With Halifax reunion, war bride organization looks to next generation

Marjorie Nation doesn't go anywhere without her lipstick.

The 97-year-old travelled from Toronto to attend the annual Canadian War Brides and Families reunion in Halifax this weekend.

At the Saturday night dance, she was the one tearing up the dance floor to old war-time tunes.

"You don't have to sit back and let things go and let life go by," said Nation, who was accompanied by her daughter. "I was the type of person who made the most of every day."

Nation was one of around 48,000 British and European women who married Canadian servicemen during the Second World War and immigrated to Canada. 

She was the only surviving war bride in attendance on the weekend. The other 40 attendees were descendents of war brides. 

Lynn Martin, president of Canadian War Brides and Families, said war bride organizations started out as provincial groups, with the first in Saskatchewan. As many of the members grew older and died, the groups started to disband. 

They founded the national organization 11 years ago. The memory of many war brides is carried on by their families now.

"Now we have grandchildren joining, and we had our first great-granddaughter last year in Calgary," she said. 

"So, it's been a real trip. And I know we're down in numbers this year but we still have really enthusiastic people."

Martin said over a million people in Canada are descended from war brides. 

That includes Carly Butler Verheyen from British Columbia. She wrote a book retracing her grandmother's steps as a war bride from London, England.

In her research, she found 110 love letters from her grandmother to her grandfather. She wrote them in 1946 when he had returned to Leamington, Ont., and she was waiting to join him.

"They were just in a plastic bag," she said. "We thought it was just scrap paper. And then we found them and put them in order by date and realized that they were from that time period."

Butler Verheyen said she wrote the book and comes to the reunions because she doesn't want the history to be forgotten.

"To have given up all that they knew and everyone they loved and their beloved country for — they didn't know what. They were just putting their faith in love and going for this adventure," she said. 

Anna-Lynn Sanche also wants to preserve the history of the war brides.

She brought a display with her containing her mother's papers, suitcase, wedding dress and bouquet. Her mother, Jeanne Marchais-Pfannmuller, travelled from Tours, France to Alberta in 1946 to join her husband. 

Sanche said her mother loved to attend meetings with fellow war brides to share their lives and experiences. 

"Mum always said … we're becoming an extinct breed," Sanche said. "It's the end of a generation. It's the end of a legacy."

She said she's known many of the people in the Canadian War Brides and Families for nearly two decades. She keeps coming to the reunions to continue her mother's legacy.

"I like it. I think it's important. I think history is important." 

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