Annie Harvie (Ross) Foster of Fredericton, New Brunswick lost her husband, William Garland Foster, to war

Annie trained as a nurse at the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital (now the University of Pennsylvania Hospital) and worked as a nurse both in the United States and in Woodstock, New Brunswick, where she was the first matron of the Carlton County Hospital (now Fisher Memorial Hospital). She left her nursing career because of health problems and began teaching in 1905.

She later moved to British Columbia in 1908, where she met William, editor of the Nelson Daily News. Annie taught in the area and later became the principal of Hume School.

The two married in 1915 and in 1916, William was sent overseas. Annie received word that her husband was sick and went to England. Once there, she started nursing work with the British Red Cross until 1917, when poor health forced her to return home.

Annie received a notice saying her husband was killed in action on October 14, 1918, only three weeks before the Armistice.

In 1919, Annie returned to Nelson and worked with government social service with a focus on on the mental health of returning veterans. She also became president of the Great War Veterans Association for Nelson, B.C., and attended the Convention of 1920 as the only woman delegate. In 1923 she began writing articles for the Vancouver Daily Province based on her experiences overseas during the war. She unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Nelson and later the B.C. Provincial Legislature.

She eventually moved to Vancouver where she continued writing for the Daily Province and took up writing magazine articles and books. In her 40s she began writing full-time. One of her most famous pieces is The Mohawk Princess: Being Some Account of the Life of Tekahion-wake.

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