A plaque in honour of a founding member of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's 'Pink Ladies' was recently unveiled.

The plaque was unveiled at the hospital's coffee shop on June 19 to honour Margaret Aileen Baldasaro, known in Bermuda as Aileen Purvey, who passed away in her native Canada on Christmas Eve, aged 85.

Mrs. Baldasaro moved to Bermuda in the late 1940s and began work as a nurse at the hospital. She quit nursing when she married her first husband, Bill Purvey, in 1949. Mr. Purvey was one of the founders of the company HWP, Holmes Williams Purvey.

Mrs. Baldasaro, a devout Roman Catholic, subsequently became director of volunteers at the hospital.

She became an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for her work in 1976.

That same year she received the Benemerenti Award from Pope John Paul for her work within St. Michael's Church, in Hamilton.

Dana Goodfellow, vice president of the Hospital Auxiliary, said the charity decided to create the plaque in memory of her long service.

"My mother started the Auxiliary," Mrs. Goodfellow said. "And Aileen was a nurse at the time, she trained the volunteers and set up the Candy Striping programme. It is still run today based on the way she set it up."

The unveiling came after a memorial mass in honour of Mrs. Purvey at the hospital chapel.