22 Dix and Joni Shuttleworth’s wedding day
23 Doris and Norman Butt outside her family home
24 John and Peggy Sheffield on their wedding day
25 Family portrait of Dave and Gwen Keele Zradicka with son David
26 Thomas and Barbara Warriner’s wedding day
27 Betty Wright poses in front of the family’s Studebaker
28 Olive and Lloyd Cochrane on their wedding day
29 Ralph and Doris Lloyd in a wartime studio portrait
30 War Brides and children on board the Arosa Sun
31 Pauline and Grant Worthylake in their service uniforms
32 Ron and Dora Addison in their service uniforms
33 Lilian Olson and son Keith on the University of Manitoba campus in Winnipeg
34 Delice and Tom Wilby in a wartime studio portrait
35 Doug and Edna Simpson on their wedding day
36 The plane that took Ann Lawrence Johnston back to Scotland in December 1946
37 Ann and Jack Johnston’s wedding day
38 Dewey and Madeline Fitzgerald outside his family home
39 The telegram that Madeline received informing her of her husband’s death
40 Phyllis Grover and daughter Haroldene in Fredericton, New Brunswick
41 Zoe Boone at the graduation of her Airframe Mechanic class
42 Mac Hooker with baby daughter Carole
43 Margaret and Don Black in a photo taken in Glasgow
44 The Croydon Canucks
45 Sheila Walshe’s letter from Canada’s Department of Citizenship and Immigration
46 Joseph Taylor Sr., Joe Jr. and mother in a family portrait taken soon after the couple’s wedding
47 Grace and Hugh Clark in a studio portrait
48 Dorothy Abraham as a nurse with the Volunteer Aid Detachment
Maps
Ontario
Western Canada
I have wanted to write a history of Canadian War Brides for twenty years now, since I first started working on my Masters Thesis in History at the University of New Brunswick in 1987.
Over the past two decades I have met thousands of War Brides and I’ve always known that inside each one of them is a wonderful story just waiting to be told but the opportunity to sit down and actually write the book never came my way. So when I was approached by Tempus Publishing in the fall of 2006 to write a history of Canada’s War Brides I naturally jumped at the chance. There are many people who helped make this book possible. First of all I’d like to thank Sophie Bradshaw and Lisa Mitchell of Tempus for giving me the chance to fulfill my dream. If it hadn’t been for their interest in the War Bride story the book would never have been realized.
The first person I went to for help was passenger lists researcher, Debbie Beavis, webmaster of www.warbrides.co.uk, whose War Bride ‘listserv’ gave me the medium through which to contact many of these women, their children and grandchildren who are connected through the Internet. Debbie’s ‘listerv’ is now in the capable hands of Patricia Tanner, webmaster of WeddingsPastAndPresent.com. Tricia continues to be as helpful as her predecessor was in assisting researchers and writers who are working on War Bride projects.
Linda Granfield, author of Brass Buttons and Silver Horseshoes, grabbed the torch and passed the message around to her many contacts across Canada. Thank you Linda, you’re always there to give me encouragement.
Dolores Hatch did the same and before I knew it, the phone was ringing, my email inbox was filling up and I’d come home nightly to find my mailbox stuffed with large, medium and small envelopes with handwritten stories, photographs, and documents.
Eswyn (Ellinor), Lyster, War Bride and author, reviewed the introductory chapters and gave her sage advice which only comes from having ‘been there’ and lived through the experience of being a War Bride herself. I don’t know what I’d do without her.
Annette Fulford, the granddaughter of First World War War Bride Grace (Gibson) Clark – and War Bride expert in her own right – also pitched in, providing a wealth of information based on her own research and helping me with last-minute details, especially the bibliography. The entire last chapter is her contribution to this history of Canadian War Brides. Expect to hear more from Annette Fulford on this subject in the future.
There are many other individuals who helped me to gather stories: Irene Maher of the Colchester Historical Society in Truro, Nova Scotia; Don Chapman of the Lost Canadians; and Zoe Boone, Vice President of the New Brunswick War Brides Association.
In addition to these contact persons, there were War Brides, their daughters, sisters, grandchildren, husbands and friends who took it upon themselves to help me shape the stories in this book and/or assisted their War Bride by sending me text and images electronically by email: Gloria Mott niece of the late Dora (Adams) Addison and daughter of the late Doris (Shelton) Butt; Marion Vermeersch daughter of the late Doris (Sayers) Barr; Leesa Swigger, Maureen Dawm, Robbie Bell and Joni Lang children of the late Margaret (Hill) Bell; Jane Veraart friend of Joyce (Hilman) Bezeau; Marina Black daughter of Margaret (Budge) Black; Zoe (Blair) Boone; Marian Boulay daughter of Rose (O’Reilly) Boulay; Rita (Bannister) Buckrell; Angela Michaud daughter of the late Betty (Sheppee) Campbell; Michelle Rusk daughter of the late Olive (Rayson) Cochrane; Dane Carmichael son of Margot (Coombes) Carmichael; John Clark and Anne Clark UE, husband and daughter, respectively, of Irene (Parry) Clark; Mary Dale; the late Johan (Hillis) DeWitt; John Bristow son of Margaret (Perkins) Bristow Eaton; Lynn Fitzgerald daughter of Madeline (Rusbridge) Chunn Fitzgerald; Vernie Foy; Karen Gero daughter-in-law of Mary (Hardie) Gero; Myfanwy and Meredith Burbidge, daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of Morfydd (Morgan) Gibson; Russell Weller grandson of the late Phyllis (Head) Grover; Gwendolen (Cliburn) Hall; Jackie Farquhar daughter of Betty (Lowthian) Hillman; Rob Hoddinott son of the late Marion (Elliot) Hoddinott; Dorothy (Currie) Hyslop; Carole Coplea daughter of the late Alice ‘Mac’ (McGregor) Hooker; Sandra Pond daughter of the late Ann (Biles) Lawrence Johnston; Maria Landry daughter of Joan (Smedley) Landry; Doris (Field) Lloyd; David Ludwig son of Gladys (Gardiner) Ludwig; Horace MacAuley husband of Peggy (Coppock) MacAuley; Valerie MacDonald daughter of the late Elizabeth (Kelly) MacDonald; Beatrice (Davidson) MacIntosh; Christine Trankalis and Julien Olson, daughter and husband, respectively, of the late Lilian (Gibson) Olson; Cindy Gaffney and Pat Lunn, daughter and sister, respectively, of the late Jean (Keegan) Paul; Jackie Pearase of the North Valley Echo, Enderby, British Columbia; Julie (no. 13) Pronovost daughter of Henrietta (Stevens) Pronovost; Pat Pyne; Joan (Fisher) Reichardt; Kay Ruddick; Peggy (Sayer) Sheffield; Carol Coristine, Manager New Media Distribution of CBC.ca and Mary Sheppard daughter of the late Mary (Fletcher) Sheppard; Diane Shuttleworth daughter of Joni (Jones) Shuttleworth; Sheila Simpson daughter of Edna (Burrows) Simpson; Susan Willis daughter of the late Mildred (Young) Sowers; Wilson Stauffer husband of Martha (McLachlan) Stauffer; Bea (Morris) Surgeson; Joe Taylor; Marguerite Turner, President of the