This is a little story of my mother Agnes a few days after she moved into our home with us after being totally independent. My mother had been VERY hard of hearing for years and did not like to wear her hearing aids, they drove her nuts. After starting to get settled in, it was time to get Ag her own phone line and phones, her old phone in the living room and a new unfamiliar cordless for her bedroom. I showed her all the features of the cordless and said i will go upstairs and give a ding to try it out. I dialed the number and could hear it ringing downstairs. It rang and rang and rang but Ag did not answer, so I headed back down to see what was wrong. As i was walking down the hallway to her bedroom I could hear Ag talking in a loud, frustrated voice saying hello, hello, hello, GOD DAM new fangled phones. When I walked in, there was Ag on the other side of the room from the phone, she had the TV converter to her ear.....I will miss her for the rest of my life.

(It lumps it into one paragraph, sorry.)

During my third year of university, I wrote an essay on my Grandma and her experiences working during World War II. I have attached the essay and the interview questions she answered. This is for my family -- maybe you'll learn something new about Grandma. This was the most rewarding academic endeavor of my life, because I had the privilege of interviewing a family member who was an important part of women's history--even though she did not recognize it.

I recorded all of grandma's responses to the interview questions before writing the essay. I think they are the most interesting to read.

 

Agnes (Sullivan) O'Connor, May 28th, 1923

Q: "What was considered a normal lifestyle for a woman your age before WWII?"

A: "Before World War II, I worked in a factory ten hours a day, five days a week.  On a weekend afternoon, a group of my friends and I would go bicycle riding, and, then, dancing.  My parents were strict and insisted I complete my chores, such as tidying up the kitchen and always saying my Rosary beads before I could go any place at night.  Not doing my chores was punishable by taking away my social activities for a couple weeks, which taught me a lifelong lesson in behaviour."

 

Q: "What was considered a normal lifestyle for a woman your age during WWII?"

A: "During World War II, most of the young men in my town were in one of the Armed Forces and posted overseas.  The women worked and saved their money to buy new clothes, which made them feel as good as the other women and hopefully accumulate a bank account.  The majority of women hoped to meet a young man our parents approved of and encouraged us to line up to the morals of what we were taught at home."

 

Q: "Did women feel like substantial social advances had been made because they could enter the labour force or were they seen as temporary changes facilitated by manpower shortages?"

A: "The fact that women were working and making good money for the times gave me the feeling I had accomplished a big step in spite of the manpower shortage.  Women worked so they could enjoy the social life they would afford and not because the men were not available to join the work force.  [The men] were defending our country and helping each other to appreciate what life had to offer them."

 

Q: "Did the women you worked with seem to enjoy working?  Did you?  What were the pros and cons of employment?"

A: "The women I worked with were accustomed to having the means to enjoy a life of freedom from the worry of unemployment and having to do without the necessities of life.  I enjoyed the companionship of my friends everyday and being able to share and exchange my opinions with them.  It gave me a feeling of being thankful for the privilege of sharing a little bit of the joys of living in a free country, which the men did not have the opportunity to do."

 

Q: "How did you typically spend the money you earned?"

A: "The money I earned while working helped my parents because I paid my share of the expenses at home.  My weekly paycheck amounted to $20.00.  It helped to share some of the burden of the cost of living my parents had to meet.  I had three younger siblings who were too young to join the labour force, so I was able to buy them some of the necessities they required to go to school and be able to enjoy the daily company of their classmates."

 

Q: "Was marriage and motherhood always in your plan for the future?  Was there ever a time when you thought your life might take a different course?"

A: "Marriage and motherhood were always a big part of my life as I was one of ten children in my family.  Being just two parents and childless seemed a very lonely way to go through life.  Children can bring so much joy and happiness into our lives.  I never gave a thought to my life taking a different course; a family is so much more satisfying than all of the comforts that money can supply you with."

Note: It is implicit that Grandma did not consider whether or not she would marry.  Refer to convent question.

 

Q: What kind of behaviour/ lifestyle was considered abnormal for women during the war?

A: "The abnormal lifestyle of a widow gave no thought to the shame of a couple who chose to live together as man and wife without the benefit of a marriage certificate.  Men as well as women were guilty of sleeping with another person's spouse and feeling no remorse whatsoever.  It sets a very bad example for the young generation to find their parents are not as perfect as they thought.  Children deserve more respect from their parents, war or no war."

