Submitted by Dorothy Isted
Special to the Pioneer
Rosemary Jill (Judy) Collins was born the first of three children on March 9, 1938 in Albury, Australia to Douglas and Renee Mitchell. Douglas had obtained his medical degree in Melbourne and went to London, England to do his surgical fellowship. There he met Renee, who was nursing at the same dock hospital where he was working.
Renee had been born and raised in India. The hospital served sailors from all over the world, and those from India were grateful that Renee spoke Urdu and could translate for them. After marriage, the couple settled in Albury. He purchased the practice of a previous surgeon and the couple operated the clinic at the home they lived in.
During WW2 Renee had her hands full with a new baby and running the clinic so Judy, at eight, and her younger brother, were sent to gender-segregated boarding schools. On Sundays Judy, in a line with the other girls, walked past her house going to church, in school uniforms, hats and white gloves. She and her brother only visited home on school holidays. Judy says she was treated well and thinks it was a good experience for her. At ten, she was sent to a better school in Melbourne, as the educational standards at the local school weren’t sufficient. As her mother put it, she was “just the best of a bunch of rabbits!”
Quitting school after grade ten, Judy returned to Albury and took a one-year secretarial course. She decided she wouldn’t like this kind of work. Growing up, she never wanted to be a nurse but she enrolled in Melbourne at the Alfred Hospital, graduating in 1959 with a General Nursing Diploma and later took a midwifery course and worked at this for one year.
With visions of riding into the Canadian Rockies on a horse, she came with a nursing friend to Canada, intending to stay a few years. Their Australian credentials weren’t sufficient for British Columbia and after travelling through the province looking for hospitals with ski hills in their vicinities, they found the Kimberley hospital needed two nurses and hired them. Judy did deliver a few Canadian babies when the doctor’s arrival lagged behind the baby’s.
One of the many delights of Canada were warm toilet seats. In Australian winters, the homes were cold “if you’re not practically in the fireplace!” She met Jack Collins on the Kimberley ski hill. He was living in Invermere and they lived there after they married. Son Rod was born in 1967. Judy also gained three young adult stepdaughters.
She soon had a nursing job in Invermere. Their first home was one of the old CPR holiday cabins below the lodge on Fort Point. The couple decided to run a fishing campground at Whiteswan Lake so Judy only nursed in the off season. The first year, they went up at Easter time and worked hard to get things running. With no electric power, running water or telephone they managed to set up propane for lights, cooking and hot water. They dug a well and built outhouses, set up water pipe stands, cleared around the three 1920s log cabins on the property, built a dock, boatshed, picnic tables, campfire sites and organized a fleet of eight-foot rental motorboats. They opened on the May long weekend, 1969.
The family lived in one of the cabins and Jack built three more for a total of five rental cabins. Starting out leasing, they later purchased the property. Judy’s nursing skills came in handy. Diabetics would “get drunk and get into problems, people often cut their feet with axes or burned themselves.” She was cooking for guests, camp store manager, cabin and biffy cleaner, fishing line untangler and, on occasion, bear dispatcher.
Jack was away on errands and she had to rescue a man terrified by a black bear. He was at a fish cleaning stand when the animal showed up. She recalls, “I was dragging my toddler in one hand with a shotgun in the other, heading over. Rod asked, “Are you scared, Mommy?”” Thankfully, a bystander took hold of Rod while Judy settled matters. “I didn’t mean to kill it, it just died as a result of my shooting it.” She explained she’d just been trying to scare it off.
One night she was woken by a bear rummaging in the store’s chocolate bar stash. They had a ground cellar with a trapdoor to keep things cool and the bear had gotten in. Grabbing a flashlight, she came face to face with a bear over a picnic table. She described, “It was such an insolent bear. It was all I could do not to clench my fist and hit him in the face!” The bear ran off. She went into her cabin and wrote on the calendar, “coffee – and quakes to follow!”
They sold the business when it was time for Rod to go to school. In spite of a contentious marriage, it was, “a very special time in my life. When I was patching up damaged people and he was working on boats and machinery, we were working together, and very hard, and we appreciated each other.” It was also a great playground for a little boy. Judy always dressed Rod in vibrant red or blue clothing. When she whistled, the dog would reply and she could see them.
After selling the business, Judy went on a trip to Egypt with friends, including one who died the next year of cancer. Shortly after, at 40, Judy was diagnosed with a cancer rare in someone her age. At Vancouver General Hospital she underwent surgery and radiation treatments. Contemplating the Egyptians’ lifetime preparation for death, along with her friend’s death, caused Judy to face her own mortality. Returning home, she visited her stepdaughter Sandra, who explained how her difficulties were actually “Jesus, calling to me. I realized I wasn’t worthy of God’s love. He was merciful and showed his grace to me. I put my trust in Jesus Christ.”
Her choice to become a follower of Christ did not sit well with Jack and he divorced her. However, Judy says she has “marvellous friendships that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m a new creation…much more willing to be vulnerable.”
Over the years Judy volunteered with Red Cross programs in the valley, helped run the food bank out of the Alliance Church for a decade, sold furniture locally through World Vision’s NeighbourLink, went to the Philippines with World Relief to survey disaster relief, helped local moms with breastfeeding and baby care, taught swimming and babysitting classes. She did pick up her pilot’s license and flew locally for a few years.
After two bouts with cancer and 33 years nursing, Judy retired. She has enjoyed gardening but the last few seasons has needed help and isn’t sure if she’ll attempt it this year. Rod and his family from Calgary visit occasionally. She refers to herself as “an unspritely octogenarian mostly reliant on two sticks or the walker.” Judy reads a lot of non-fiction. “This Covid 19 actually suits me, living contentedly out of sight and mind. I’m thankful and blessed, though forever searching for a pair of reading glasses!”
