The discovery of a long-forgotten family photo in a set of old photo albums has led to a remarkable coincidence that will soon be on stage at the Vernon Powerhouse Theatre. A volunteer at the theatre, Don Dennison, has been doing his part to help with the upcoming production of Radium Girls, a play that tells the story of women who worked with radium in the 1920s.

• The play is based on a true story of medical distress and death suffered by women who worked at an Illinois clock dial factory.
• The women’s battle for compensation led to significant changes in workplace safety and regulations.

The coincidence began when Dennison’s middle brother, Jim, 77, sent him their late mother Margaret’s photo albums. While perusing the albums, Dennison found a picture of Margaret painting clock dials. The photo was taken in 1941 in Toronto during the Second World War, when Margaret was just 20 years old.

“I have a vague recollection of her doing some painting during the war,” said Dennison, who left home at 20 and said he didn’t have much of a connection with his mom.

Intrigued by the photo and the upcoming theatrical play, Dennison started doing some research. He discovered that the photo was taken by professional photographer Herbert Nott at a factory in Toronto. Dennison believes Nott may have been hired by an American magazine. He also discovered that his mom was using radium-based paint to create luminous dials for the aircraft industry, and that she would suffer medically because of this. Margaret was eventually diagnosed as being afflicted with aplastic anemia, which can have several origins, one being radiation poisoning.

is a metal that was seen as a miracle in the 1920s, as it glowed in the dark and was even thought to be a medical cure. However, behind that glow was a deadly truth. The play Radium Girls is based on the true story of the women in the U.S. who fought against corporate deception – corporations that knowingly endangered its workers in the U.S. and Canada. Dennison plans to continue his research with the goal of writing his mom’s full story due to an obvious nagging question.

• Why, more than a decade after the dangers of radium paint poisoning had been recognized and compensated for in the U.S.A., did Canadian workers – including my mother – continue to use this toxic substance in an unprotected manner in the early 1940s?
• What role did the American magazine play in promoting the use of radium-based paint?

Dennison said his mom was contacted by someone (not sure who) to come back to Toronto for testing in 1975, but she could not afford to go as she had moved out west. Margaret was a full-time mom and worked for a few stores, including Woodward’s Department Store, at the Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.