Dawn Anne Huestis

Huestis, Lily Broadbent

Alumni Type: Immigrant
Country of Origin: England
Ship Name: Ile De France
Date of Arrival: 1945

My mother and I were born in Bradford, Manchester, England. My mother was an identical twin and the youngest of thirteen children.

My mother and her twin sister joined the Royal Air Force during the war. My father was in the Royal Canadian Air Force and they both met on a base in England.

My mother was a War Bride. We immigrated to Canada in the fall of 1945. We crossed the Atlantic aboard the Ile De France. After arriving at Pier 21 we then boarded a train for Sydney, Nova Scotia. My father’s relatives greeted us at the station in Sydney. We then continued on our journey to Glace Bay, the home town of my father William Lemuel Huestis. There we resided for sixteen years before moving to Halifax in 1960. My father at that time had accepted a job as Secretary of the Nova Scotia Command of the Royal Canadian Legion. He retired in the early 1970’s.

My parents have eight children, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. My mother is deceased.

My mother and I became Canadian citizens in the 1960’s and we were very proud to do so.

The immigration story of Lily Broadbent Huestis as told by her daughter Dawn Anne Huestis.