Portrait of a bride's leap of faith

In a gentle Canadian accent, Jean Hannan tells how a Kiwi flight lieutenant made her his war bride.

A painting of a young Jean features in Bev Tosh's War Brides: Leap of Faith exhibition, which opened at Puke Ariki on Saturday.

The artist is a Taranaki-born woman and the daughter of a World WarII New Zealand pilot and his Canadian war bride, Dorothy.

In 2001, Bev (nee Autridge) painted a portrait based on her mother's wedding photo and became fascinated with the story of war brides.

Since then she has met more than 1000 war brides and developed a range of art works inspired by their stories.

One of those war brides was Jean, who met Len Hannan at a dance in Calgary, Alberta after a sports meet. The New Plymouth man had run and won the half mile that day – and that night he won her heart.

Len was in Calgary with his bomber squadron and stayed on longer as an instructor.

In 1942, the Canadian and the Kiwi became engaged and then Len headed off to England to fly operations as the captain of a Lancaster bomber.

He made it through WWII and the couple were married in 1945 – despite discouragement from her family.

"I was breaking their hearts," she said.

But Jean had a rebellious streak and wanted adventure.

"It was the rosy glow of a new country and Dad [Len] made me laugh," she said, as her son Doug helped by writing down questions (at 91, Jean is highly articulate, with a sharp mind and impeccable memory, but her hearing has failed her).

After the wedding, Jean and other war brides came to New Zealand on a merchant vessel with 12 cabins. No husbands accompanied the young women on the 19-day voyage from Vancouver to Auckland.

This was no luxury liner and there were no "ports of call"; however, "we were treated royally", she says of the trip.

"Crossing the Equator there was a hand-made certificate for each of us, and they let off all the ammunition that they had had to protect themselves. They [the crew members] did their best to entertain us.

"On a lovely sunny Sunday morning we arrived in Auckland and we were treated to a mayoral reception."

Moving to New Zealand was a culture shock for Jean, who was used to modern appliances and two-point plugs, not three-pointers.

"I'd never seen a copper before and I'd never heard of making beer," she says. "We were the first people a friend knew with a coffee grinder."

The sophisticated young Canadian also brought her favourite records and so introduced people to the swing jazz of Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. "Every Christmas we put on a party and everyone in the town would come."

Jean did get homesick at times, but she has never regretted her decision to marry Len, who was later a New Plymouth city councillor and a strong supporter of New Plymouth's land-based sewage plant.

"I never had a dull moment," she says.

Jean and Bev Tosh's mum are the only two Taranaki war brides to feature in the exhibition. Bev lived in New Plymouth until age nine, when she and Dorothy returned to Canada after the war-time marriage broke up.

Bev made a fleeting visit to Taranaki for the installation and opening of her show. "This has always been my dream: to bring this show to my home town," she said.

War Brides: Leap of Faith is showing on level two of Puke Ariki's north wing until July 17.