Deceased war brides remembered

The Fort Frances Overseas Wives Club marked its 50th anniversary by placing red roses on the resting places of deceased members at Riverview Cemetery on Monday–a tribute never undertaken before here.
Only six of the some 40 women that once made up the original “War Brides” club are still alive, including Phyllis McFee, Jean Gadd, Monica Hanzuk, Penny McFarland, Jean Boileau, and Edna Sokoliuk.
“We are among the women who arrived in Canada via Pier 21 in Halifax back in the 1940s, some with small children in tow, having left family and the land of our birth for an adventure into the great unknown,” noted McFee, who met her husband, Don, in Inverness, Scotland while he was in the Canadian Forestry Corp.
“[War brides] have been family for one another,” she stressed.
“[Placing the roses] was a little heart-wrenching because we miss the girls,” said Sokoliuk, who met husband, George, in England when he was a Canadian soldier.
“We shared some good comraderie–we were all alone in a way–and [our friendship] took away the home sickness,” she added. “The roses will fade but we don’t forget them.”
“We wanted to remember the girls that we could remember,” agreed Gadd, who met her husband, Clarence (Bud), in 1943 in Inverness, Scotland.
Deceased members of the Overseas Wives Club who were cremated weren’t forgotten either, McFee stressed. Group photos of bygone years also were brought out to Monday’s celebration, which included a poem recital.