Biographies of the Co-Authors

Clara Raina Flannigan

Clara Raina Flannigan was a child who was happiest when she was playing outdoors, collecting gopher tails and crows' eggs or playing baseball. She dreamed of going to Immaculata High School in Ottawa. Her long range goal was to get a good job and save money to buy a riding horse. Instead, at twelve years of age, she entered the Sanatorium with tuberculosis. She did not go to high school, get a job or buy a horse.

She became an inveterate diarist, graduated from the school of hard knocks with honours and banked her positive outlook in order to buy life.

Although losing much, Clara always felt she was a winner. She was happily married for twenty-five years and she and her husband Harry adopted a son, Bill, who was the light of their lives. Family was extremely important to her.

Clara never forgot the many friends she made in the San, and the medical team who contributed so selflessly to her wellbeing.

Anne Raina

Anne Raina worked for many years in the public and not-for-profit sectors. She was a senior executive with a national disability organization when struck with multiple disabling autoimmune disorders herself.

She has been writing poetry, skits and short stories for friends and family since she was a child. Although previously published in magazines and newspapers, Clara's Rib was her first adventure in publishing a book. To date, 4,000 copies have sold. She was awarded the Canadian Lung Association's 2014 Heather Crowe Award for raising awareness about lung health. In 2015, Anne published two children's books - The Kangaroo With the Wooden Shoe and Things That Go SPLAT! In 2016, she published The Kangaroo With the Wooden Shoe - Book Two and Things That Go Where They Shouldn't. She is a member of The Ottawa Story Spinners, a writing group who publish a book of short stories annually in The Black Lake Chronicles series, Volumes I through VI. Anne is currently working on her mother's biography for publication.

Her daughter, Kelly McGahey, lives in Ottawa. Her son, Mark McGahey, lives in Perth, Ontario and her stepson, Stefan Cameron, lives in California.

Anne and her husband, Grant Cameron, live in Ottawa and treasure time spent at their cottage on Black Lake, near Perth.