Ann Lehtmets was born in southern Estonia in 1904 and educated at a girlsí college. She settled with her lawyer husband in Rakvere, Estoniaís third largest city. In 1941 she was arrested and transported to Siberia, where for seventeen years she was forced to live and work in appalling conditions.
Douglas Hoile was born in South Australia in 1924. He served in the RAAF as a Spitfire pilot during the second world war, and later graduated in medicine at the University of Adelaide. He married Ann Lehtmetsís daughter, Tiiu, in 1953 and has worked for many years as a general practitioner involved in community service.