Mary Hurst
never did anything halfway. Born in Antigonish to Alice and Colin
MacInnis, she grew up in a big family and carried that sense of
connection with her throughout her life.
Her path was
never a straight line. She started in record keeping, moved into X-ray
technology, and then did something unexpected: she went to Africa. For
two years she helped establish a hospital, and while she was there,
she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. When she came home to Nova Scotia, she
decided to become a dentist. She graduated from Dalhousie and
practiced for more than 40 years.
Mary believed
that everyone who needed care should get it. She built a practice in
Antigonish, sold it, and started another in Guysborough. She provided
pediatric dentistry at St. Martha’s Hospital and looked after seniors
in nursing homes. She travelled to Guatemala on dental missions. If
someone couldn’t pay, she helped them anyway. She was exacting, yes,
and expected a lot from the people around her, but she was fair, and
she respected hard work because she lived it. If she was working, she
was happy.
Mary had an
entrepreneurial streak. Over the years, she and Don ran Old McDonald’s
Farm Park campground and, separately, the Tee-Time Driving Range. When
she couldn’t buy just the piece of land she wanted for a home, she
bought the whole acreage and created Parkhurst, a subdivision where
the lots were generous and no two houses looked the same. That was how
she thought things should be done.
Summers
belonged to Ballantyne’s Cove. Mary loved to host, and the place
became the site of two legendary family reunions, one in the late
1980s and another in the early 2000s, remembered for hilarious mock
weddings and late night partying. On quieter days she fished from her
boat The Tooth Ferry or worked
in her garden, hands in the dirt.
Mary loved
antiques of all kinds: furniture, jukeboxes, and cars. She and Don
were members of the Pictou County Antique Car Club and spent many
weekends at show and shines around the
province.
She was also
very sports-minded, meeting her husband on the badminton court, and
one of her longest friendships started while playing
softball.
Mary was
predeceased by her husband, Donald Richard Hurst (2013); infant
daughters Monica and Kanena; sisters Ethel Tobin, June Gaipo, and
Betty Camillo; and brothers Bill, Jack, Philip, Buddy, and
Larry.
She is
survived by her sons Jason (Tammy Holley), Sylvester, and Sandy
(Clara), Antigonish; grandchildren Molly, Alec, Emily, and Lauren;
siblings Mabel (Clarence) Sutherland, Stellarton, Barry (Lynn)
MacInnis, Strathmore, AB, and Evey (Neil) Fowler, Strathmore, AB; as
well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation
will be held at C.L. Curry Funeral Home, 135 College Street,
Antigonish, on Friday, January 2, 2026, from 2–4 p.m. and
7–9 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday,
January 3, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Ninian’s Cathedral,
Antigonish.
Family flowers
only, please. Donations in Mary’s memory may be made to St. Martha’s
Regional Hospital Foundation (Palliative Care) or the Antigonish Town
and County Palliative Care Society.