Leadership & Members

I was born to Jim and Mary (Day) Nicholson on May 7,1951, in Halifax Nova Scotia, the 7th of 8 children and grew up in the small community of Lakeside just outside the city of Halifax. We were surrounded by my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family. Lived just one house away from Sacred Heart Parish Church, which we attended faithfully. Right across the road from our school and most of my classmates lived only a few houses away.  An ideal place to grow up.   

My mother and I had a great relationship, and I loved listing to her stories of years gone by. The most memorable were of the Halifax Explosion and the loss of her second child. The explosion was caused by the collision of two ships in Halifax harbour, one loaded with munitions, on Dec 6,1917, five months before mother’s birth. At that time her family lived in the city near the harbour. My great uncle Bill’s 3-year-old daughter Helen was lost amid the debris of a shattered city. Months went by before she was found in the care of the sisters of the Contemplative Order of the Good Shepard. They left her there as they had no home themselves and she was safe. They would visit and would take her for outings. Months turned into years. In her teens, she decided to stay with her sisters. I grew up knowing her as Sister Helen and would visit her with mother at the convent in the city. She made a great impression on me. My brother James Michael was born Sept. 26, 1937, but only lived about a month. Mother was devastated, especially learning that he was born healthy but with a blockage in his esophagus he just starved to death. He would be 87 next month. 

I was 15 when my parents move us to Granville Centre not far from Annapolis Royal. We made friends quickly. I enjoyed riding and helping to care for the horses with some. Helping our neighbour Mr. Walker with chores for his cows. I’d had an experience with public singing while still in Lakeside when I was about 12ish. In our new community I got involved appearing in variety shows, which lead to meeting others. In early fall, 1969 a guy, Roger Theriault (future husband), came to our house and asked if I’d join a country band, he was part of. I agreed, and we became The Countrymen. This led to the recording of a song written by a local woman (Welcome to Digby Town), a TV appearance for me on a show called Countrytime. By this time Roger and I were engaged and I graduated from high school, June of 1971. 

We married May 27, 1972, and my father was too sick to walk me down the aisle, so my oldest brother Bob stepped in. On October 5th of that year my father died from cancer, he was 62. That caused a void in me that I didn’t think would ever be filled. During all this time Sr Helen was still actively remembered. We couldn’t visit as we use to, but mother wrote to her faithfully and would read her return letter to me. The convent in Halifax had closed, and all were moved to the mother house in Windsor, ON. Years later we were invited to Helen’s Diamond Jubilee. 60 years of devotion to Christ, we had to go! She was thrilled and it was an experience I’ll never forget. Three days at a convent in a little house they call The Villa. At the ceremony, the acapella singing of the sisters, I imagined, was like a choir of angels. It was heavenly! 

Summer of 1988 my husband of 16 years ran off with another man’s wife! I did give him a second chance, but he did it again. I moved with my girls, Marianne 14, born Oct.10, 1973, and Jennifer, 11 born June 12, 1977, closer to St. Patrick’s Church in Digby, where I threw myself into a wonderful church community singing in the choir, my girls too. Church became my life. As for him and Lora, unfortunately they and her son Craige 18 (a sweet boy) died in their sleep when the house caught fire from a cigarette in the living room. Investigation showed that he fell asleep on the couch while smoking. They had been out to a house party. 

Jennifer had moved to Hamilton to be with her daughter’s father. Years later Marianne married a Hamiltonian, and that’s why I’m here. To be with my 2 daughters and granddaughters Olivia and Anita. And after many years of thought I took back my maiden name! I could have given many more details, but there’s just no more room!