A Couple Who Met on Partridge Island

About ten years ago I learned about a couple who met on uninhabited Partridge Island, which sits at the mouth of Saint John Harbour. The couple were married for 60 years. 

One day in 2012, I was sitting in a coffee shop when two long time friends, David and Marlene, came into the shop. I hadn’t seen them for a couple of years. We chatted and David mentioned that they were just returning from his mother’s wake. He then mentioned his mom and dad had met on Partridge Island.

No one lives on Partridge Island.  I was puzzled.  David read my puzzled expression, laughed, and said his parents met during WWII when his dad was stationed on the island with the military.

I’m still amazed at this, and thought the story had to be shared, but I’ve never been able to flesh it out to my satisfaction.

 

Partridge Island

Partridge Island is uninhabited. Access is by boat, or by foot over a breakwater that is constructed from very large rocks.  Access is restricted, somewhat. Although I’ve not made the trek, I have been told that crossing the breakwater is difficult, and made even more so when the largest tides in the world from the Bay of Fundy reach their highest levels daily and then splash across the rocks. Sometimes people need to be rescued from their attempt to cross the breakwater. The tides in the Bay can reach 16 metres, or 53 feet. More information is available on the Bay of Fundy here https://www.bayoffundy.com/about/highest-tides/

Historic Site

Partridge Island is designated as a provincial historic site and a national historic site. Oddly, it’s not a provincial or national park. Flights arriving at Saint John Airport (YSJ) usually take a path that offers a good view of the uninhabited island.  

In the 1800s, the island served as a quarantine station for arriving immigrants. In the 1840s there was a large influx of immigrants from the Irish Potato Famine, which killed millions of people. At the time, a hospital was constructed to service and quarantine the arrivals. 

Local historian Harold Wright has written extensively on the history of the island and its military history. The island served as military fortification protecting the city during the wars of 1812, WWI, WWII and the Fenian raids from the south, when incursions extended into what was then British North America, before Canada was federated in 1867.

It was during WWII that Charles Kinley met Dorothy Small.

Charles and Dorothy

I was curious to learn more about David’s parents, and about Saint John back in the day including restaurants, theaters, and other local details. So, in 2018 David arranged for us to visit his dad who resided in a care facility in Halifax.

Unfortunately, Charles had little memory of Saint John, as he didn’t grow up here, and didn’t spend a significant number of years in the city.  David said that his mom, Dorothy, had tremendous memories of Saint John, and their life on Charles Street. Dorothy was born in Grand Bay, New Brunswick, and Charles in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia before moving to Halifax.

 

A Family Story

For David and his family, the story seems a curiosity, but not significant. Everyone’s parents meet somewhere. However, I was very curious about the circumstances of their meeting, and what life was like when his dad was stationed on the island.

 

When David and I visited Charles in January 2018, I was interested to capture stories about his time on Partridge Island. We spoke for 90 minutes, all of which I recorded.

 

David Charles Kinley was born in 1917 and died April 29th, 2018 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. One hundred years old.

Daily Life on the Island 

 

Charles estimated that during WWII, approximately 200 soldiers were stationed on Partridge Island guarding the city of Saint John.  We asked him what a typical day was like for a soldier.  Most soldiers started their day at 6:30 a.m. with the morning parade when the available troops would be assigned daily duties, which included maintenance, military drills, and tasks such as food preparation. 

 

Part of the daily routine was recording the passage of vessels in the harbour. These days there is regular passage of a passenger ferry between Saint John and Digby, Nova Scotia, and much cruise ship traffic during the warmer months of the year. As well, there is significant container traffic including crude oil delivered to the Irving Oil refinery, which is the largest in Canada, and petroleum products then exported from the refinery. 

 

During WWII Charles said that the ferry operated between Saint John to Digby, and additionally a ferry ran between Saint John and Grand Manan. 

 

During the evenings some soldiers would be on guard duty, as protecting the harbour was a 24-hour operation. For leisure some would play cards, or shoot pool.  There was a recreation building where they could hold dances. That’s where he told us he met Dorothy.

 

Meeting Dorothy 

 

He indicated that some of the soldiers on the island had formed a band, an orchestra and they would hold dances on the island. Groups of women with the Red Cross auxiliary would visit the island to teach the soldiers to sew buttons, darn socks, and make general clothing repairs. Charles told us he was an officer, so he didn’t have to darn his socks.

 

Dorothy was a Lieutenant in the auxiliary. It was at a dance on the island where the couple met. Charles wasn’t too forthcoming and simply offered they ‘made contact, dated, (and) it went on from there.” Charles said they were married about six to eight months after their initial meeting. 

 

When the war ended the couple moved to Halifax where Charles attended Dalhousie University for three years and then two years at the Nova Scotia Technical College where he graduated as a civil engineer. He remembered an apartment on MacDonald Street. 

 

The family then moved to Shawinigan, Quebec where Charles served as Chief Engineer at Shawinigan Chemicals Limited, retiring in 1981 with 30 years of service.   

 

WWII

 

Charles described drills and exercises on the island. There were two 6-inch guns and one 9.2 inch gun.  He said they were ”fairly sizable weapons. When fired, if you were up close, (it was) almost as if you were picked up and placed down. It was quite an experience.” 

 

He told us the weapons were never used in combat, but drills were performed three to four times per week. A couple of times per year the weapons were fired and tested but afterwards the cleanup was significant.

 

The Story

                      

As much as I enjoy the story, I have not been successful in fleshing it out further.  It would have been amazing to speak with Dorothy before she passed, as David indicated she had a great memory of the city at that time. History and historical research are not my strength. People like Harold Wright have invested much time and energy into such research.

 

I love the story because it somehow makes more real the local circumstances of WWII.  The soldiers stationed on the island were prepared to defend.  It didn’t turn out to be necessary, but they didn’t know that at the time.  I love the story too because of the happenstance of two people meeting on Partridge Island and sharing life together. 

 

Some further information on the island is available here

https://mynewbrunswick.ca/partridge-island/