Gass, Lelia Clare

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Gass
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Lelia Clare Gass (18 March 1887 – 5 August 1968) was a Canadian nurse and social worker from Nova Scotia who served as a nursing sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in the First World War. After the war, Gass contributed to the development of medical social work in Canada. Her diaries, one of which recorded John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields six weeks before its first publication, are a valuable historical resource providing insight into hospital life during the war.
    • After the war, Gass studied social service at McGill University from 1920 to 1921 and worked as a social worker and secretary for the Family Welfare Association of Montreal. In 1924, she became the director of the social service department at the Western Division of the Montreal General Hospital, a position she held for 28 years. In this capacity, Gass contributed to the development of professional medical social work in Canada, collaborating with the American Association of Hospital Social Workers (AAHSW). She served as president of the Eastern Canada District of the association from 1930 to 1931, and again from 1946 to 1947.
    • Gass retired in 1952, and subsequently spent six months establishing the social service department at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind before returning home to Shubenacadie.
  • Second Great Granddaughter of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5864
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173029019/lelia_'clare'-gass