War lost now
| family found

Newspapers link NV woman, niece

Deana Lancaster

New Reporter
dinncaster@nsnews.com

MARJORIE Bezanson
doesn’t feel so alone
anymore.

She’s 83 and lives in a
North Vancouver apartment
with a sweeping view west,
beyond the Lions Gate Bridge.

She has an i.itriguing histo-
rv and has lived her life with
passion, and it’s clear while lis-
tening to her speak tact she
has yet to slow down.

Her father died when she
‘was just two years old, so she
and brother Jack, nyo years
older, were raised in wintry
Winnipeg by their mother
Pearl Durkin.

“Oh we used to have such
fun. :
“My mother, she was a dar-

ling person and so talented.
She sewed for a living and
raised us all by herself with a
lot of hard work. But she did-
n't know a nickel trom a dol-
lar. Sometimes we almost
starved.”

But the family did have
beautiful housewares, valu-
ables and jewelry. Pearl's fami-
ly had been in the hotel busi-
ness.

“Even though we had no
food sometimes, you know, we
had beautiful dishes and silver
.. damask tablecloths.”

Marjorie did the cooking
and ran the household and
when the small family was
down to its last bit of food
she'd set the table with all the
best tableware.

“J thought ‘Ar least it can
took nice.” :

“Sack would come steam-
ing in after schaol and sce the
table set like that and he'd say
‘Oh my God. There's nothing
to eat again.” ”

Pearl alse» had a stunning
diamond solitaire ring. :

“Oh, my brother wanted to
have that ring. But my mother
always believed it should go to

“ie. She’d say ‘Every girl
should have a good diamond.
No matter how bad things get
she'll always have the ring tc
help out.’

“That ring, spent half the
time in the pawn shop,”
Marjorie laughed. “It seems
like we were always savirg our
pennies and dimes to get it
back.” -

Eventually it was t go to
Marjorie’s own daughter.

“My brother was always
disappointe-: that he didn’t get
it.”

; But Marjorie never had a
. daughter. In. fact, she never
had any children. Her first
- husband, who she divorced in
1952, didn’t want to have any.

She married her second
husband, James Bezanson,
when she was 45.

“We did cry. But it was no

photo Marjoria Bezanson

NORTH Vancouver resident Marjorie Bezanson will
soon meet her niece — her only relative — for the

first time.

use; ] was too old. These days
women can have children ac
any age but it wasn’t like that
then,”

But the two of them had a
wonderful life together.

“We were very active. We
sailed all summer, he hunted
in the fall. Oh we had fun, |
was so ducky to have found
him.”

Last vear, James died after a
long illness, at the age of 86.

“I thought. ‘I have no fam-
ily. I'm all alone now. ”

Not-quite.

Her brother Jack was an
RCAF fighter pilot in the war
— he disappeared over enemy
territory on July 30, 1942.

But he did leave something
of himself behind. Before she
died 20 years ago Pearl toid
Marjorie something she had
not known.

While stationed in the small
town of Metcalfe, Onrario,
Jack Durkin had fallen in love
with a girl named Maymic,
and in 1941 they had a baby
daughter they named Joyce.
After Jack’s death, Maymie
and Pearl stayed in touch for
several years -— Maymie sent

letters and pictures of the
baby, Buc eventually they lost
touch.

“I don't know why Jack
didn't tell us about Maymie
and Joyce,” said Marjorie.
“But he was always his own
person, always had to do
things his way."

After her husband's death
last vear, Marjorie decided it
was time to find her niece,
now her only relative.

After trying to find Joyce
through = various — cantacts
Marjorie called Peter Speck,
publisher of the News and an
old friend.

“TLasked him if he could
find out the name of the news-
paper in Metcalfe so I could
run an ad but after I told him
the story he said ‘Oh I think
we can do more than that.’ ”

Speck contacted the pub-
lisher of The Villager, which
covers Russell and Osgoode
Townships and the surround-
ing area, including Metcalfe.

On Dee. 22 the paper filled
more than two pages with pic-
tures of Jack, Maymie and
Joyce Durkin; the story of his
disappearance; and the news

Sunday, January 9, 2000 — North Shore News - 3

ft Lao Ay

V

5 ——

photo Marjorie Sezanson

JACK and Maymie Durkin with baby Joyce, circa 1941. Jack, a fighter pilot,
never told his sister Marjorie that he had a baby daughter before he disap-

peared in the war.

that Marjorie wanted to find
her niece,

The response was almost
immediate.

“Pete (Speck) called and
said someone had called (The
Villager) and said she was the
lady we were looking for. He
said when | talked to her not
to give her my name or num-
ber because it could be a scam.

“Well, Lonly talked to her
for about about five minutes
before [ knew it was the right

person. She knew things only
Jack’s daughter would know.”

Joyce Crothers was watch-
ing television at home in
Ottawa with her mom
Maymie when her half-sister
called to tell her that a friend
in Russell had read the article
and knew exactly who it was
about,

“as she told me the
details of the story my heart
began pounding. [ could not
believe at.” Joyce told

photo Joyce Crothers

JOYCE Crothers (née Durkin) had been to Vancouver several times, including this trip when she posed with
her husband Bob in Horseshoe Bay. She didn’t know her aunt had moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver.

Marjorie in a letter she sent to
North Van after the initial
phone conversation. “When I
was younger I wrote a number
of letters to the few Durkins in
the Winnipeg phone book but
to no avail. [am sure you can
understand my curiosity about
my father’s family. His picture
has always been in my home
and even though mom mar-
ried again I always kept his
namic.” ;

Marjorie is eager to get to
Ottawa to visit.

“We're having — trouble
scheduling a visit. I don’t like
flying in the winter and
Ontario is such a miserable
place in the winter.”

Joyce is taking a holiday in
Mexico in March = and
Marjorie is going on a cruise
in April, so they may wait until
later in the spring.

“But she sounds like such a
nice girl. If Ican’t stand to
wait .until then I may just
catch a plane out there for a
couple of days.”

And she'll be packing a full
suitcase when she goes. .

“Pil take all sorts of things,
photos of him, his birth cer-
tificate ... these are things I
think she should have.”

And of course, Pearl's dia- .
mond ring.

“Ehope wherever he is
Jack knows that his daughter
is finally going to get the
ring.” -