Things had improved immensely between 1949 and 1951. Newfoundland had joined Canada and signs of prosperity were everywhere. The roads were vastly improved, mail was delivered weekly and Walter joined with most others in Cormack to form a co-op. They built a general store and started a full-time school from kindergarten to grade eleven. It was easier to get to town and regular visits to doctors and dentists were now possible. Marion and other women in the community worked tirelessly at fundraising to build Saint George’s Anglican Church, the first church in Cormack.
Farming, however, was still precarious. The weather was unpredictable and promised government marketing initiatives failed to get off the ground. Walter found seasonal work and never went back to farming. Two more children came along and Walter fixed up the house, replacing the wood stove with an oil furnace thus ridding Marion of the dreaded chore of cutting and splitting wood. She didn’t get electricity until 1964 and it was another ten years before she had inside plumbing but Marion was a lot happier.
Marion was killed in a car accident on 23 December 1982, just two weeks shy of her sixtieth birthday. Shortly before she died, Marion had ended a feud with her sister-in-law, also a War Bride, who lived next door. Although their husbands were great friends and the children of both families grew up together, something caused Marion and Margaret Hoddinott to steadfastly refuse to speak to one another for twenty-five years.
Marion was a devout Christian, and she offered the proverbial olive branch to Margaret. Although she and Margaret would never be close friends, she did enjoy the company and felt good about her Christian act. On the morning of 23 December, Marion went along with Margaret to Deer Lake to do some shopping. The car was hit broad side and both Marion and Margaret were killed instantly.
War Brides Marion and Margaret Hoddinott were buried on 26 December 1982, on a cold, stormy, old-fashioned Newfoundland winter day.
Postscript: Walter died in Toronto in November 1985. Marion and Walter are resting peacefully together in a cemetery at Pasadena, Newfoundland. Their story was submitted by Rob Hoddinott, their second son.
Everything Will Be Fine
Rose (O’Reilly) Boulay
Rose (O’Reilly) Boulay was born in Co. Cavan, Ireland in 1920. She followed the advice of her husband’s regimental padre and married Horace Boulay of Belledune, New Brunswick, a small village near the border with Quebec.
Rose O’Reilly was only seventeen years old when she left Co. Cavan, Ireland and emigrated to London, England with the dream of becoming a nurse.
At the time, Rose was working in the ‘greener pastures’ of Dublin, about fifty miles away from the rural farm where she grew up in Ireland. Rose had two brothers and two sisters living in London and when her older sister came home on vacation she persuaded Rose to go back with her to London. The plan was to work for a year and then begin her nursing course. But when the war broke out, Rose’s plans were put on hold and she worked for the war effort instead.
Rose filled shells for aircraft at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Swynnerton, Staffordshire. The factory was in a rural area in a camouflaged setting and the shift workers were bussed in; at night the bus windows were blackened and its headlights were covered so just a little slit of light would show as it made its way to and from the factory, dropping off and picking up workers.
Rose met Sgt Horace Boulay of the North Shore Regiment during a visit to her sister’s in London at Christmas 1942. Horace was from Belledune, New Brunswick a small village along the shores of the Bay of Chaleur near the province of Quebec. Although Horace’s ancestors were from Quebec, his Catholic grandfather had married into an Irish family in Belledune and the next generation, including Horace, were brought up speaking English.
Rose and Horace wrote to each other during the next two years and whenever he was on leave he would go to London and they would visit with Rose’s sister. When Horace asked Rose for her hand in marriage, she hesitated and told him that she would have to think about it.
Southern Ireland was neutral during the war and there were travel restrictions for military personnel. That meant Horace would not be able to meet her family in person and this was cause of some concern because her parents didn’t know what kind of a man she was marrying.
To assuage her family’s concerns, Father Raymond Hickey, the Roman Catholic Chaplin of New Brunswick’s North Shore Regiment, wrote to Rose saying that he knew Horace’s family well and that they were a good Catholic family.
Rose kept his letter, which included some good old-fashioned advice for anyone contemplating marriage:
Dear Miss O’Reilly:
I am the chaplain of the North Shore Regiment and one of my boys, Horace Boulay, spoke to me about your intention to marry. Now, Horace is a fine boy, from a fine Catholic family. I know them well, and Horace is a good Catholic himself. I hope Horace has told you of conditions in Canada, how we live, etc., then you will not be disappointed. So long as you love one another and are sincere about everything, then everything will be fine. I hope you can be very happy and you can be, by deciding to be right now.
Sincerely, Father Hickey
At the same time, Horace wrote to Rose’s mother and asked for her hand in marriage. With the ringing endorsement of Father Hickey, Mrs O’Reilly gave her blessing, along with an invitation to visit Ireland when the war was over.
Rose and Horace were married on 29 April 1944 at St Agnes Catholic Church in Cricklewood, London. One week later Horace was sent to Southampton awaiting the invasion of Normandy and on 8 June he landed on the Normandy coast as a dispatch rider bringing messages to and from the front lines. From there on he served in France, Germany, Holland and Belgium, earning the Military Medal for bravery in the field. Having survived the war, Horace returned to New Brunswick with the North Shore Regiment in August 1945.
Nine months later, Rose followed her husband to Canada, but before she left, she went to Ireland for a three-week visit to say goodbye to her family. ‘It was a big decision to leave my home and family,’ she said, ‘but it was part of growing up.’
On 4 April 1946 Rose boarded the Aquitania at Southampton, and arrived in Halifax less than a week later on 10 April. It was a pleasant crossing and on board the train bound for Bathurst she will always remember the landscape of trees and snow. A snow storm prevented her from getting off the train in Bathurst so she had to continue her journey to Belledune. There Rose was met by Horace and her in-laws who welcomed her with open arms. She finished her long trip by horse and sleigh to the family farm.
The literal translation for Belledune is ‘pretty sand dunes’ which in the heat of the summer are a sight to behold along the Bay of Chaleur; but in the winter all Rose would have seen from the sleigh was ice and snow along the shoreline and she would have felt the penetrating chill of the Bay’s northerly winds.
Despite her snowy introduction to New Brunswick, Rose says that she didn’t really experience any culture shock because the living conditions were very similar to Ireland in the 1930s and ’40s. There were a rich mix of French, Irish and Scottish families who had settled in the Belledune area since the early 1800s and other than adapting to married life, she was very lucky because she didn’t have any difficulties settling in. ‘Horace’s family became my new family and life on the farm became my way of life,’ she says. ‘I have no regrets.’
Father Hickey’s advice so long ago to a young Irish girl lasted fifty-five years: ‘So long as you love one another and are sincere about everything, then everything will be fine.’ Rose and Horace visited Ireland many times before he passed away in 1999.They had three children, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild and another two are on the way.
Postscript: Rose Boulay still lives in Belledune. Since Horace died she has visited Ireland with her daughters and granddaughters.