Description

A native of Charlottetown, Dorothy
(McKenna) Palmer was born in 1904.
Her father, John McKenna, was a
prominent businessman who served
the City as Mayor in the 1920s. John
McKenna worked as a warehouseman
for Owen Connolly and in 1909
opened a grocery store at 73 Queen
Street - the building with Owen
Connolly's bust on the roof Dorothy
grew up in a Charlottetown where
people still kept cows, pigs and
chickens in their back yards. She
recalled driving to the beach in the
family Model T with their pet goat
and rooster perched on the running
board! McKenna s Grocery provided
well for the family - especially after
it became one of the City's licensed
liquor vendors in the 1920s. The
income allowed the McKenna children
the luxury of pursuing a schooling
and career that appealed to them.
Medicine was obviously attractive.
Two of Dorothy's brothers became
physicians; she and one of her sisters
chose nursing. In the late 1920s
Dorothy attended the prestigious St.
Michael's Hospital School of Nursing
in Toronto. Her memoir begins with
her return home after graduation....