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From: Stella Myers <>
Subject: Re: WARBRIDES-D Digest V05 #20
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 13:58:27 -0500
In-Reply-To: <200501281845.j0SIjZRw001420@lists8.rootsweb.com>


I would be very interested in hearing from any War Bride who
travelled to Canada on the Aquatania July 29, l946, As I did,

Stella Myers
On Friday, January 28, 2005, at 01:45 PM,
wrote:

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>
> WARBRIDES-D DigestVolume 05 : Issue 20
>
> Today's Topics:
> #1 Jan 26 1946 ["jsstubbs"
> <>]
> #2 Bath night on the prairies 1946 []
>
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> ______________________________X-Message: #1
> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:07:42 -0500
> From: "jsstubbs" <>
> To:
> Message-ID: <001101c504ab$f816f520$>
> Subject: Jan 26 1946
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> To all the Warbrides that left England aboard the
> SS Argentina 59 years ago on January 26th 1946 we celebrate another
> anniversary of our voyage.
> It would have been great to hear from you throughout the years. I do
> have contact with two other brides and a daughter of another bride but
> of the other 400 plus brides and their descendants one can only wonder
> what happened to them.
> The brides that married Canadians keep in touch and it is so nice to
> read their stories of how they overcome hardships in settling in their
> home towns.
> My blessing to each of you.
> The SS Argentina became one of the ghost ships on the James River, in
> Va. near where she was built in the 1920's and eventually was > scrapped.
> WWW.Moore-McCormack.com have a web site about the ship.
> Sincerely, Joan Stubbs
>
> ______________________________X-Message: #2
> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 11:43:14 -0700
> From:
> To:
> Message-ID: <>
> Subject: Bath night on the prairies 1946
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>
> Shortly after my arrival at my mother-in-law's house, where we lived
> for
> 6 months in one room, my husband said he would go and get a bathtub so
> we could have a bath. Well, that gave me a bit of a jolt. How would you
> go and get a bathtub? Weren't they upstairs somewhere in a bathroom? I
> had not realized that there was no sewer and no plumbing to speak of. I
> had been introduced to the outdoor toilet. but didn't dream that
> bathing
> would be a problem also.
> He came back into the room carrying a metal tub about 2 ' square. I
> immediately knew it would be an impossibility to sit in that. He warmed
> the water on the stove, transferred it to the tub, stripped off and sat
> down with one leg in and the other outside the wash tub. He scrubbed
> his
> upper body then the leg that was inside the tub. He then put it outside
> the tub and the other one inside to wash it. It was quite a procedure.
> After drying himself and dressing he carried the tub outside and dumped
> the water on the ground. Then it was my turn. I was embarassed.
> I had been sitting on the bed watching him with amazement. We had
> never
> seen each other naked, always turning off the lights and undressing
> before clambering into bed. Now I was expected to have a bath in front
> of him. How different from today where nudity is viewed so differently
> and sex is such an unfettered procedure.
> Oh yes, and about that sink in his mother's kitchen. I flooded the
> floor
> before finding out that there was only a bucket under it which had to
> be
> taken outside and emptied. :-[
> .
> We had a War Brides meeting yesterday with 16 out of 26 members
> present.
> During lunch (Crab Melt or Shepherd's Pie, rice pudding or Jello for
> dessert) we discussed the phenomena of bathing in those metal tubs.
> One'girl' said that they had a long tub so they could stretch their
> legs
> out. I thought of her husband struggling outside to empty that! We
> decided she was a very privileged person, a plutocrat no less, and
> laughed about it.
> We also remembered that the soap fat coagulated on the tubs and in the
> dishpans when we did the dishes. It was ugly goop. We loved detergents
> when they finally came along.
> Sometime, I will tell you about doing the washing.
> On a sadder note: many of the elderly War Brides have walkers, canes,
> crutches or wheel chairs to get around in. One husband who was there
> last month to bring his wife to the meeting wasn't there this month -
> another one gone. Yesterday there were only 2 husbands waiting for
> their
> War Bride wives to take them home after the meeting, mine and Irish
> Mary's.
> Someone mentioned that the War Brides have a 'spit in your eye
> attitude'
> . She is darned right - we have earned it.
> Hazel in Alberta, Canada.
> My writing is copyrighted These are excerpts from my (as yet)
> unpublished book, but still my writing. Thanks!

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