 

Q: What kind of behaviour/ lifestyle was considered abnormal after the war?

A: "Women pretty much followed their instincts and rebelled at living as they knew they should be doing.  Even though the women chose to quit work and consider raising a family, the general opinion of the public was that women seemed to have lost their self-respect while engaging in illicit affairs.  No matter who was hurt, the women remained social deviants at the cost of their behavioural habits."

 

Q: Comment further...

A: "Canadian women, even though being contributors to the war effort, managed to assume roles that would help keep the labour force compatible.  Many women chose to marry and have children, even after living independent lives and forfeiting the option of being at peace with themselves.  For the six years from 1939-1945, women played an important role in experiencing independence when they could have ignored their responsibility to society and lived the good life.  War, however long it lasts, seems to bring out the worst in people but peace in the world is first and foremost in everyone's mind."

 

In 1942, I was hired at the CG and worked as an inspector in the Aircraft Department.  It was wartime, so the work was all to do with small parts for the men serving our country.  It was easy then to get a job because all of the young men had already joined the Army, Navy or Air Force and were overseas.

 

The girls were home working in factories.  I inspected the work of the girls who worked in the Inspection Department.  My job was to see that the girls doing the work didn't let any rejects get by me.  I wasn't too popular because the girls said they couldn't make any money with me handing them back their rejects to do over again.

 

The hours were long, from 7am to 6pm, five days a week.  The money was no comparison with today's pay but $35 a week 'take home' was considered good money then.  Being an inspector, I wasn't on peace work like the girls, so I made the same money all the time.  I liked my work and enjoyed about eight years in the CG at the same job.

 

It wasn't all work and no play because the soldiers who were in training were stationed at the barracks.  With so many single girls left behind, there were dances held to entertain the soldiers every week, so that took up some of our spare time.

 

Sometimes, mostly at Christmas, our parents invited three soldiers to have a home-cooked meal with us to give them a sense of being home with their families.  It was a good way to meet some of the boys because most of them liked to dance also.

 

We had a lot of great people working in the Inspection Department of Aircraft.  [W?] a small section of the plant where we were all in one place. 

 

Being a picture-freak, I saved a lot of pictures of the military out of the paper, which I still have to this day, almost sixty years later. (This homemade album was incredible; my history professor said it should be in a museum.)

 

The dances were very popular and some of my friends met their future husbands either at the canteen or a dance.  My best girlfriend met her husband there and they had six daughters, so there was lots of activity in their house.

 

I left the CG in 1952 to get married.  We had three sons and one daughter, so I didn't have any problem finding something to do with my time.  I wanted to go back to work one time when money was scarce but Len said "no, who is going to look after the four children?"  That put a damper on that suggestion, so I stayed home and haven't been paid for working since then.

 

I don't miss the CG anymore, because I don't have time and in the meantime the Old Age Pension and Canada Pension stepped in and gave us money to buy houses and whatever.

 

To this day, I still have a few friends I worked with in the Inspection Department.  Every once in a while, we meet up and talk over our time in the CG.  It was a good life then, but I am quite content with my life now.  I have my children and grandchildren around, not all of them, but some live in town and I see them often.  I have lots of memories of the past times but I have to admit there are a lot of things I don't remember to do along the way.  I keep saying, at 85 years, I'm entitled to mistakes every so often.

 

Extra:

-Her father wanted her home by sundown.  If they were too late, the "worst" he would do is pull their ears.

-Parents hoped children would marry Catholic, but two sisters didn't.

-"We didn't worry too much about the guys overseas."

Married women - no judgement or hostility toward them.  There were a lot of jobs.

-Met grandpa in 1951 on a blind date.  Her best friend's sister introduced them (she had never married) who thought grandpa was a bad dancer.  "He wasn't a good dancer, but I liked him."  Grandma lived at home until '52, when she was married.

-Dances: Brock St. Centre; Soldiers Exhibition Grounds (Mem. Centre)

To a beautiful person inside & out, to know her was to love her !! I know how greatly she will be missed by her family,may they take comfort in knowing that she is a peace now & in the arms of her dear husband. RIB Agnes oxo

You were a beautiful woman Agnes. You will be missed by the entire Filman Family.

OBITUARY

Agnes Gertrude Sullivan O'Connor

28 May, 1923 – 7 January, 2012

Ashburnham Funeral Home & Reception Centre

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