Looking Back

Barbara B. Aitken is a public services librarian in the Douglas Library
at Queen’s University, a board certified genealogical record specialist, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Bess Burrows Rivett wrote this memoir when she was well into her 70s.
She begins by recounting her early years in the village of St Lambert,
outside Montreal. Family photographs accompany vignettes of family and
community life. During the Depression years, Bess and her family lived
in Ontario. Upon the outbreak of World War II, the family returned to
Montreal. Bess joined the St Lambert Gilbert and Sullivan Society, where
she met and fell in love with the accompanist, Don Rivett. After their
marriage in 1941, Bess worked at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
Her husband’s career necessitated moves to various bank posts in
Quebec over the years. Upon retirement the couple moved to Vancouver,
where Bess is very much involved in community activities. This
delightful memoir is recommended for Canadiana collections.