Vida Charlotte ABBOTT

JOHNSTON, Vida Charlotte (nee Abbott) C.P.H.N. - At Carveth Care Centre, Gananoque, Ontario on the 5th day of December, 2007 in her 98th year. Youngest daughter of the late Herbert and Elizabeth Abbott of Carman, Manitoba. Vida is survived by her step-son Harry R. Johnston of Mallorytown, Ontario, his wife Ellen Suzanne Martyn and their children Peter Johnston, Jennifer Vargo, Stephanie Cudmore, Andrew Martin, Ellen Gleason, Timothy Martin and their families, Tom H. Johnston of Don Mills, Ontario, his wife Louise and their children Tom Johnston, David Johnston and their families. She is also survived by her sister. She was predeceased by her infant brother Bertram and brothers Russell of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, William of Carman, Manitoba, sister Gertrude of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Peal McKay of Fort Frances, Ontario and daughter-in-law Jacqueline Johnston of Mallorytown, Ontario. Many nieces and nephews in Western Canada and great-grandchildren in Ontario and New York will miss her. Vida was born in Carman, Manitoba and lived there until 1929 when she traveled to Guelph, Ontario to be a companion for her bereaved great-aunt. During this time she took a secretarial course and afterward remained in Guelph to work in this capacity for several years at the Ontario Agricultural College. She graduated in Nursing from the Brantford General Hospital, and afterward supervised the operating room of the General and Marine Hospital in Collingwood. She went on to postgraduate work at the University of Toronto in her chosen field of Public Health. Following several years of rural and urban Public Health work in Ontario and Vancouver, she married Charles K. Johnston (deceased) and resided in Kingston, Ontario. She assisted with glaucoma research in the Department of Ophthalmology at Queen's University for ten years. While resident latterly in Lindsay, Ontario, Vida was active in community work serving on the board of the C.N.I.B. for ten years, the Lindsay Concert Foundation Board for several years and the Memorial Society of Peterborough for seven years. During her busy life she found time for serious reading groups, volunteer work for twenty-one years with the Canadian Red Cross and teaching Sunday School in the United Church of Canada in several communities where she resided. 10933488