Wood (nee Johnson), Bea (1899-1992)

See Oral History Files, Fonds 18, Series 3, Subseries 8

Bea Wood graduated from VGH in 1922 and from UBC BASc(N)  (first class) in 1923.  She received first class standing in the provincial nursing exams, and won UBC’s Governor General award.  She became head nurse of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Operating Room at VGH, and then worked with the VON in Montreal, giving health lectures and providing pre- and post-natal care.

Bea returned to Vancouver to become the first head nurse at the Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department.  When she married the well-known UBC drama and theatre producer Frederick Wood, she left full time nursing, but continued to volunteer at VGH with the Women’s Auxiliary, and work during WWII with the Red Cross Blood Donor clinics.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biography prepared by Sheila Zerr, March 2, 1993.
  2. Transcript of an oral history interview, February 22, 1981.
  3. Transcript of an oral history interview, March 20, 1991.
  4. Notes for a possible monograph on Ethel Johns.
  5. History of Nursing. Pupil Nurses Annual (1923), VGH School of Nursing 25th Anniversary Alumnae Association Archives
  6. “The Way It Was”, Nursing B.C., August 1991, pp. 34-35.
  7. Correspondence. – 1969-1992.
  8. Excerpts re Bea Wood from The Life and Writings of Ethel Johns
  9. Obituaries