Porter, Gladys

Gladys Muriel Porter 1893-1967

Born in 1893 at Sydney to a political family, Porter moved to Kentville in 1912 when her father became editor of The Western Chronicle newspaper (a predecessor of The Advertiser.) Porter made Kentville her permanent home and married journalist H. Wyman Porter. She began working as a stenographer at the Dominion Atlantic Railway in Kentville. Porter was one of several railway employers for whom the DAR provided an avenue into public life. She took over management of the Kentville Station restaurant in the 1930s, building it from a quick lunch room for railway passengers into a restaurant sought out by Kentville diners. The DAR had established the Grade Pre Park in 1917 and when they expanded it in the 1930s, Porter set up the park's tea room. Respected and popular for her work in business, she was first elected as a town councillor in 1942 and then as mayor in 1946, winning in a landslide to become the first woman mayor in the Maritimes. Porter was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for her civilian defence and war effort. She was an early supporter of Grand-Pré National Historic Site, playing a leading role in getting the Canadian Parks Service to take over the park from the railway in 1957.She remained in office until 1960 when was elected in 1960 to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as a Progressive Conservative. She represented the electoral district of Kings North until she died in office on April 30, 1967. Kentville has a street after her and the busy bridge between Greenwich and Port Williams is named after her.

Vital Statistics

• Date Born: 1893-August-4
• Place Born: Sydney, NS
• Date Died: 1967-April-30
• Place Died:Kentville
• Place Interred: Elm Grove Cemetery, Steam Mill, NS, Sec 2 Stone 142

External Links

[https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/lifestyles/kentvilles-gladys-porter-a-political-pioneer-71887/ "Kentville’s Gladys Porter a political pioneer", SaltWire Network, Oct. 24, 2016]