Gwendoline Goodey

When I woke up I—the boat wasn’t moving and I—we had told—we were told never to open our port holes and I went over and I thought, We’ve got to be in port if we’re not moving. So I undid the port hole just a little bit and here was Halifax lights all—I don’t want to remember this, I cried. I always remember it, I was so relieved, to get safely here. And I—I’ll never forget coming into Halifax and then two soldiers came on and they took the boys and they took them to a big nursery that was open in the Halifax, on Pier 21, and I went to a hotel and I was able to have a bath and they did my hair, all the girls came and we did that, and then it was three days after that we started on the train across Canada.

Biography:
Gwendoline Goodey was born in Hampshire, England in 1920 at the Bordon Military Camp where her father was posted with the British Army. During the Second World War, the Canadian forces used Bordon as a military base. Gwendoline met and married one of the Canadian soldiers stationed there.

Gwendoline’s husband returned to Canada in early 1944. He returned to serve as a physical training instructor at the military base in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Gwendoline and their two sons followed in October of that year. They landed at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and then travelled by train to Chilliwack.

Gwendoline has been an active volunteer throughout her life, teaching Sunday school and volunteering at the local hospital. When her sons were young, Gwendoline also helped with their Cubs and Scouts groups. Gwendoline still lives in Chilliwack.