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Alexandra (Sanja) Drosdof was born in Tallinn, Estonia on March 15, 1913. She lived in Sweden for a time and then was employed by a Swedish family in England. There she met Denis Baldwyn, and they soon married. Their daughter Tamaara was born in October 1939. After the war, the couple had a son, Einar (1946), and went into business as country innkeepers. In 1948 they decided to immigrate to Canada. The family farmed in the Gulf Islands until 1958, when Denis' work in the Canadian Army took them to Germany. In 1960 the family moved to Calgary, and Sanja went to school and was trained as a Journeyman Cook. In the 1970s, when she retired, Sanja, Denis and Tamaara moved to Abbotsford and raised a breeding herd of Black Angus, continuing her passion for cooking and gardening. She joined the Women's Institute and taught cooking and baking courses at the local high school. She died March 15, 2004.

The Women's Institute was founded in 1897, in Stony Creek, Ontario. Its original purpose was educating rural women so they could improve their lives through domestic science. One of the founders, Mrs Hoodless had lost her son after he drank contaminated milk. Hoodless believed similar deaths could be avoided if women had more knowledge. Hoodless said, “A nation cannot rise above the level of its homes, we women must work and study together to raise our homes to the highest level possible.” The group quickly grew, with BC getting its first branch in 1909. It soon spread overseas.