91̽»¨

Island Studies Press will launch its newest book, Called to Serve: Georgina Pope, Canadian Nursing Military Heroine, by Katherine Dewar, in Summerside on Sunday afternoon, June 24, 2 p.m., at Eptek Art & Culture Centre. Called to Serve documents the life and times of Prince Edward Island's Georgina Fane Pope (1862-1938), daughter of William Henry Pope and Helen DesBrisay Pope. Her journey takes us from Charlottetown, where, inspired by Florence Nightingale, she developed a "burning desire" to become an army nurse; to the Boston States where she trained; to the battlefields of Africa and Europe where she served as a nursing sister and Superintendent of Nurses―and helped establish the nursing corps of the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Matron Pope was the first Canadian nurse decorated with a Royal Red Cross, 1st class. In 2007 Georgina Pope’s bronze bust became one of the 14 heroic figures forming a part of the Valiants’ Memorial in Confederation Square, Ottawa. She also appears on the Canadian $5 coin. Katherine Dewar is the author of the award-winning book, Those Splendid Girls: The Heroic Service of Prince Edward Island Nurses in the Great War, 1914-1918. Katherine is retired from a career as a nursing instructor at the PEI School of Nursing, and is now committed to researching PEI’s colourful nursing history. Those Splendid Girls was shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award, won the Publication of Year award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and the City of Summerside’s Heritage and Culture department, and Katherine herself is the recipient of the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation Award of Honour for her outstanding contribution to Prince Edward Island Heritage. The launch is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881. Books will be on sale for $27.95 in bookstores and online through the 91̽»¨ Bookstore from mid-May onward.