In this never-before-seen photo (probably seen many times as it's a pic from a newspaper and another of Cherry River - Chimples), the young bank attendant is likely unaware of the dreaded, uncontrollable hiccups that would plague her as a 22-year-old bank clerk.
Olive, the daughter of the Mayor Edward McKelvey of Cherry River, near Magog, started hiccuping on Dec. 30 1949.
Try as she might, she was unable to stop the hiccups, and emitted an estimated 400,000 of them over 14 days.
She was sent to a local hospital on January 8 and later the Reddy Memorial Hospital in Montreal and - according to one report - underwent shock treatment, and was treated with an iron lung
She was hooked up on an intravenous novocaine drip, which "paralyzed the phrenic nerve" stopping her hiccups for eleven hours but they returned again, only to finally be quelled, for the moment at least.The tale of her epic battle to stop hiccuping was reported in newspapers large and small, far and wide.
After the drugs stopped the hiccups, Olive was sent to Florida to rest and relax with family but the hiccups returned during her fun in the sun in March, after a six week absence. Once again they were quelled with the drug.
Her doctor, R.G.B. Gilbert promised "a thorough investigation into actual causes of hiccups rather than repeatedly cur what were only symptoms with paralyzing injections of Novocaine."
Nobody in all of these years has apparently bothered to interview the woman about her famously tormented moments of spasmodic torture.
None of her unconventional health woes discouraged her romantic suitor and later that very same year she became Mrs. Olive Whitcomb with a notable wedding in the Townships, amid a circle of people like herself of Loyalist stock.
Whitcomb went on to remained prominent in her region and actively participated in various groups and clubs, and lead a chapter of the Stanstead County Womens Institute.
Indeed the hiccup queen of Quebec might still be alive today, in which case we appeal to her to share her story.