Anny Aerts

Anny Marcelle Suzanne Vrancken was born in the Belgian Congo in 1929, in the village of Basankusu. She was the daughter of Joseph Vrancken and Marie-Louise Jacobs.

Anny was educated in Antwerp, Belgium, and graduated in Haute Couture from the Institut Superior A. Parmentier in Bruxelles. She married in Belgium and returned to the Congo.

In 1950, her first husband died and left her with an infant daughter Brigitte. Anny eventually remarried and returned to the Congo with her second husband, Jules Aerts. It was there that her first two sons, Guy and Francis, were born.

In 1960, she immigrated to Canada with her family. She eventually settled in Point Tupper, Cape Breton, where she was involved with the local Boy Scouts, became a certified scuba diver, and pursued her work as a dressmaker and designer. In 1965, the family moved to Halifax. It was here that her third son, Kim, was born.

Anny was active in Halifax as a seamstress and designer. She also instructed in dress design at Mount Saint Vincent University and pattern-making night courses at Q.E.H.