HughAHalliday
21st February 2015, 17:05
Inspired by an obituary in Ottawa Citizen, 21 February 2015
SALTER, Eunice Lily, Acting Flight Officer (3290, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) – Central Gunnery School - Member, Order of the British Empire – awarded as per London Gazette dated 1 January 1946. Air 2/9130, courtesy of Tom Thorne, has citation.
Flight Officer Salter has served with the Central Gunnery School for the last nine months and, as officer in charge of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, she has been directly responsible for the administration and well being of some 400 airwomen. Since her arrival on this Station she has impressed all by her high devotion to duty and solicitude for the airwomen of all ranks. She has been untiring in her efforts to secure improvements in the living and working conditions of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force personnel and nothing affecting their comfort and welfare has been too much trouble for her. Flight Officer Salter possessed an extremely pleasant manner which has enabled her to call forth the very best from those in her charge. The efficiency and contentment which have prevailed among the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force personnel on this Station have been due in no small measure to her activities.
STEWART, Eunice LilyPeacefully on February 12, 2015, at age 96, at Robertson House Retirement Residence where, over the last year, she received the most wonderful care. Matriarch, lifetime student of history, politics, economics, geography and literature, and overall tour- de-force. Predeceased by her husband of 38 years, Dr. Brian Stewart. Sadly missed by her three children, Duncan, Jennifer and Kay, their spouses, Rosemary Dunne, Bill Stratton and Derek Strine, her four grandchildren, Caitlin Stewart, Erin and Dayna Stratton and Katie Strine and three great-grandchildren, Becca and Ben Greenwood and Claire Spring, and her Katrina-rescue dog, Fleur. Eunice's life would have made a plot for a good novel. Born in London, England and raised in Yorkshire, she saw her family's fortunes dwindle during the Great Depression. After losing her first husband, a bomber pilot in the Second World War, she joined the Women's Air Force and rose to the rank of Flight Officer and Administrator of a company of 500 women. For her exceptional service, Eunice was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire). In the Royal Air Force Officers' Mess, she met the love of her life and future husband, Brian Stewart, a medical student, who had left school to become a Spitfire fighter pilot. After the war, she attended the London School of Economics and he completed his medical training. They then settled into a charming house in Barnstable, Devon, and had the first two of their three children. Afflicted with wanderlust, they immigrated to Montreal, Canada, punctuated by stints in Germany and California, finally settling in Litchfield, Connecticut, where she looked after her children's horses and foals, as well as a succession of rescue dogs and cats. After Brian died - far too young - at only 64, Mum bought a beach house on Casey Key in Florida, which she turned into a garden paradise. She spent many summers at Heney Lake and in Muskoka, looking after her granddaughters, and came to Virginia when Jen was posted to Washington. She moved to Pennsylvania to live near Kay and Derek, then back to Canada to be with Jen and Bill in Richmond Ontario, with Duncan and Rosemary just around the corner in Heart's Desire. At which point, she declared that this was her last move.
SALTER, Eunice Lily, Acting Flight Officer (3290, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) – Central Gunnery School - Member, Order of the British Empire – awarded as per London Gazette dated 1 January 1946. Air 2/9130, courtesy of Tom Thorne, has citation.
Flight Officer Salter has served with the Central Gunnery School for the last nine months and, as officer in charge of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, she has been directly responsible for the administration and well being of some 400 airwomen. Since her arrival on this Station she has impressed all by her high devotion to duty and solicitude for the airwomen of all ranks. She has been untiring in her efforts to secure improvements in the living and working conditions of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force personnel and nothing affecting their comfort and welfare has been too much trouble for her. Flight Officer Salter possessed an extremely pleasant manner which has enabled her to call forth the very best from those in her charge. The efficiency and contentment which have prevailed among the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force personnel on this Station have been due in no small measure to her activities.
STEWART, Eunice LilyPeacefully on February 12, 2015, at age 96, at Robertson House Retirement Residence where, over the last year, she received the most wonderful care. Matriarch, lifetime student of history, politics, economics, geography and literature, and overall tour- de-force. Predeceased by her husband of 38 years, Dr. Brian Stewart. Sadly missed by her three children, Duncan, Jennifer and Kay, their spouses, Rosemary Dunne, Bill Stratton and Derek Strine, her four grandchildren, Caitlin Stewart, Erin and Dayna Stratton and Katie Strine and three great-grandchildren, Becca and Ben Greenwood and Claire Spring, and her Katrina-rescue dog, Fleur. Eunice's life would have made a plot for a good novel. Born in London, England and raised in Yorkshire, she saw her family's fortunes dwindle during the Great Depression. After losing her first husband, a bomber pilot in the Second World War, she joined the Women's Air Force and rose to the rank of Flight Officer and Administrator of a company of 500 women. For her exceptional service, Eunice was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire). In the Royal Air Force Officers' Mess, she met the love of her life and future husband, Brian Stewart, a medical student, who had left school to become a Spitfire fighter pilot. After the war, she attended the London School of Economics and he completed his medical training. They then settled into a charming house in Barnstable, Devon, and had the first two of their three children. Afflicted with wanderlust, they immigrated to Montreal, Canada, punctuated by stints in Germany and California, finally settling in Litchfield, Connecticut, where she looked after her children's horses and foals, as well as a succession of rescue dogs and cats. After Brian died - far too young - at only 64, Mum bought a beach house on Casey Key in Florida, which she turned into a garden paradise. She spent many summers at Heney Lake and in Muskoka, looking after her granddaughters, and came to Virginia when Jen was posted to Washington. She moved to Pennsylvania to live near Kay and Derek, then back to Canada to be with Jen and Bill in Richmond Ontario, with Duncan and Rosemary just around the corner in Heart's Desire. At which point, she declared that this was her last move.