Gladys May Woodhead

  General Notes:

From Pat Beatty
- Gladys May. Born in Blackpool (I think) April 1922. She reputedly was a show girl on George Formby's show in Blackpool and shared the job of mermaid with a friend on the Golden Mile. She built airplanes during the war in Doncaster (I think). She met George Webster in 1942 and after they married he adopted me legally. George was in the military and after the war we lived in splendor in Germany a couple of times and then emigrated to Calgary, Canada in 1951. After about 11 years they returned to England. George died in Jan. 1978 and as far I know my mother still lives in Blackpool.
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From Gladys May Webster, written by Vivian Ray Lee
Gladys May Webster was born in Blackpool, Lancashire and christened at the All Saints church when 9 months old. When 10 months old she was admitted to Devonshire Road Hospital for 2 months with Scarlet Fever. At age 4 she had measles and at 4 years and 4 months started school at Devonshire Road infant school. Junior school began at 7 years old and at age 10 she sat for a scholarship for grammar school that she subsequently passed. She started grammar school at age 11 and continued until age 15 years 10.5 months. After finishing school she worked at a candy factory for 1.5 years and a biscuit factory for 1 year before World War 2. She was 5 feet 10 inches tall and had auburn hair and blue eyes.
1939 onwards -
Gladys met her husband George Alexander Webster of Hope Cottage, near Railway Station, Leeds Centre when on holiday at Aunt Ada Billborough house when age 13. It was love at first sight. He was in the army on leave from India and she worked during the war as an operator on a Herbet Turret lathe making brass unions for Wellington bombers. After the death of her mother on January 1^st 1941 she moved to Aunt Maud's in Leeds to work as an Inspector of Live Shells 7^th Naval. When George was shipped back to the U.K. in December 1941 Gladys moved to Doncaster where George was in the hospital for months. She worked on the railroad until George was declared fit. In January 1942 he was posted to Aldershot at which time both Gladys and daughter Pat moved with him. She worked for the N.A.A.F.I. at Salamanka Barracks and worked in the QM Stores for the Canadian Army. In 1944 George was posted to Scotland and was trained for a parachute jump. After the war ended he was sent further north in Scotland to be in charge of a German P.O.W. camp. Gladys and Pat went back to Blackpool after which George was posted to Dortmund Germany, first for about 18 months and then all over the Rhur for the next six years until getting posted back to the U.K. In May 1951 he was sent on to Canada where we worked on a farm in Three Hills, Alberta after which he got a job with a seismic group in the Arctic. Gladys went down to a pal in Racine Wisconsin USA for 2 months at this time. After that time George got work with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary and Gladys worked for the Income Tax office for the next 7 years, first as an assessor then when the first computers came in, in accounting. She was also in the reserve army for 6 years. In 1960 she was asked to transfer to full time regular Army with the Cuban crisis at the time and war expected any time with Cuba. In October 1962 she packed it in and arranged an extended holiday to the UK. They bought a new car and drove down through the USA visiting old friends, GI brides until they reached New York where they visited for a week or so before boarding a ship for Liverpool. George was involved in an accident and was in a coma for 6 weeks, finishing up brain damaged. Gladys was advised to put him in a home and go back to Canada, but since she had a conscience she stayed with him in Blackpool getting a job in the Police Courts. With this job she could sit with him at the back of a court and keep an eye on him that she did for 4 years. At that time a defendant collapsed on her, landing her in the hospital with a twisted gut and broken back. She spent the next year in and out of hospitals before walking again and moving down to Winchester. While there she got a job in the Police Courts where she worked for the next 2 years before getting summoned to Blackpool because brother Clifford was in hospital with lung cancer and given 6 months to live. She got a leave of absence for 6 months but in the end he lived for 18 months so she had to pack in her job as she was worn out and unable to work at the end of this time. That was the end of her working life as her condition worsened, going in and out of hospital over the next few years while continuing to care for George. He had a massive coronary and over the next 3 years had strokes, dying January 8^th 1978. After that she continued living in Blackpool, visiting Canada for the next few years before returning for good in 1989. She lived in Surrey, Princeton, Alberta and then returned back to Princeton where is the place she lives today. Gladys had 2 daughters, both deceased. Patricia Margaret died age 66 in 2006 and Yvonne Jaquline died after surgery when an infant.

Gladys married George Webster in 1942-1943. (George Webster died on 8 Jan 1978.)