Mother grew up in Alvaston, Derbyshire, England. One of 5 daughters of William and Agnus Batman Fitzgerald. She was only 8 when the war started, 11 when the germans began bombing England, (including the Blitz),and it took many years before America would join the fight. She grew up having to dash for bomb shelters, endured constant complete blackouts, and had to carry a gas mask with her at all times. Rations books, shortages of everything, the conditions of everyday life were harsh. I'm sure she had a difficult childhood. She told of having nightmares about gestapo breaking in and killing her family, how she worried about her baby sister, Margo, and was so horrified by the baby gas bag kept close by.
She was a teenager, with her Dad, who worked for Rolls Royce, when a bomb exploded so close, she completely lost hearing in her right ear for the rest of her life. They lived in fear for so many years. She met my Dad, William Agee Hardin, at a dance, when she was just 16. As part of the mighty 8th, Army Air Corps, flying in B-17's, he must have seemed like a knight in shining armor as things took a great turn for the better when the Americans finally came. Though it took 2 years after the war ended, my Dad brought her to the US. They were married for 28 years, when sadly, he passed away too soon at 54, in 1973, from cancer. He was a kind, honest and decent man, we all loved him very much and even as kids, we knew they loved each other. Dad was a farmer in Hastings, Florida, a true southerner. They had 6 children, tho, their first (Barbara Jean b.1949) was stillborn. Mom had 4 miscarriages before their first living child was born in 1950. We can't be sure if this was caused by the bombings, and smoke screens used in England or the exposure to the pesticides on the farm.
Mom always spoke of her love of England, and never relinquished her British citizenship. She missed her parents, and homeland. But she also loved the United States, and lived here for the rest of her life. She claimed to know more about our country then most Americans.
After my Dad passed away, she did return to visit England, in time to see her Mother once more, but her beloved father had passed away just a few years after she left.
She had a wonderful English sense of humor. As kids, we would break speed records to get home to tell her the latest joke we heard, to make her laugh and she always did. In later years, she wrote many comedy based poems, which my youngest sister Angela compiled into a private book, which still makes us laugh. Thanks, Mom, Rest in Peace, and May God Bless.
She was a teenager, with her Dad, who worked for Rolls Royce, when a bomb exploded so close, she completely lost hearing in her right ear for the rest of her life. They lived in fear for so many years. She met my Dad, William Agee Hardin, at a dance, when she was just 16. As part of the mighty 8th, Army Air Corps, flying in B-17's, he must have seemed like a knight in shining armor as things took a great turn for the better when the Americans finally came. Though it took 2 years after the war ended, my Dad brought her to the US. They were married for 28 years, when sadly, he passed away too soon at 54, in 1973, from cancer. He was a kind, honest and decent man, we all loved him very much and even as kids, we knew they loved each other. Dad was a farmer in Hastings, Florida, a true southerner. They had 6 children, tho, their first (Barbara Jean b.1949) was stillborn. Mom had 4 miscarriages before their first living child was born in 1950. We can't be sure if this was caused by the bombings, and smoke screens used in England or the exposure to the pesticides on the farm.
Mom always spoke of her love of England, and never relinquished her British citizenship. She missed her parents, and homeland. But she also loved the United States, and lived here for the rest of her life. She claimed to know more about our country then most Americans.
After my Dad passed away, she did return to visit England, in time to see her Mother once more, but her beloved father had passed away just a few years after she left.
She had a wonderful English sense of humor. As kids, we would break speed records to get home to tell her the latest joke we heard, to make her laugh and she always did. In later years, she wrote many comedy based poems, which my youngest sister Angela compiled into a private book, which still makes us laugh. Thanks, Mom, Rest in Peace, and May God Bless.
Mother grew up in Alvaston, Derbyshire, England. One of 5 daughters of William and Agnus Batman Fitzgerald. She was only 8 when the war started, 11 when the germans began bombing England, (including the Blitz),and it took many years before America would join the fight. She grew up having to dash for bomb shelters, endured constant complete blackouts, and had to carry a gas mask with her at all times. Rations books, shortages of everything, the conditions of everyday life were harsh. I'm sure she had a difficult childhood. She told of having nightmares about gestapo breaking in and killing her family, how she worried about her baby sister, Margo, and was so horrified by the baby gas bag kept close by.
She was a teenager, with her Dad, who worked for Rolls Royce, when a bomb exploded so close, she completely lost hearing in her right ear for the rest of her life. They lived in fear for so many years. She met my Dad, William Agee Hardin, at a dance, when she was just 16. As part of the mighty 8th, Army Air Corps, flying in B-17's, he must have seemed like a knight in shining armor as things took a great turn for the better when the Americans finally came. Though it took 2 years after the war ended, my Dad brought her to the US. They were married for 28 years, when sadly, he passed away too soon at 54, in 1973, from cancer. He was a kind, honest and decent man, we all loved him very much and even as kids, we knew they loved each other. Dad was a farmer in Hastings, Florida, a true southerner. They had 6 children, tho, their first (Barbara Jean b.1949) was stillborn. Mom had 4 miscarriages before their first living child was born in 1950. We can't be sure if this was caused by the bombings, and smoke screens used in England or the exposure to the pesticides on the farm.
Mom always spoke of her love of England, and never relinquished her British citizenship. She missed her parents, and homeland. But she also loved the United States, and lived here for the rest of her life. She claimed to know more about our country then most Americans.
After my Dad passed away, she did return to visit England, in time to see her Mother once more, but her beloved father had passed away just a few years after she left.
She had a wonderful English sense of humor. As kids, we would break speed records to get home to tell her the latest joke we heard, to make her laugh and she always did. In later years, she wrote many comedy based poems, which my youngest sister Angela compiled into a private book, which still makes us laugh. Thanks, Mom, Rest in Peace, and May God Bless.
She was a teenager, with her Dad, who worked for Rolls Royce, when a bomb exploded so close, she completely lost hearing in her right ear for the rest of her life. They lived in fear for so many years. She met my Dad, William Agee Hardin, at a dance, when she was just 16. As part of the mighty 8th, Army Air Corps, flying in B-17's, he must have seemed like a knight in shining armor as things took a great turn for the better when the Americans finally came. Though it took 2 years after the war ended, my Dad brought her to the US. They were married for 28 years, when sadly, he passed away too soon at 54, in 1973, from cancer. He was a kind, honest and decent man, we all loved him very much and even as kids, we knew they loved each other. Dad was a farmer in Hastings, Florida, a true southerner. They had 6 children, tho, their first (Barbara Jean b.1949) was stillborn. Mom had 4 miscarriages before their first living child was born in 1950. We can't be sure if this was caused by the bombings, and smoke screens used in England or the exposure to the pesticides on the farm.
Mom always spoke of her love of England, and never relinquished her British citizenship. She missed her parents, and homeland. But she also loved the United States, and lived here for the rest of her life. She claimed to know more about our country then most Americans.
After my Dad passed away, she did return to visit England, in time to see her Mother once more, but her beloved father had passed away just a few years after she left.
She had a wonderful English sense of humor. As kids, we would break speed records to get home to tell her the latest joke we heard, to make her laugh and she always did. In later years, she wrote many comedy based poems, which my youngest sister Angela compiled into a private book, which still makes us laugh. Thanks, Mom, Rest in Peace, and May God Bless.
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