My Aunt Margery Dodson’s early years are fully described in my Family Tree Archive and what an interesting life she led especially during the Second World War years. Engaged to an officer in the Army, Dudley Seaton, subsequently posted to the Desert, fell in love in London with a Canadian pilot Milton Paige (killed in a raid over Denmark) and marrying his brother Blackie Paige and officer in the Canadian Army who took part in the Normandy landings. They had one daughter Arlene born 08th April 1944. The family lived in Canada after the war with Blackie joining the RCMP and living in remote areas of Canada. Margery became secretary of the Alberta War Brides Association. Blackie died suddenly in December 1995.
We visited Canada in 2003 where we met and stayed with Margery and Arlene in Edmonton Alberta. Arlene was married to Ed Kozubach and they had two daughters. Arlene spent much of her life in a wheelchair but came to the airport to meet us on her own in her van which was equipped with a hoist. A very independent lady . I sat down with Margery for three days and had a very interesting chat about her life which I wrote down for posterity.
Over the following years Arlene’s health deteriorated with longer spells in hospital. Arlene died aged 65 years in Edmonton Hospital on 12th January 2010 I continued to correspond by email with my aunt Margery now in her nineties. Margery died aged 95 years in Edmonton Hospital on 01st January 2014