1984 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Olive (Rumball) Hunter
Mrs. Olive (Rumball) Hunter of Summerland, British Columbia, was the 1984 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1984, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.
On January 15, 1945, her youngest of three sons, Pilot Officer Harold Marland Rumball, was killed when his bomber was shot down over Germany while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Born Olive Annie Mann in April, 1897 in Kent, England, she immigrated to Canada with her parents, before the First World War. In Canada, Mrs. Hunter attended college and graduated with a major in music. In 1918, she met and married Lawrence Rumball. Together, they raised three sons, Dale, Leslie and Harold. All three sons served in the Second World War.
In 1919, they moved to Summerland, where she lived for 74 years, to take over her in-laws’ business–a grocery store. Known for her strong work ethic, in addition to working in the family store, she taught piano lessons and managed and operated the fruit orchard adjoined to their property. In the fall, Mrs. Hunter would harvest the fruit, pack it and deliver it to the train station miles away via a horse-drawn wagon. In July, 1959 she was widowed. Ten years later, she married Frank Hunter. Mrs. Hunter died in 1993.
From the time of her son’s death, Mrs. Hunter could not bring herself to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies. In 1980, convinced by Royal Canadian Legion officials, she took on the role of local Silver Cross Mother, until just a few years before her death. She was honored to be selected National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother in 1984.
List of National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers
(Information courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion, Canadian War Museum and families of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers)
2010 - Present
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
2023 | Mrs. Gloria Hooper | St. Claude, Manitoba |
2022 | Mrs. Candy Greff | Lacombe, Alberta |
2021 | Mrs. Josée Simard | Les Mechins, Quebec |
2020 | Mrs. Debra Sullivan | Saint John, New Brunswick |
2019 | Mrs. Reine Samson Dawe | St-Prosper, Québec |
2018 | Mrs. Anita Cenerini | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
2017 | Mrs. Diana Abel | Brampton, Ontario |
2016 | Mrs. Colleen Fitzpatrick | Prince George, British Columbia |
2015 | Mrs. Sheila Anderson | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories |
2014 | Mrs. Gisèle Michaud | Edmundston, New Brunswick |
2013 | Mrs. Niki Psiharis | Laval, Quebec |
2012 | Mrs. Roxanne Priede | Grand Forks, British Columbia |
2011 | Mrs. Patricia Braun | Raymore, Saskatchewan |
2010 | Mrs. Mabel Girouard | Bathurst, New Brunswick |
1990 - 2009
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
2009 | Mrs. Della Marie Morley | East Saint Paul, Manitoba |
2008 | Mrs. Avril Dianna Stachnik | Waskatenau, Alberta |
2007 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Beerenfenger-Koehler | Embrun, Ontario |
2006 | Mrs. Alice Murphy | Conception Harbour, Newfoundland |
2005 | Mrs. Claire Léger | Stittsville, Ontario |
2004 | Mrs. Agatha Dyer | Montreal, Québec |
2003 | Mrs. Charlotte Lynn Smith | Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia |
2002 | Mrs. Doreen Coolen | Hubbards, Nova Scotia |
2001 | Mrs. Ina Galvin | Bolton centre, Québec |
2000 | Mrs. Carol Isfeld | Courtenay, British Columbia |
1999 | Mrs. Loyola Helen Park | London, Ontario |
1998 | Mrs. Anna Zuk (Prygroski) | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
1997 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
1996 | Mrs. Margaret Langille | River John, Nova Scotia |
1995 | Mrs. Elsie Wells | Edmonton, Alberta |
1994 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Baerr | Yorkton, Saskatchewan |
1993 | Mrs. Isabella Hutchings | St. John’s, Newfoundland |
1992 | Mrs. Ida Orser | Hartland, New Brunswick |
1991 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
1990 | Mrs. Elsie Pearce | Trenton, Ontario |
1970 - 1989
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1989 | Mrs. Rachel Morin | Rimouski, Quebec |
1988 | Mrs. Hazel Driscoll | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
1987 | Mrs. Secondina Di Persio | Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia |
1986 | Mrs. Mabel Bateman | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
1985 | Mrs. Rose Bernst | Thunder Bay, Ontario |
1984 | Mrs. Olive (Rumball) Hunter | Summerland, British Columbia |
1983 | Mrs. Constance Wylie | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1982 | Mrs. Janet Fraser | Debert, Nova Scotia |
1981 | Mrs. Isabel Harrison | Bury, Quebec |
1980 | Mrs. Greta Steeves | Elgin, Albert County, New Brunswick |
1979 | Mrs. Eliza Beatty | Carlyle, Saskatchewan |
1978 | Mrs. Janet Cantley | Montreal, Quebec |
1977 | Mrs. Mary Boutilier | Niagara Falls, Ontario |
1976 | Mrs. Olive Rae (Jubb) | Victoria, British Columbia |
1975 | Mrs. Alta Wilkinson | Ottawa, Ontario |
1974 | Mrs. Annie Margaret Rudd | Stettler, Alberta |
1973 | Mrs. Margaret Santo | Bender, Saskatchewan |
1972 | Mrs. Mary Louise McLeod | Neyaashiinigmiing, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation |
1971 | Mrs. Mary Anderson | Selkirk, Manitoba |
1970 | Mrs. Mary Josephine Meech | North Sydney, Nova Scotia |
1950 - 1969
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1969 | Mrs. Wilhemina Gray | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1968 | Mrs. Pearl Rich | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1967 | Mrs. Elsie Adams | St. Catharines, Ontario |
1966 | Mrs. Josephine Stephens | Toronto, Ontario |
1965 | Mrs. Nora Wagner | Teeterville, Ontario |
1964 | Mrs. Bernadette Rivait | Windsor, Ontario |
1963 | Mrs. Mary E. Stodgell | Norwood, Manitoba |
1962 | Mrs. Vitaline Lanteigne | Caraquet, New Brunswick |
1961 | Mrs. Sylvia Kimmel | Mission City, British Columbia |
1960 | Mrs. Julienne Cantin | McCreary, Manitoba |
1959 | Mrs. Dagnie Asta Anderson | Craigmyle, Alberta |
1958 | Mrs. Helen Forestell | Coniston, Ontario |
1957 | Mrs. Zylpha MacFarlane | Truro, Nova Scotia |
1956 | Mrs. Gertrude Edna Reynolds | Chatham, Ontario |
1955 | Mrs. Regina Leboldus | Vibank, Saskatchewan |
1954 | Mrs. Margaret Heeney | Ottawa, Ontario |
1953 | Mrs. Mary Casey | Ottawa, Ontario |
1952 | Mrs. Hannah McCann | Ottawa, Ontario |
1951 | Mrs. Alice Rochon | Ottawa, Ontario |
1950 | Mrs. Susan Beasley | Ottawa, Ontario |
1936 - 1949
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1949 | Mrs. Aline D'Aoust | Ottawa, Ontario |
1948 | Mrs. Catherine Helen MacDonald | Ottawa, Ontario |
1947 | Mrs. Martha Labarge | Ottawa, Ontario |
1944 - 1946 | Mrs. Jessie Isobel McCleery | Ottawa, Ontario |
1943 | Mrs. Edith Louisa Coldrey | Ottawa, Ontario |
1942 | Mrs. Sarah Wilkins Lamplough | Ottawa, Ontario |
1937 - 1941 | Mrs. Catherine Lewis | Ottawa, Ontario |
1936 | Mrs. Charlotte Susan Wood | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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