Touch of Gray - May 2006

Memories of a GI Bride

Memories of a GI Bride
   A dinner invitation from David and Peggy Wharton, of Carolina Meadows, always brings excitement, as the menu is likely to have roast beef with Yorkshire pudding or English trifle or plum pudding with hard sauce or tarts with lemon curd and other remarkable foods. Yes, Peggy was a British War Bride and came to the United States with many other war brides on the Queen Mary in February 1946. She brought with her recipes for many of the foods that she had eaten while growing up and continued cooking and serving them through the years. She says "At Christmas I always served Christmas pudding sheathed in the blue flames of ignited brandy with a red-berried sprig of holly crowning it."

   Peggy is a lady who keeps busy with her many hobbies using her talents to make attractive pictures with her needlework and with her paints. Many of the pictures you see in her home are actually made by cross-stitching the design and background of scenes and buildings from her native England. When entering Peggy's den, you can see a lovely display of paintings that tell her life story, from the house she was born in to the church where she was married. She also paints greeting cards of flowers and plants. Some of the very popular cards were scenes and buildings on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Peggy is also a dexterous knitter. Among the many things that she has knitted are the personalized Christmas stockings, which she has done for many of her friends here in Chapel Hill and the surrounding area.

   As a child growing up in England, Peggy attended a demanding British school in which students had to write a composition every week. It was this composition writing that fostered Peggy's love of writing, which she has continued throughout her life. Early this year Peggy published her fourth book, "Talk of Many Things" which recalls her childhood in Devizes and Marlborough, England along with tales of her later travels from Alaska to Czechoslovakia to Singapore. The book also recounts her time as a teacher. She was teaching when World War II began and taught during the war. "During the years of the worst of the worst bombing, school was held in air raid shelters," Peggy recalled, "but teaching and learning continued despite the conditions."

   During the war Peggy met an American officer, David Wharton of Greensboro, NC who was stationed in Marlborough, England. They met at a dance and just a few months later were engaged at Christmas 1943. Only a few short weeks after they were married David was sent to France to take part in one of the last big offences of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. When the war was over David was shipped back to New York and Peggy shortly followed. They eventually settled in New Jersey, where Peggy continued to teach once their sons were in school.

   While in New Jersey the Whartons sang in the church choir. Their choir took several trips to Europe at which time they visited the sights in Germany and Czechoslovakia and the surrounding countries. During these trips, Peggy kept a journal in which she recorded the sights and history as well as some of her feelings as she was visiting some of the sights of World War II.

   By no means did Peggy limit her travel to the trips she took with the choir. David and Peggy returned to England often in the years after their retirement. They also drove across country to see the United States and traveled extensively in Canada to see the sights and visit relatives. Again, she kept meticulous notes in her journal. One of the very interesting trips that Peggy took was to visit Thailand. By the early 1980's the two Wharton sons were grown and one of them was with the Peace Corps and while he was there, married a Thai girl. This trip was to meet the new Wharton daughter-in-law and visit with her family and, also, visit the surrounding areas and interesting places in Thailand.

   During all the years of Peggy's various activities and the many trips she has taken, she has kept a journal and has carefully noted the places she has been and the people she has met. In her years of retirement, she has spent time writing and keeping in touch with friends, as well as pursuing her many other hobbies. From her detailed notes she began to write her first book, "Recollections of a G.I. War Bride: A Wiltshire Childhood". She later followed that up with "Marlborough Revisited" and "Back to Britain".

   For the last year or so she has spent much time on writing her last book, "Talk of Many Things." Yes, Peggy has had a very active, interesting life and one which she says she could not have imagined for herself.

   She says, "What a gift it is to live in two countries, I learned a lot about England from living in America and vice versa." -- Trudie Kastner, Resident

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