There is nothing like a birthday to make one reflect on the past. On July  08, 1947 my mother was at the Chipman Memorial Hospital in St. Stephen surrounded by my father, his mother( my grandmother) and my brother Ronnie as they decided on my name.

As a child I was told that I was named after Princess Margaret. During the war my father had admired Princess Margaret so he suggested I be named after her—Margaret Rose. My mother suggested it be reversed to Rose Margaret. It was my grandmother who  suggested Rose Marie. At the end of the discussion I had a name, Rose-Marie. There is no hyphen on my birth certificate but that is how it was in fact. As a child I was perfectly  happy with my name. After all I was named after a Princess. The story made me feel special.

School picture, grade 3 

However, I made a change when I went to high school in St. Stephen. I did not dislike my name and I hadn’t planned it, but I introduced myself as Rose—no Marie, no hyphen. I guess I just wanted to be a new “me”.  I was still the same person but my revised name stuck and that is who I have been to everyone I have met since then. It was several years before marriage changed my last name from then Smith to Burke. No more changes planned