It was late at night when Mary Troke walked with her three young kids to the Hamilton bus station. Her goal was to get on any bus that would take them away from her abusive partner. The year was 1973 and each of them carried little more than the clothes on their backs.

The first bus that arrived was bound for Toronto and once here, she called the police for help. An officer picked them up and drove them to Nellie’s.

“My mother knew that she was going to die if she didn’t get away from my father. He broke her nose several times and even busted her jaw and knocked some of her teeth out. Finally, she had had enough,” recalls David Willson, Mary’s middle child who was about 7 years old on the night they arrived at Nellie’s. He says at barely 5-foot, 2-inches tall, Mary was terrified of his father.

David says his dad never harmed him, his older sister or younger brother and only vaguely remembers the violence of his early childhood. He does, however, vividly remember being welcomed by Nellie’s staff in the middle the night and being given everything they needed to start over.

“I remember going through a room with clothing and being told to take whatever we needed. And, I remember a plastic toy plane the staff gave me to play with,” says David, now 55. He adds that the photo taken outside Nellie’s shows three of them sporting the winter coats they chose from that donation room.

“Nellie’s gave us food to eat and beds to sleep in. And the staff helped my mom get through all of this.”

Even when we first opened our doors almost 50 years ago, Nellie’s has always been more than just a bed. We’re also a place women and their children can turn to for service and support. We stand alongside them as they navigate the legal system, immigration services, social services, child protection services, health care and more. And, we offer counselling, children’s programming, safety planning, outreach services, violence against women workshops and more.

David’s family lived at Nellie’s for about three months before moving into subsidized housing in Toronto. Mary found work where she could and devoted her life to helping others—even occasionally taking in, and caring for, homeless teens. “She managed to raise us on the little money she had. We never starved and we always had shoes on our feet. She did what she had to do to keep us safe,” says David.

After graduating high school, David moved back to Hamilton to work at Dofasco. He now has two grown children, lives with his girlfriend and runs a ghost hunting website in his spare time. “My kids grew up knowing never to hit people. They know what I lived through.”

In the 1990s, Mary moved back to Hamilton where she eventually bought her own house. His brother and sister both grew up to have families of their own.

In 2018, at the age of 74, Mary died peacefully, leaving three children and five grandchildren.

“She lived a good life all because the people at Nellie’s took us in that night. Everyone who worked at Nellie’s then affected our futures. They helped my mom and us and my life trajectory totally changed,” says David.

“I can almost guarantee that my life would have been one of misery with all the abuse at home, and I could have even turned out like my father. Thank you, Nellie’s, for saving our lives.”