The coincidence is remarkable.

Vernon Powerhouse Theatre volunteer Don Dennison was doing his usual helping out during the theatre's Christmas production, when he became aware the local theatre would be doing a play called Radium Girls in the spring of 2025.

Radium Girls, which will run April 30 to May 10 at the Powerhouse, is a play by D.W. Gregory that tells the story of medical distress and death suffered by women that worked at an Illinois clock dial factory in the 1920s to their long battle for compensation.

At around the same time, Dennison, 79, who lives in Coldstream, received from middle brother Jim, 77, who lives in Vernon, their late mother Margaret's photo albums.

Perusing the albums, Dennison found a picture of Margaret painting clock dials. There was no other information about the photo.

"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 the photo was taken in 1941 in Toronto, during the Second World War, when Margaret was just 20. She had recently graduated from Danforth Arts College in Toronto.

Dennison discovered 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 his mom was using radium-based paint to create luminous dials for the aircraft industry, and she would suffer medically because of this.

"She was eventually diagnosed as being afflicted with aplastic anemia, which can have several origins, one being radiation poisoning," said Dennison, who recalls his mom having a "weak constitution" and was "constantly in hospital."

Radium is a metal that, in the 1920s, was seen as a miracle, as it glowed in the dark and was even thought to be a medical cure. Behind that glow, however, was a deadly truth.

Gregory's Radium Girls is based on the true story of the women in the U.S. who fought against corporate deception ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½“ 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 ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½“ including my mother ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½“ continue to use this toxic substance in an unprotected manner in the early 1940s?" he ponders.

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 (third son John, 70, lives in Armstrong) and worked for a few stores, including Woodward's Department Store, at the Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver. She lived the final 10 years of her life in Armstrong, and died in 2001 at the age of 81.

Dennison plans to be in the Powerhouse's seats for a pair of showings of Radium Girls.

Radium Girls is directed by Adele Kuyek and has 7:30 p.m. nightly showings April 30 to May 3, a May 4 matinee at 2 p.m., and further 7:30 p.m. performances May 7 to 10.

Tickets for Radium Girls are available through or by calling 250-549-SHOW (7469).