The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

I'M IO ffirial Media Sponsor Snonsnr Official Editor: Wilma Blokhuis Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 250) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: blokhuis@haltonsearch.com W I I >M s i ) MAN j | , _*i h * ; · i | Jubilee medal winner treasures award B yW ilma Blokhuis OAKVILLE BH.VHR STAFF If anybody deserves a medal, it's Jane MeGillivray. · Recently, a Q ueen's Golden Jubilee Medal arrived in the mail. She was unable to attend a ceremony in Ottawa to accept it in person. She was nominated for this honour by the Canadian Red Cross Society. At age 87. she's quite happy to relax in her easy chair. The Second World War veteran is savouring the rest she has earned. MeGillivray does not hide her pride in receiving her last medal. "I was very surprised to get that last medal and I'm honoured. I already had two Q ueen's medals, now I have three." Receiving a Q ueen's Golden Jubilee Medal - presented to deserving Canadians in honour o f Q ueen Elizabeth's 50th anniversary o f her coro nation - rekindled McGillivray's desire to display her collection. "I used to keep them in a plastic bag on my dresser, but someone suggested I put them in a shadow box." Now her two sets of six medals, ail attached to colourful ribbons, are prom i nently displayed on the wall o f her downtown Oakville home. On special occasions, she wears the small set with pride. Her medal collection consists o f the Defence of Britain Medal, the Canadian Volunteers Medal with a bar recognizing her overseas work as an ambulance driv er during the Second World War, a 12Year Service in the Canadian Forces Medal, a Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal, a Queen Elizabeth 25th Year Medal, and now the Q ueen's Golden Jubilee Medal. "T he 12-Year Service in the Canadian Forces Medal is for 12 years of undetected crim e." joked MeGillivray, who admits to helping herself to photo graphs while stationed across Canada. "I worked in the darkroom making the prints, so I made a few extras!" - enough to fill a photo album. "I had always dab bled in photography. M y dad was a pharmacist and sold cam eras." MeGillivray. the eldest of six children and the only surviving sibling, graduated from the University o f Guelph in 1934 and landed a job as a medical secretary in Toronto. She joined the Red Cross in 1939 and spent evenings and weekends with its transport service training as an am bulance driver. "W hen the air force starting to recruit. I w as one o f the first ones in. My brother Craig and a friend o f his went to don't like unions and decided to leave the Telegram. That turned out to be a big mistake. I should never have left." Prior to landing that job. "I worked at an ad agency. I got bored clipping papers. It w asn't very creative." A fter leaving the Telegram. " 1 answered an ad to work for two difficult men - that's what the ad said." The two difficult men form ed a partnership. Southam M urray Printing, and she stayed eight years. "I was single and living in Toronto, and my family, who had moved to O akville in 1952. talked me into joining them here." She got a job with an interi or decorator and after he went bankrupt, she started her own business. Thus the Towne Shoppe was bom. selling home decorating, draperies, floor coverings and carpets. She operated the store for about 15 years. "Then. I ran the business out o f my home for three years before finally retiring." only to look after her parents and late sister. Betty, who despite suffering from the effects of polio, also volunteered with the Red Cross. The MeGillivray name became well known in town. Her youngest brother. Malcolm, was making a name for him self with Bosley Real Estate. "He died in 1995. He was 20 years younger than I was. Actually he was my half brother. My mother died when 1 was 16 and my father remarried. He married my Girl Guide commissioner, and they had one son. Malcolm." In 1995. she was one o f three Canadian women war veterans invited to attend the 50th anniversary celebrations o f VE Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8. Barrie Erskine · O akville B eaver J a n e M e G illiv ray , a v e te ra n o f th e S eco n d W o rld W ar. h a s h e r six m ed als n eatly a rra n g e d in a sh a d o w box. enlist and 1 said `Hey, wail for m e!' All three o f us, totally ignorant of the serv ice. enlisted. That was the fall o f 1940." Her brother, a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot officer, was killed over the English Channel in November 1943 at age 23. "H e was shot down over H olland and is buried in southern England." M eG illivray signed up w ith the Royal Canadian Air Force - W om en's Division (R C A F-W D ), then known as the Canadian W omen's Auxiliary Air Force. "I was stationed across Canada, from V ancouver to H agersville, Hamilton and Base Borden" - about a dozen postings in total. "I was moved where I was needed." She worked her way up from a clerk to corporal and ser geant to a com missioned officer. She also worked in rehabilitation and conva lescent hospitals in Mount Hope near Hamilton and in Muskoka. "We had run ning water in Muskoka. I got the bucket o f water and I ran with it." A day after her release from the RCAF -W D in 1945. she bumped into a group o f old Red C ross friends in Toronto who told her the British Red Cross needed about 100 am bulance driv ers. "I told them I was going to be a civil ian. but I signed up the very' next day. I drove Allied POWs (prisoners o f war) and the Allied wounded to hospitals." On the way. she was known to stop at ice cream shops and beer stores, picking up supplies to cheer the men up. "I drove day and night." She was stationed in England with the Canadian Red C ross C orps Overseas Division. "And, I didn't realize it at the time that my lovely gray uniform was a mens' uniform," said MeGillivray looking at a collection o f photographs laminated to a sheet o f Bristol board chronicling her life from childhood to her 80th birthday, made by her late sister, Kay Bainbridge. M eG illivray also kept a diary. "Sometimes I think I should write a book about myself." She spent about 18 m onths in England before com ing home in 1946. "I went sailing and enjoyed a totally care free summer. I had fun." After the war. MeGillivray worked at the Toronto Telegram for eight years in its circulation and promotions depart ment. "I left when the union came in. I She visited nine cemeteries where Canadian war dead are buried. "That trip to Holland was just wonderful. I made a lot o f friends and we keep in touch." Though it had been years since MeGillivray donned a uniform and her medals, she has remained active with the Overseas Club. "We hold a reunion every year." She designed the organiza tion's newsletter and edited it for 15 years. "O ur group has been going for nearly 60 years, and it's the only women's organization in Canada that has a men's auxiliary'. "I maintain close ties with my airforce sisters," she continued. "Some o f whom I've known for 50 years." An airplane buff who never learned to fly. MeGillivray volunteered with the annual Canadian International .Air Show at the CNE for at least 30 years. Locally, she volunteered at the Canadian Open at the Glen Abbey G olf Club for 10 years. MARIG0LD FINE LINENS RETIREMENT CLOSING SALE 50% O F F · Laminated Lamp Shades · Beds! In store · Wrought Iron · Christmas Linens & Gifts FUR STORAGE COMPETITIVE RATES & EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE · 30% · Egyptian Cotton Sheets · Sateen · Duvets · Comforters · Bedspreads · Quilts in stock · Various Gifts · Cushions · Shower Curtains · Silk Powers · Mirrors & Prints All store fixtures, prints & equipment for sale FREE PICK -U P & DELIVERY VAULTS ON PREMISES 10% SEN IO R D ISC O U N T · FREE 9-POINT INSPECTION & ESTIMATE · 10% DISCOUNT BY PRE PAYING YOUR STORAGE · CLEANING · REPAIRS · RESTYLING (all work done on premises) · A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR 6 GENERATIONS SINCE 1815 905 845-2031 - Going On-line In August www.marigoldfinelinens.ca Notify your request for website Sandy@marigoldfinelinens.ca Celebrating our 52nd year in Oakville M a r ig S C om fort. FI NK LI NKNS Q u a l it y . ld . `I Hi Lakeshori1 Kd. K. Oakxille, ON 905.842.5471 Located in Beautiful Downtown Oakville 209 Lakeshore Road East (905) 845-2031 Va l u e .