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Dalhousie - A lifetime dedicated to serving others has landed a former Dalhousie resident a provincial recognition for her efforts.

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Kathleen MacNeill

Betty Danks

Kathleen MacNeill died in January 2007, but her lifelong dedication to veterans and the Royal Canadian Legion was noted April 12, 2008 when a plaque bearing her photo and accomplishments was unveiled at the Moncton Veterans Health Centre. It was her dream and goal to have the facility opened in the Hub City and that dream came true after many years of fundraising.

MacNeill was born in Charlottetown, PEI in 1923 and served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in Halifax during Word War II where she met her husband, Dalhousie native Robert MacNeill. After the war, they returned to the town where they lived until 1989. After Robert died, MacNeill moved to the Moncton area that same year and just five years later in 1994 became the first female president of Branch #6 (Moncton) of the RCL.

It was then she decided to push all levels of government to open the centre to replace the often-overcrowded veterans' unit at the Georges Dumont Hospital. In 2001, work on the new building began.

"On behalf of the Beausejour Health Authority, I want to pay tribute to this brave and hardworking woman," said Lise Gurette-Daigle, VP Nursing and Clinical Care for the BHA.

The eldest of MacNeill's four children, Betty Danks of Dalhousie, said last week that it was her mother's goal to have the facility built to help veterans who are unable to help themselves.

"She was a wonderful mother who lived to help other people," said Danks, holding a photo of her mother in one hand and a newspaper clipping of the ceremony two weeks ago. Danks and two siblings attended the ceremony where the plaque, which hangs on a wall in the health centre, was officially unveiled with many government dignitaries on hand.

"I guess the worst thing is that she never really got to see the centre but I am sure she's looking down on it now, satisfied that her work has been completed," said Danks, herself an active volunteer in the region.