 She helped care for her siblings and worked as a nurse and nutritional educator after training in what was then the capital of the NWT, Fort Smith.Her nursing work brought her to Fort Resolution, Edmonton, including three years at the cities Charles Camsell Hospital (1956–59) as a nursing assistant, and Yellowknife among other communities.At age 24, she met Harry Lawrence to whom she was married for 56 years, raising three daughters.