Meg Ostling (’19), daughter of Deirdre Bergin.
Siobhan Bergin (’22), the newest Bergin at Acadia.
Deirdre Bergin (’87)
“It was very welcoming, and the professors were very approachable and actually cared about their students. It’s part of us.” “We’re a very close family,” Meg says now. “Growing up, I had so many fond memories of Wolfville when my grandparents lived here. And when I was in junior high, I started going to Acadia basketball camps in the summer. Getting to spend a couple of weeks here every summer was a huge influence on me wanting to come here.” Meg’s brother Sean Ostling graduated from Acadia in 2018, and three cousins are here now: Niamh Fraser (Siobhan’s daughter, in third year); Ailish Bergin (Patrick’s daughter, in second year); and Siobhan Bergin (another daughter of Patrick’s, in first year).
A special house The family connection to Acadia began almost the moment they set foot in Wolfville. The house on Main Street they had fallen in love with happened to belong to the late Marjorie (Manning) Fountain (’99) and Sheldon L. Fountain (’39), who were selling. Marjorie and her mother had established the Manning Memorial Chapel at Acadia in memory of her father, Fred C. Manning (1916), and Marjorie later established the Sheldon L. Fountain Learning Commons in memory of her husband, who
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ACADIA BULLETIN Spring 2019
founded Acadia’s business school. “We always wondered if the Fountains could have sold that house for a lot more money if they hadn’t felt so intently that a family should buy it,” Deirdre says. “I think that probably helped my parents get it. The Fountains wanted a family in their home.” All five Bergins have warm memories of Acadia, Deirdre adds. “It was very welcoming, and the professors were very approachable and actually cared about their students. It’s part of us.” Her sister Ailish was only 17 when she started at Acadia. Younger than most of her classmates, she appreciated the many opportunities to meet people outside her business program. “One of my closest friends today I met at the pre-registration for Frosh Week,” she says. “We were both 17 years old. She’s a teacher in Halifax and visits us in Ontario every summer. I see her regularly when I go to Halifax to see my parents.” Ailish’s husband, Don, was also in the business program, although they hadn’t met before a friend introduced them. “I tell my kids that Acadia may be small, but it’s not as small as they might think,” she says. “There are so many different people and such variety that you don’t meet everybody.”
