Catherine (Kay) Crowe Bond was born on Feb. 6, 1921 in Ireland. At the young age of 17 Kay moved to England where at that time she said, "The pastures were greener. It was war time and there were good jobs and lots of work."
As the years went by Kay met Jack Bond and came to Canada in 1946 as a war bride. Their children Bill (Shirley), Cathy Dofka, Pat (Bernadette) and Julia (Bert) Roberge all live here in Prince George. Kay now has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Kay worked for years at Woodwards. She loved to do volunteer work before she took up carpet bowling. She put in many volunteer hours at the Brunswick St. senior centre both at the front desk and working in the kitchen with friend Jean Nelson. She served as hostess at the Tenth Ave. senior centre for many years. Kay is still very active in her favourite sport of carpet bowling. Friends who know Kay say that she would rather miss lunch than miss a carpet bowling match. She now resides at the Prince George Chateau and says she loves it there.
At just about this same point in time young Iris Haines Milne-West, born in 1919, was living in England and driving an ambulance during the war.
Iris recalls, "We all had to wear tin hats to protect ourselves against flying shrapnel. e always carried a gas mask just in case they decided to use gas as a weapon like they did in the First World War. We never had to use our gas mask and we were always thankful for that."
Iris met husband to be Harvey Milne at a wedding reception in England. She said, "This man asked if I would sit beside him at the reception and of course I did not. I just moved away and I went and sat with my other friends. It wasn't too long and he showed up at the ambulance station where I worked and the rest is history." Iris also came to Canada in 1946 as a war bride and the couple raised two children.
Harvey Milne passed away from a heart attack and years later Iris married long-time friend Wally West.
Throughout the years Iris taught and received a coveted gold medal in Elocution: n English term to describe the skill of clear and expressive speech.
The years went by and nearly 50 years ago Kay and Iris met one another here in Prince George at a War Brides luncheon. They have been good friends ever since and in fact they are currently long-time Red Hat sisters in the Scarlet O'Hatters Red Hat Club and in the Order of the Eastern Star.
Iris, now 94 years old and Kay, now 92 years old both arrived in Canada at totally different times at Pier 51 in Halifax, Nova Scotia as War Brides. They boarded trains and headed out West to meet up with their respective husbands and their families. As I listened and noted their life-long stories I saw that several bonds were formed that could never be broken both between the husbands and wives and the two friends. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what.
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