Jean Green of Perth Road Turns 95

Peter Bird | Mar 17, 2021

On Thursday, March 4th this year, Ivy Jean Green celebrated her 95th birthday. This is her story.

Ivy Jean Goddard was born in the Yorkshire town of Cundy Cross, England on March 4th, 1926, to parents George and Grace Goddard. It was here that she grew up with her brother Horace who was 5 years older and her sister Kathleen who was 5 years younger. She was always known as Jean, and after leaving school, she began working in a woolen mill as a weaver. Jean also volunteered in the Women’s Junior Air Corps for 2 years. In January 1944, with World War 2 in full swing, Jean joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and was posted to Wilmslow, Cheshire, for basic training. Over the course of the war she served as an RT (Radio Telephone) operator at R.A.F. Bough Beech in Kent and R.A.F. St Eval in Cornwall, a strategic Royal Air Force station for R.A.F. Coastal Command during the Second World War. St. Eval's primary role was to provide anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols off the south west coast. After some time she was transferred to R.A.F. Medmenham, 85 wing in Buckinghamshire. Then she had many postings in Germany as an office clerk for 139 wing in Blankanese, Hamburg. Then Wahn, Cologne, R.A.F. Sylt, and Air H.Q. B.A.F.O. Bad Eilsen. The war ended on September 2, 1945 and Jean was finally “demobbed” (demobilized) in August 1947.

In Canada, Ray Green, Jean’s future husband had been called to the army in November 1942 In January of 1944, he went to Sussex, England by ship. Although the war ended in 1945, Ray did not return to Canada until March 1946. One might think that he might have met Jean during his service in England, but they didn’t cross paths until about 5 years later, here in Canada.

When Ray returned home from the war, he worked on his father’s farm. Working and playing hard would bring Ray to the home of Len Milligan to pick up the odd case of beer. In those days there was no beer store near Perth Road Village, and it was customary for people to place orders with Len once a week before his ‘run’ to Kingston.

In England, Jean had returned to work as a weaver in the woolen mills, and later as a conductor on the busses. However, after a few years, Jean grew restless to see more of the world, but where to start? Her method of choosing somewhere may have been a little unorthodox. Jean, with eyes firmly closed, picked Kingston by arbitrarily sticking a pin in the map – she hit Kingston! Jean then placed an ad in the Whig Standard looking for people to correspond with. As luck would have it, Ivy Milligan, Mae Scullion, Irene Smith (Ubdergrove) and Cybil Falkner answered her ad, and they corresponded.

In September 1951, Jean Goddard left her native England, travelling to Canada on the SS Homeland, a ‘freighter turned passenger boat’ sailing from Southampton. After the trip, Jean found out that there were only lifebelts and lifeboats for 50 people. The ship carried 200! Thankfully, the ship docked safely at pier 21 in Halifax after a 7 day voyage. From there, Jean travelled by train to Kingston, Ontario. Her plans were to come to Kingston for 2 years and then travel on to Australia.

Jean found employment at Hield Brothers Woolen Mill in the city. She lived in Kingston during the week and came to the Milligan’s in Perth Road Village on weekends where she met Ray Green while he was picking up a case of beer from Len. They dated for only a short while. On June 19, 1952 they were married at Perth Road United Church. They were happily married until Ray’s death in 2010. The Rest is history!

Thanks to Bev Gower and Glenda Downing for their help in putting this article together.

Jean was an active member of Perth Road United Church, singing in the choir and actively volunteering in fundraising.  A few last minute words then from a few of her friends from Perth Road.

Rev. Dawn Clark:  My memories of Jean are very fond ones.  I remember the two of us laughing together about how we didn't like other people to wash our dishes, not because we couldn't accept help, but because others didn't do the dishes correctly.  And, of course, the day she sang the Vera Lynn song “We’ll Meet Again” in church that Sunday is a real stand-out memory. The way she walked among us singing was wonderful.  I couldn't have been more thrilled if Dame Vera had been with us in person.

Duncan Sinclair: During a hiatus between ministers at Perth Road United Church, I spoke about the importance of community. I talked about optimism versus pessimism and illustrated the difference by comparing Americans to Canadians. In my experience, if you ask an American how they are, frequently the answer would be GREAT or some such upbeat one word description. Whereas if you ask a Canadian “how’s it going?” The answer is frequently the two word response, NOT BAD, as if the absence of BAD is as good as it’s going to get. Thereafter, when Jean and I would greet one another in church, she had eschewed the use of the NOT BAD descriptor and adopted GREAT as a consequence. We’d enjoy a giggle about it.

Vera Shepherd, the Music Director at PRUC: During one of our concerts, called Sentimental Journey, Jean performed the song ‘My Old Man Said Follow the Van, and don’t dilly dally on the way….’ dressed in raggedy clothes and coat and wearing a ragged hat, carrying a bird in a cage and marching between the rows of seats singing to audience members.

During her life, Jean definitely didn’t dilly or dally.