Person

Jowsey, Alfreda "Freda" Lee

1885-1972

Freda Lee Jowsey was born on February 22, 1885 in Eardley Quebec, just outside of Hull. She met her husband Dr. William J. Scott at Montreal General Hospital while she was training as a nurse. After they married, they moved to China to do missionary and medical work. While there, Freda gives birth to Dorothy Anne Scott on October 22, 1909. After their return home, William and Freda moved to Westmore Ave in NDG and in 1914 their son Frederick Arthur Scott was born. Dr. Scott spent five years serving the medical needs of the poor of the community. As a consequence, Freda and William lived a very simple lifestyle until it was marked by the death of William in 1917. Freda slipped into poverty, spending months collecting unpaid medical fees from patients. In the 1920s, Freda managed a Chinese import shop with locations in Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa. On April 11, 1928, Freda married Milton Lewis Hersey (1869-1957), providing Freda and her children with stability at 13 Rosemount Ave., Westmount. Milton Hersey was a McGill University Science graduate (B.Sc 1889, M.Sc. 1898), studied Law at Queen’s University (LL.D) and became a lawyer in 1908. There is an award named after him at Queens University, the Milton Hersey Fellowship in Chemistry. Alfreda worked for the Unitarian Church, was a Victorian Order of Nurses (V.O.N) volunteer and a member of the Art Gallery Association of Montreal. Freda died in 1972 in Montreal and is buried at Mount Royal Cemetery. Milton was acquainted with the Mayor Jean Drapeau, who sent his sympathies to the Hersey family on the occasion of Freda’s death.