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Archiver > WARBRIDES > 2005-04 > 1112560589


From: "Melynda Jarratt" <>
Subject: McAdam Train Station
Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 17:36:29 -0300
In-Reply-To: <BE75888F.1ADB%btosh@shaw.ca>


Hi Bev, I have the original Train Meeting diary of Mrs. Valreia Hunter, who
volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross as a member of the War Bride Train
Meeting Committee for McAdam Train Station in New Brunswick. McAdam was the
train station for women going to live on farms in New Brunswick's potato
belt. It is presently a provincial historic site and there is a move on in
the heritage community to restore the building to its full glory.

Here is the citation from my thesis in which I talk about Mrs. Hunter's role
in meeting War Brides:

In McAdam, Mrs. Valreia Hunter kept a detailed record of her train-meeting
duties, which she carried out with great enthusiasm on behalf of the McAdam
Branch of the New Brunswick Division of the Canadian Red Cross Society.
Although Mrs. Hunter is now deceased, her daughter, Anne Garret of McAdam,
recalls that her mother "volunteered to meet these ladies when they had to
change trains at McAdam in order to travel on to Woodstock and up ...the
river." Mrs. Garret explains:

[I]t was all organized through the Red Cross. Information was sent from
Saint John to the C.P.R. Telegraph office here and the operator then
contacted Mother. Mother was a very outgoing person and enjoyed meeting
these ladies and often had them in our home while waiting for a connecting
train or until family members arrived.

Time spent waiting for connections or for family members to show often meant
that Mrs. Hunter and the war bride could get to know each other. Mrs.
Garret recalls one particular Irish bride who had to stay at their home
overnight: wanting to make the woman feel welcome in New Brunswick, Mrs.
Hunter introduced her to an elderly Irish woman who lived in McAdam and they
spent the "evening telling stories about leprechauns, little people and
superstitions until close to midnight. By this time Mother said she was
almost afraid to walk home." The train-meeting soon became a family
affair, Mrs. Garret says, with her father often called in to help his wife.
"My father was also involved in that he was very supportive of the
operation. Some of these calls from Saint John came just minutes before the
train was due in McAdam and he was always there to carry baggage, etc."
Last minute dashes to the platform were made easier, Mrs. Garrett says, by
the fact that they lived directly across the street from the train station.





Melynda



Melynda Jarratt, BA, MA (History)
Diploma in Digital Media and Design
Webmaster: http://www.canadianwarbrides.com and http://www.project-roots.com
Voices of the Left Behind: Project Roots and the Canadian War Children of
World War Two is available in English at
http://www.project-roots.com/books.html and in Dutch at
http://www.uitgeverijpica.nl/index.html?page=achterbleven


----Original Message Follows----
From: Bev Tosh <>
Reply-To:
To:
Subject: [WarBrides] station/siding/arrival
Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 11:48:31 -0600

Dear War brides,
What was the name of your station of arrival, or nearest settlement for
those going to live on farms? I need as many destinations as possible. Can
you recall the names of sidings/stations that other war brides went to?
Thank you for your help.
Bev
(a daughter)


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