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After almost 40 years in nursing， Martha retired in 1990 to a home she'd inherited in Gabarus， Cape Breton where she lived for 11 years. There were plenty of long walks along the coast， gardening， cross-country skiing， and knitting， some of it by machine to assist her sister， Doreen， in her bustimestranscript.cominess. In 2001 she relocated to Irishtown.
I went to work in Newfoundland and Labrador， in St. Anthony. It was there that I met another nurse， and from then on we continued to work in the same places. We were good friends. From there I worked in a few other places for short periods – North West River (in Labrador) and so on. This was for the International ([Sir] Dr. Wilfred) Grenfell Association.
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In ct at the outset it amounted to one day a month. And her salary? $1，000 a year. She spent 28 years in that aspect of her career， which went r beyond Newfoundland and Labrador.
Now she stays busy with volunteer work， membership in several seniors organizations， keeps a big garden， is a member of Humphrey Memorial United Church， and reads a lot. Her motto for healthy longevity is a one: Use it or lose it. I didn't make it up， she says， but that's what I go by.
She grew up on a rm in Quebec's eastern townships (her ther never had a tractor or a milking machine)， and preferred outdoor chores to housework.
They encountered a lot of tuberculosis – half of the hospital at St. Anthony served patients with that illness. Martha also did operating room duties， but after a year discovered that she didn't care for it. So back to her regular work， and there was plenty of it with not much time off.
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While working in Yellowknife， NWT in 1982， Martha was made honorary lifetime member of the Canadian Public Health Association.
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During personal time in those remote locations she either read， or skied.
A large part of my working life I spent in a specific type of nursing， which was as a nurse practitioner in isolated places in the north: northern Ontario， northern Manitoba and I worked for the federal government， she says.
The second eldest child of Roy and Reubena (Littlejohn) Aldrich， she recalls a happy childhood of long walks， fieastern health newfoundland and labradorshing， and apple and berry picking. Martha had dreamed of becoming a doctor， but she was strongly influenced by her mother to pursue a career in nursing. So at 18 she went into nurses training in Sherbrooke， Quebec， graduating in 1951.
So she helped make hay， hoed corn and turnips， and milked cows.
Martha first worked for a brief time in a small hospital near Ottawa， subsequently discovering an advertisement in a nursing magazine that told of opportunities further afield.
We were the only medical people in the communities. They were mostly Inuit communities or First Nations on reserves. I enjoyed it. You had to or you didn't stay. Many nurses came but they didn't stay.