LePAPE, Olive Ivy Frances
Age at Death: 18
Rank Wren
Unit Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service
Service Number W4206
Place of Burial Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal PQ
Date of Birth 1925.05.04
Place of Birth Montreal PQ
Enlistment September 29, 1943, Montreal PQ
Date of Death 1944.02.21
Daughter of Herman and Gladys Le Pape, of Montreal
Olive was the daughter of a French-Canadian mother and English father, who both encouraged her to join the RCNS. She had hoped to be a nurse, but was unable to afford the training; she was taken on as a laundry assistant, posted to HMCS Protector in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Her records show that she had Syndeham’s chorea, better known as St. Vitus’ Dance, as a child, and that she smoked five cigarettes a day.
On April 20, 1944, while at home in Montreal on leave, Olive was crossing the street in the east end when she was struck by a streetcar. She died the following day in hospital of a skull fracture. A military inquiry determined that she was responsible for the accident.
