simply a job—it
100th birthday of Lois Grady, a woman was her life’s work. When she
whose steady hands and gentle voice retired, she admitted she would
welcomed thousands of Miramichi likely find it hard to step away,
babies into the world and whose having spent so many years
kindness left a lasting imprint on the answering late-night calls,
community she loves. comforting anxious mothers,
For many across the region, Mrs. and guiding young nurses with
Grady isn’t just a former nurse; she is patience and high standards.
part of their family story. Over a career Those who worked
that spanned more than four decades, alongside her remember her
she helped deliver over 20,000 babies. deep sense of responsibility and
It’s not unusual to hear someone say, her belief that caring for
“Lois was there when I was born,” or patients meant doing whatever
even, “She delivered my children, and needed to be done. In her early
my grandchildren too.” years, nurses scrubbed walls
After graduating from high school and floors, washed beds, and Lois Grady celebrated her 100th birthday in January.
in 1944, she entered nursing training climbed ladders to keep wards She is pictured here at an event in the park in 2024.
and quickly found her calling in clean, all while tending to circumstances, was simply part of doing
patients. your duty.
She witnessed enormous changes in Even in retirement, Lois remains
medicine over the years, from feeding
premature babies with eye droppers to connected to the people and stories that
seeing them transferred to specialized defined her career. She took pride in
friendships formed during her training
care units, from small wards to modern and in the countless lives she had
facilities. Yet what never changed was touched. Nursing, after all, ran deep in
her focus on people. She often spoke of
the joy of seeing familiar faces return; her family, and she carried that tradition
daughters and granddaughters of forward with grace.
Reaching 100 years is a rare and
women she had cared for, trusting she beautiful milestone, but those who
would be there for them too. know her would say the true measure of
Born and raised in Blackville, Lois
carries with her a deep sense of her life isn’t found in the number: it’s in
community. Friends recall her warmth, the thousands of first cries she heard,
the nervous hands she held, and the
her sharp memory, and her ability to quiet reassurance she offered when it
make everyone feel welcome; whether mattered most.
they were relatives dropping by or
young families seeking reassurance. Her legacy lives on in the families
Mrs. Grady was known for never she helped grow and in a community
Lois Grady at the start of her nursing career. that continues to hold her in the highest
missing a day of work because of regard. Celebrating her century is, in
weather, making the trip to the hospital many ways, a celebration of care,
obstetrics, later pursuing further study through snowstorms and icy roads
in Montreal. without complaint. Her commitment compassion, and a lifetime spent
Lois devoted 44 years to nursing, reflected a generation that believed putting others first; a life that continues
spending 41 of them as supervisor of showing up, no matter the to inspire all who know her story.
16 www.GiverMiramichi.com Spring 2026