The Misericordia Education and Research Centre honours Agnes Wilkie. The woman was a nurse during World War II.
The woman was studying at Misericordia's School of Nursing. In 1942 she joined the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. Agnes was on board SS Caribou when a German U-boat torpedo hit it.
After the explosion, Agnes and another woman found themselves in the very cold water of the Atlantic Ocean, it was October. The women had no choice but to try to swim to the only rescue boat that they could see. There was nothing else around them.
Some more people also managed to survive and to get to the boat, but they were hysterical and could not recover from the incident. Agnes tried to reassure people as best as she could, she sang songs with the other woman. According to those people, it was thanks to Agnes that they did not lose heart and were able to reach the shore.
Unfortunately, Agnes died just a few hours later. The other woman, Margaret, died when she was 100 years old.
Chair of the Misericordia Heritage Collection Policy and Planning Committee, Dr. Barbara Paterson, informed that there are many people who do not know about that brave woman, and this is not correct. Her story is very important for the history of the country.
The centre has a lot of information about Agnes. These are newspaper clippings, photographs, and other artifacts. Agnes was a very caring and kind person, and her name should not be forgotten.
There is a monument at the cemetery in Carman in her honour, and Wilkie Lake in Northern Manitoba was also named after her.
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