When Lois Vivian Wetmore was born on June 5, 1912, in New Brunswick, her father, Boyd, was 35, and her mother, Elsie, was 33. She married James McKenna on September 29, 1935, in Kings, New Brunswick. They had five children during their marriage. She died on February 8, 1983, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, at the age of 70, and was buried in Hampton, New Brunswick.

Descended from Loyalist stock, there are some very old recipes in her collections