PAULINE RADFORD CLARKE - IN MEMORIAM

My Sister's story started on Wednesday, January 23, 1929 when she was born, to Coral Esme Naylor and Frederick Radford. She was the first of three daughters. I was 19 months old at the time of her birth and our two other sisters were to be born way in the future. My Mother told me that our Dad lost his job and did not work for about two years, except for odd days, after Pauline was born. So it was a very difficult time for the family.

As young children so near in age, we spent a lot of time together and became very close siblings. Whatever one had the other one had to have as well and we looked out for each other. Pauline had blonde curly hair and looked a lot like a young Shirley Temple in the photographs I have of those days. Pauline always accused me of having drowned her Teddy Bear in a water barrel, but I cannot remember the occasion.

She started School on her fourth birthday when we were living in a place called Cotmanhay. The School was across the road from our home so she did not have far to go. Pauline was a good student. She was an avid reader and our parents encouraged her. Pauline earned a scholarship to go to Grammar School. This was a point of pride for our parents. She started at Clay Cross Tupton Hall Grammar School in September 1939 when World War ll broke out. It was at this school that Pauline found that she liked playing Field Hockey. She lost two front teeth in the process! I am not sure how much she liked field hockey after that incident.

In August 1939, along with a lot of other families, our family went to the Derbyshire Miners Welfare Holiday Camp, in Skegness, which is a seaside resort. Pauline shared a cabin with a girl of the same age named Mavis Parry. She came from another village in Derbyshire. Two months later we moved to the same village and finished up living only six houses away from Mavis and her family. Thus started a friendship which lasted a lifetime until Mavis passed away as a result of rheumatic fever in about 1990.

When the War broke out people were knitting for the troops and our Mother said it was just as easy to teach two as one and so we both learned to knit, use a sewing machine and cook.

Pauline always loved to cook and studied it at school. One day she came home with a jar of green tomato chutney that she had made at school. She told my Dad and I that it was not supposed to be eaten for two days. After two days there was nothing left in the jar. Dad just could not resist it and of course I helped him eat it too.

Pauline's ambition was to be a Nurse. She left school to train as a Nurse in a Fever (or Isolation) Hospital. After she started her training it was discovered that she was a Diphtheria carrier and so she had to resign. She was placed in isolation for about a month.

After this episode, Pauline got employment in the Analytical Laboratory at Boots Chemists Factory in Beeston, Nottingham. It was ironic that Pauline would eventually become diabetic because one of her jobs in the Laboratory was to check the purity of Saccharin.

In 1947, one of the supervisors in the Laboratory introduced her to Peter Clarke. They hit it off right away. Pauline loved to dance and Peter was an excellent dancer. When Peter and Pauline were courting, our Mother used to warn Peter not to make a noise when he and Pauline went outside to say goodnight, as it would wake up our youngest sister Yvonne. Evidently Peter had knocked things over before when he got too enthusiastic in his goodnight hugs with Pauline.

Their wedding took place on November 15th, 1947. Clothes were still rationed in the UK at this time. To get a long white dress suitable for a wedding was almost impossible. One of Pauline’s workmates hit on the idea of using a white silk nightgown. They added extra lace to it and it turned out beautifully. But it was always a standing joke in the family that Pauline got married in her nightie. Our youngest sister Yvonne was only three when they were married. She remembers standing on tiptoe holding onto the edge of the dining room table absolutely amazed at all the food that had been prepared for the wedding reception.

Pauline and Peter moved into a three bedroom house in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. They had three children, Stephanie, Anne and the late Roger. Yvonne used to baby-sit for Pauline and Peter when she was older. In 1962, Pratt and Whitney were recruiting in England. Peter decided to accept the offer of a position with Pratt and Whitney and they moved to Canada with the three children. He and Pauline rented an apartment in Lemoyne for a couple of years and then having had time to look around the area found a house that suited them in Boucherville. It was while they were in Lemoyne that they discovered Greenfield Park United Church and started to attend the services.

Peter joined Greenfield Park Lodge #133 and was the Master in 1975. It was through this Masonic connection that in 1966, Pauline joined the Order of the Eastern Star. She was an active member right up until the time of her death when she was in office in Friendship Chapter #15, in Chambly. During her years in Eastern Star she filled many stations including Worthy Matron. She was Grand Marshal for Brenda in 1988-89. Her abilities in crafts became very useful and over the years she contributed some novel items to the Bazaars. She was Chief Cook for many money raising events ranging from Christmas dinners to Fish Fries.

Sometime after 1967, Pauline and Peter bought a second-hand trailer from their close friends, George and Hazel Pickles. They enjoyed the camping life so much that they bought a larger trailer and had it placed at Ellenburg Depot in New York State. There are many good memories from these years - Christmas in July, the grand-children visiting from their trailer, swimming in the pool, learning about BBQ’s and many family get-togethers. Later on they changed trailers again for a big Park Model to accommodate more people.

After Pauline was widowed she sold the house in Boucherville. She found it too much work on her own. She moved into an apartment on Victoria Avenue. She re-established her attendance at Greenfield Park United Church. She made many new friends and was often seen at local Churches or the Legion at dinners, lunches, bingos, flower shows etc with her "gang". Sunday morning after Church was the time to go for breakfast/brunch with three friends where they would have a good meal and good conversation. Wednesday afternoons were reserved for the Seniors' group , the Jublilee Club, in Greenfield Park where she was the Treasurer.

Yvonne and Pauline went on two or three cruises. Yvonne says that Pauline was a good travel companion. They enjoyed trips to the Caribbean, Cuba, Cyprus and Menorca. Because of the big age difference – 16 years – they were never close in the early years and then Pauline emigrated to Canada. So the trips were the time when they bonded and got to know each other better as sisters. They always asked each other if they had remembered the three C's when they were packing their suitcases for a trip – Cardigan, Cake and Camera. These three items had been forgotten by our Mother on one of her trips with my sisters.

Every summer Pauline would spend a few weeks in the UK. Last summer she spent quite a bit of time with her youngest sister Yvonne. It was good that they had this time together. She was predeceased by our other sister Margaret who died in October 2009.

Pauline would have been 82 years old next month. Her death was unexpected but she had lived a full life and made many friends. Her children, grand –children and her great grand-children were her pride and joy. She loved to visit them and she delighted in showing her friends the latest photos. Her family and friends will miss her greatly.