Jessie Helen Scott (1891-1963) 

Like the biblical meaning of her name - one who is a gift - Jessie was likely a very welcome arrival for her parents and her brother Alger Scott.  To her extended family, her arrival was also very special.  Her namesake aunt, Jessie Scott of Ste. Croix, Nova Scotia, a attractive young woman, died two years earlier at the age of sixteen.  Tuberculosis, struck the young aunt, and two of her sisters creating a great loss for the family.  Naming the newborn for the youngest of the three aunts likely kept the name and her memory alive.

If the name had initial meaning,  it took on greater meaning in time.  Jessie Helen's first cousin, Jessie Maria Sperry, named for the same aunt, was born in 1898 in Nova Scotia, but died at age three.  Being the only surviving grand daughter (from a family of eight) made Jessie Helen a special gift.

Born the daughter of Dill and Mattie Scott of Novato, California, life changed quickly when her mother died in 1893.  Jessie Helen was just two at the time, and came to live with her Scott grandparents. Traveling from California by train to Nova Scotia, she stayed until her father married and reunited Jessie with her brother Alger, two years later in California.

During the time she lived with her grandparents and her aunts and uncle, she was the centre of attention for a family where grandchildren were rare.  Years later, a son would marry in his 40's and there would be two more grandchildren, but while Jessie's grandparents were alive, their hopes for the continuation of the family rested solely with Alger and Jessie.

Returning to the village of Novato, California, her new step-mother Frances (Peters) Scott encouraged the family to share pictures with their Nova Scotia relatives.  Jessie's childhood and their family life was well documented in pictures sent to her Canadian grandparents. The pictures tell of village life in Novato - a small rural hamlet similar to Ste. Croix.  Jessie showed a musical talent and learned to drive a car as a young woman.  Determined to become a teacher,  she continuing to teach in Santa  Ana, California until her retirement.

The onset of rheumatoid arthritis while still a young woman, was a major challenge for Jessie although she was valiant in facing it.  Her step-mother Frances was active in Christian Science, a religious group founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879 and Jessie through Frances came under the influence of the philosophy. Central to Christian Science teaching is the concept of spiritual healing, which led followers to mistrust medical science and avoid all medications.  This philosophy would eventually have a negative impact on Jessie.

Refusing medical assistance with a painful arthritic condition meant that she suffered needlessly. As a school teacher, Jessie dealt daily with the crippled effects of her illness.