Nina Rumen was born in 1927 in what was then Poland, and which is now Belarus. In 1930, she "brought her mother to Canada" to join her father, who had immigrated earlier to the Fernie/Cranbrook region of British Columbia. She is the eldest of four surviving daughters.

She graduated from St. Paul's Hospital School of Nursing in Vancouver in 1949 and joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) in 1951. Her military career took her to Churchill Manitoba (1952-54) when Canada's north was opening up. From here she went to Isherholm, Germany with the British Army of the Rhine and then to Lahr, Germany. She served with NATO from 1970-72.

Nina completed her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of Toronto. Following retirement from the services, she moved to Vancouver, where she worked on short-term contracts with various agencies.