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 may 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."