My Once Upon A Time - A love Story written by Clara (Reid) Ridley and family

1. Proudly Presents
My Once Upon A Time
A love Story written by Clara (Reid) Ridley and family

2. I was born in Olds on March 12, 1923 during a terrible blizzard and it was 30
degrees below zero when my Father brought my Mom and me home
from the hospital in a sleigh.
I loved school and enjoyed the companionship
of my classmates.
I had to go away to get
my grade 11, and then
I didn’t know what to
do with myself.

3. In December of 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed and in the first week of February 1942 I met
an old school friend who was enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force
and I decided to join up with her.

4. We had to go
to Calgary to
have a medical
before we
could be
accepted into
the Women’s
Division of
the RCAF as
well as some
preliminary
training.

5. One night my
friend and I went
to a dance, and
along came a tall,
lanky guy who was
so handsome
dressed in black
slacks and white
shirt and he asked
me to dance.
He swept me off my feet as we waltzed and jived the night away.
He was an amazing dancer!
I found out that he too came from a farm but he was studying to be a
mechanic in the Air Force.

6. We spent most evenings together, walking and getting to know each other . One night he borrowed a car and
we went for a drive. I think he was showing off for me – driving a little crazy,
But at the end
of the night he
kissed me for
the first time
and from then
on I knew he
would be my
soul mate.

7. When my course was over, I had to leave for basic training in Toronto and my sweetheart, Art and I kept
touch by phone but mostly by many love letters written to each other.
I was sent from Toronto to
Guelph, Ontario and then
on to Mossbank
Saskatchewan.
When we arrived at the base
we were the first women on
the station and did not
receive a very warm
welcome from the airmen.
It was bombing and gunnery school and we took over working in the kitchen for nine hour shifts.

8. During this time, Art and I wrote many letters and built a loving
relationship via mail, and of course, in wartime,
anything can happen.
He had been sent to Ontario and then one day I received a letter from
him saying that he had been posted to McLeod, Alberta and would be
passing through Moose Jaw.
I boarded a bus and arrived half an hour before his train pulled in,
What a wonderful reunion; it was as if we had known each other all our
lives. We both had tears in our eyes as we said goodbye once again.

9. Two weeks later I was thrilled to find out that I had been posted to
McLeod as well. The next day I was helping serve food and there he
was – waiting in line. I remember his huge grin,
then him asking me if I could
meet him at the canteen at eight – and so the romance blossomed.

10. If I worked the afternoon shift, Art would wait until
I finished around 11:00p.m. and he would walk me
back to the barracks and we would stand and talk. A
couple of days after Christmas, Art and I were
standing in the entry way of the canteen saying
goodnight when he blurted out
“When we get married”
And before we parted that night, he had asked me to
marry him and I said yes. – I often think of how
amazing one little word like “yes” changed my
whole life. He gave me a small diamond that cost
$35.00 which was a lot of money, so I remember
that we couldn't go out much after that.

11. In March of 1943, we applied for
permission to be married. We had to
appear before the Commanding Officer
and the Chaplain and it was three weeks
before we heard that our request had
been granted.
Two weeks later Art was posted to Vulcan
and I didn’t see him until our wedding
day because on my 48 hour passes, I went
back to Olds to plan our wedding.
At the time I was making .90 cents a day
so it was hard to save up enough to buy a
wedding dress.

12. Art and I were married on May 15,
1943 and spent our honeymoon
visiting friend in Calgary.
Then I had to go back to McLeod and
Art went to Vulcan – it was such a
teary goodbye.
It was three weeks before Art and I
could have our weekend leaves at the
same time.

13. In October I found out that I was going to have a baby, so I was released from the Air Force on
October 27th, 1943. It made me sad to leave, I loved everything about it, the security, the camaraderie,
and it was kind of scary heading back into civilian life, and living with someone who I had married six
months earlier.
It was war time so you had obtain coupons in order to get the staples like flour, bread, sugar, and
butter. Things that I didn’t know anything about.
Our first home was two granaries transformed into a “make-shift” house and all our worldly belongings
were in three suitcases – I remember being so sad and missed the Air Force.

14. In 1944, Our son was born and I had no
idea how to look after a child, but I
learned.
Art was promoted to Corporal and our
income rose to $5.40 a day and many
evenings Art and I would sit on the front
step and discuss our future – He wanted to
go back to farming, which I wasn’t too
thrilled about because I remembered the
struggle and heartache that my parents
went through.
In April of 1945 Art was posted in Calgary
and scheduled to go overseas, but the war
ended on May 14, he received his
honorable discharge from the Air Force.

15. We farmed for twenty-five years in which time we had three girls, and although the times were very hard, we
had wonderful friends and a great community in which to raise our children.
In 1971 we moved to Red Deer where another chapter of our life began.

16. My Sweetheart passed away on March 18th.
1998, less than two months away from what
would have been our 55th Wedding Anniversary.
What began at a dance during the frenzy and
unpredictability of wartime, surviving many
hardships and disappointments, sharing lots of
laughter and the joys of raising children has not
ended as I remember and think about the years
that Art and I shared together.
I miss being able to talk about our kids and
share things with him – that is what you do
when you have been married as many years as
we were blessed with.
I am thankful for the memories.