Lest We Forget

Elsie Gertrude Ross was born on June 22, 1882, in the Township of West Zorra, Oxford County, Ontario, to parents Alexander Ross and Christine Murray. She was one of six children, with three sisters, Maggie, Katie and Olive, and two brothers George and John. By 1901, the Ross family moved to Lot 37 Concession 3, near Brocksden, in North Easthope Township, Perth County, Ontario.

Elsie graduated from Stratford Collegiate Institute and went on to train as a teacher, but shortly after decided to train as a nurse, graduating from Toronto General Hospital.

After the commencement of WWI, Elsie was certified for military qualification at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, on July 14, 1915. After passing this examination, she began working as a Nursing Sister at the Military Hospital for Returned Sick Soldiers on College Street in Toronto, Ontario. There, she became the first Matron, running the hospital for two months before her passing on February 26, 1916, at 33 years old due to pleuro-pneumonia, weakened by a major surgery the year before her death.

A military funeral was held at the Toronto Medical Academy at Queen’s Park, where members of the Army Medical Corps carried her union jack covered casket through the honour guard to the gun carriage of the 75th Battalion, then down University Avenue to Queen Street and down Simcoe Street to Union Station.

Her casket was then put on a train for Stratford for a second military funeral, where a gun carriage was sent from Guelph assisted by men from the 71st and 110th battalions. They started near Brocksden where her family had their homestead, then carried to the Avondale Cemetery where she was laid to rest on February 29. She was the first nurse in the Toronto division to receive a full military funeral and was buried with full military honours.

For years, flowers were left on her grave every Remembrance Day by flower shop owner Marg Wade at the request of Mr. Doug Johnson, whose father was a patient and had been so grateful for the care he received by Elsie during his hospitalization during the war. Yearly services were held by Friends of the Stratford Normal School/Teachers College Heritage, including students from local schools participating in the reciting of poems, including Why Wear a Poppy. When Doug could no longer continue, the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) of Stratford took on this meaningful recognition of Elsie, ensuring there was always a wreath on her grave for Remembrance Day.

In 2011, she received a military gravestone from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, after which the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 8 (Stratford) took on the honour of placing a Canadian flag on her grave each Remembrance Day. She is also honoured on the plaque at Knox Presbyterian Church.