Joyce Margaret Pinnow

Joyce Margaret Pinnow was born in 1924 in London, England to her parents, Ellen Maud (née Brazier) & Robert William Olave (Jeffries). Joyce’s brother, Bill, was born in 1931. Family life was full of happy times with many of Joyce’s relatives living close by. They often got together for sing songs as Ellen played the piano. Holidays were spent by the seaside where Joyce and Bill would play and pick cockles and muscles for family feasts.

Growing up, Joyce took tap dancing lessons and she loved to read -a hobby that continued throughout her life. She was about to start her second level of a typing and shorthand course when the war broke out. She was only 15 years old and had to end her studies to assist with the war effort in an arms factory.

In 1939 London, her younger brother Bill, along with thousands of other children, was sent to the north of England to be billeted with an unknown family in a safer place. Joyce’s family carried on in London with mandatory blackouts, regular visits to the fallout shelters or trenches, and worked for the war efforts. Even with the threat of the blitz constantly looming, young people needed some form of normalcy. Joyce went to the skating rink Saturday evenings, and that’s where she met Canadian soldier Carl Frederick Pinnow in 1944.

Joyce and Carl had a whirl wind romance. Joyce’s father occasionally invited the Canadian soldiers to the club or their home for a drink. Carl won the approval of Joyce’s parents over meals created with minimal rations. He proposed and she accepted. The two families united across the seas to help with the wedding. From Canada, the Pinnow family sent supplies to England, including everything needed to bake the wedding cake. Carl built a three tiered cake stand and decorated it with silver liners from cigarette packages he and his outfit, the Canucks, had collected. Neighbours chipped in ration coupons & shopkeepers gave more than what was allotted. With the generous help of their whole community, Joyce and Carl had a lovely wedding reception. The marriage ceremony took place at Parish Church of Harlesden (All Souls Church) in the county of Middlesex, in April of 1946.

At 21 years old, Joyce set sail across the Atlantic Ocean, leaving her country, her family, and her friends behind to move to Canada. She sailed on the Lady Nelson steamship and landed in Halifax at Pier 21 in the fall of 1946. She couldn’t have known it then, but it would be 27 years until she saw her brother Bill again.

Then there was the journey by train across the immensity of Canada. She was greeted in Regina, Saskatchewan by Carl and his younger brother Jack, who had just enlisted and was on his way for Search & Rescue training as a paratrooper. Following the arrival in Regina, they were warmly welcomed in Pense by the whole Pinnow family where they resided until Carl got a job as a grain buyer in Esme, Saskatchewan. There they lived the small town life. She made great friends who taught her how to cook, bake, and make preserves for this new life on the prairies. As a young couple, Joyce and Carl spent many evenings visiting and playing cards with neighbour friends. It wasn’t long before they started a family and eventually moved to Regina, where they settled for good.

In the late seventies, with her kids grown, Joyce became more involved with the Saskatchewan War Brides Association. Here, Joyce met other women who had similar life stories, and they spent many great times together volunteering at local senior centres for sing songs, and travelled extensively from the Panama Canal to Hawaii, Europe, and New England. On one trip to the Maritimes, Joyce’s group of war brides had the chance to sail on the Blue Nose II and visited their original landing place at Pier 21 in Halifax.

Joyce was proud to be a Canadian citizen and was delighted when she received her plaque commemorating her immigration to Canada, knowing that her name was added to the Sobey Wall of Honour where her story will live on as part of Canada’s history.

From Joyce and Carl’s three children, came eleven grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren (and counting). Joyce Pinnow lived 94 wonderful years, and passed away surrounded by loved ones on June 5, 2019.