War bride living in Moose Jaw recalls meeting husband of 67 years

Love is a funny thing, says Margaret Houghton.

The war bride recalls that’s what compelled her to leave her family in England to be with Arthur Houghton, a Canadian soldier she had met during the Second World War.

Margaret, who’s now 95, recalled the Canadians were stationed in England for training, most of them fresh out of school and being taught to fight.

“He was a kind and very thoughtful nice man, he was,” said Houghton, who now lives in Moose Jaw. “He was such a boy then, really — 19 years old.

“I think he just wanted a friend. We weren’t going out together. We just used to meet to keep each other company. Of course it graduated into a romance.”

According to the Canadian War Brides, there were almost 48,000 marriages between Canadian soldiers and European women who met during the war.

More than 43,000 of them moved to Canada through a program run and funded by the Canadian government, along with roughly 20,000 children.

Houghton told the Greg Morgan Morning Show that by the time she was to travel to Canada, she and Arthur had a six-month-old baby.

The war brides bound for Canada gathered in London and were taken by bus to board the Queen Mary.

“(I was) very apprehensive, I can tell you that,” Houghton said. “Also, never having been aboard a big ship like the Queen Mary, it was a fantastic occasion, really.

“But one doesn’t realize when you’re leaving there that you may never be back. You don’t even think of that.”

Even so, Houghton said it wasn’t easy to leave her home and join Arthur in his homeland.

“When you leave a family like I did — the eldest of 10 children — my mother and father, I never knew when I’d see them again or even if I would see them again,” she recalled. “And I never knew what I was coming to.”

Margaret and Arthur were married for 67 years before his death in 2013. The couple had four children.

On Monday, Margaret will mark Remembrance Day with plenty of memories.

“I remember everything that happened in my young years when the war was on,” she said. “It brings back lots of memories.”