There's deep sadness in the eyes of 94-year-old Olive Tees.
As soon as Tees spoke about her wartime love, she wiped away tears from her big blue eyes, the grief still raw 67 years later.
The well-dressed petite lady is reminiscing about the "love of her life" - her husband William Alan Tees, who died when his plane crashed in England during the Second World War on July 4, 1944.
He was 27.
"It was dreadful," she said. "He shouldn't have been flying that night. He tried to land with only one engine working _ all seven onboard were killed.
"I didn't cope very well after he died _ we were life mates, no doubt about it."
Her small hands shaking, Tees held up a photograph of a handsome young man in his RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) officer's uniform.
She recalled the day she met him. She was a 24-year-old resident nurse at a gold mine in Northern Ontario.
"I was the only girl at camp," Tees said. "One night there was a dance and the guys came to get me."
Tees paused, a far-away look on her face.
She remembered hearing this beautiful voice singing White Christmas as soon as she arrived at the commissary.
"I asked one of the guys, who is singing," Tees said. "One of them brought me over and introduced me to William.
"He asked me to dance and it was love at first sight. William had such a fantastic sense of humour and a great voice."
The Second World War was raging on and she knew her beloved could be called out at any time.
The two married in April 1943 and less than a year later, in February 1944 he was sent to Worsester, England.
"He sent me letters every day and I still have them today," she said, adding William couldn't discuss details of the war when he penned letters because they were censored. "He said to me when he left that when we have a family, I'll be with you every minute."
She smiled sadly when she said that William spoke about how dreadful the British food was (he was attached to the British Air Force), of wanting to buy a bike because it was a bit of a hike from the barracks to the airport and about enjoying the occasional beer with his fellow pilots.
"He was a really good Scotsman," she said with sadness clouding her vision once again. "We were both very religious, we had deep faith, so he never spoke about whether he was scared or not."
Tees went on to say she was "absolutely lost when William went to war."
"I was completely distraught when he was sent overseas, it was awful," she added. "In the end, it (her grief) was worth it to have had the privileged of being married to such a good person."
After he passed away, Tees moved to B.C. She remarried three years later and has a daughter, Norma Adery, of Richmond.
Also see the story of Ellen Nickerson who joined the RCAF Women's Division.
