Mrs. Josephine Stephens, formerly Colville, of Toronto, Ontario, was the 1966 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1966, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On May 6, 1942, her son, Flight Sergeant William Freeborne Colville, was killed in an airplane crash in Newfoundland while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On March 16, 1944, a second son, Flying Officer Alexander Colborne Colville, went missing while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force in a bombing raid.

On August 18, 1944, a third son, Flying Officer John Spencer Colville, was killed flying a typhoon fighter-bomber in France while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Every Sunday, Mrs. Stephens (Colville) would make a big chicken dinner for her family and up to five servicemen, temporarily posted in her area. In the years following the war, she received hundreds of letters of gratitude from men who had survived and whom she had welcomed into her home. She remarried in 1949 to George Stephens.

Mrs. Elsie Adams of St. Catharines, Ontario, was the 1967 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1967, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On August 15, 1944, her son, Lieutenant William George Adams, was killed in Normandy while serving with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment.

On September 27, 1944, a second son, Sergeant Allan Frederick Adams, also serving with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, was killed near the Scheldt Estuary.

Mrs. Adams married William Charles Adams. They lived in St. Catharines, Ontario and had seven sons, William, Allan, Charles, Roy, Ernst, Norman and Colin—all of whom enlisted. Charles, Roy, Allan and William Adams served with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and Ernst with the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The youngest of the seven brothers, Staff Sergeant Colin Adams went to Germany with the dental corps.

The family was very musical. Three of the children served as bandsmen in the army while Mr. Adams was the bandmaster with the 1^st infantry battalion in France during the First World War.

Mrs. Adams’ son, Captain Charles Adams, was the director of music for the Canadian guards at Petawawa and responsible for music at the National Remembrance ceremony. On November 11, 1967 when his mother laid the memorial, he led the band.

Mrs. Pearl Rich of Vancouver, British Columbia, was named 1968 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1968, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On November 2, 1943 her son, Private William Rich, was killed while serving with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment.

On December 22, 1943, a second son, Private George Rich, was killed in action also while on duty with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment.

On July 24, 1944, a daughter, Wren Mary Rich (Rech) drowned while serving with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service.

Mrs. Rich was the wife of Charles Rich.

Mrs. Wilhemina (Mina) Gray of Vancouver, British Columbia, was appointed 1969 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1969, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On February 27, 1942, her son, Flight Sergeant John (Jack) Balfour Gray, was killed while on duty serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force during a mine-laying operation. He was the first war fatality from Nelson, British Columbia.

On August 9, 1945, her second son, Lieutenant Robert (Hammy) Hampton Gray, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, during an attack on a Japanese destroyer on the Pacific Ocean. He was the last man from Nelson, British Columbia to be killed during the war and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his service.

Mrs. Gray, née McAllister, was born in Molesworth, Ontario on February 22, 1884. She and Mr. Gray had three children--Jack, Robert Hampton and daughter, Phyllis Wilma. Mrs. Gray died in Vancouver on August 21, 1977.

Grays Peak in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park in British Columbia is named in honour of Jack and Hampton Gray. There are many other memorials honouring Hampton Gray-- in Nelson, BC: the post office, plaques on the bridge at Gyro Park and on The Royal Canadian Legion building, a mural inside, by artist L.X. Forde, depicts him in action in Onagawa Bay. Gray’s Lake near Edmonton; Gray’s Walk on Elgin, Scotland—home base of the Fleet Air Arm; a memorial overlooking Onagawa Bay, Japan where he was killed; in Mississauga, Ontario, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets 789 Lt Hampton Gray squadron VC; in Nova Scotia the Gray Memorial School, now a community centre, on the Shearwater Naval Base whose opening was attended by Mrs. Gray in 1952; while a major memorial in Ottawa to wartime heroes called the “Valiant Group”, features Hampton as one of 16 Canadians honoured.

In 2005, a nephew of Mrs. Gray, filmmaker Ian Herring, made a fictionalized film about her son, entitled, The Last Battle of Hampton Gray. The biography, A Formidable Hero: Lt. R.H. Gray, VC, DSC, RCNVR, was written about Hampton by Stuart E. Soward, with a second edition in 2003.

Mrs. Mary Josephine Meech from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, was selected 1970 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1970, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On April 13, 1942, her son, Flight Sergeant William Ian Meech, was killed while on duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On February 19, 1944, another of her sons, Pilot Officer Lloyd Remington Joseph Meech, was killed also while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Mrs. Meech, née Macdonald, was born in 1897. She married Lloyd Remington Meech. Together, they had four children--William, Lloyd, John and Garth. She died in 1975.

Mrs. Mary Anderson from Selkirk, Manitoba, was the 1971 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1971, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On December 14, 1943, her son, Private Vernon Anderson, was killed while serving in Italy with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

On July 21, 1944, a second son, Private John George Anderson, was killed while on duty with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in France.

Mrs. Anderson was born in 1900 and was Metis. She was 71 years old when she was named National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother.

Mrs. Mary Louise McLeod of Neyaashiinigmiing, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, Ontario, was the 1972 National Silver (Memorial) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1972, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On January 17, 1944, her son Private Alfred Joseph McLeod, was killed in action in Ortona, Italy while serving with the Perth Regiment.

On July 27, 1944, another son, Trooper John Joseph McLeod, was also killed while on duty in South of Caen, France while serving with the 1^st Hussars

Mrs. McLeod, married John, an Ojibwa, who served in both World Wars; the Second with the Veterans Guard. Seven of their children—six sons and one daughter also enlisted in the military.

Mrs. Margaret Santo of Bender, Saskatchewan, whose eight of nine children served during the Second World War, was the 1973 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1973, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On May 5, 1943, her son, Warrant officer Class I Frank Robert Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On August 1, 1944, twin son, Pilot Officer John Alexander Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Mrs. Santo married Alexander Santo in 1916 in Bender, Saskatchewan. They raised nine children on their family farm, daughters Edythe, Jean and Phyllis, twin sons, Robert and John, David, Carlyle whose twin, Calvin, died at six weeks, Edward and Richard.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Mrs. Santo commented on her children’s service, “They felt they had to go, and I wouldn’t try to stop them. One after the other they left for Regina to join the Air Force. Mostly I would be too busy in the day to think about them, until I would open a closet door and the hangers would be swinging empty where their clothes had hung. They were so young, so young to go to war.”

Santo Bay and Santo Island in Pinehouse Lake, Saskatchewan were named in honour of her sons Robert and John.

Margaret passed away in November 1976 at the age of 81.

Mrs. Annie Rudd of Stettler, Alberta, was the 1974 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1974, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On October 9, 1943 her son, Sergeant Francis Rudd, was killed in Hanover, Germany while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On September 19, 1944, a second son, Sapper Thomas William Rudd, was killed in France while serving with the Royal Canadian Engineers.

Mrs. Rudd married Thomas Rudd, Sr. He was an Imperial veteran, having served in the First World War with the British Forces. He was seriously wounded in 1917 and awarded a Military Medal. Their son, Albert John, served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and was wounded in Italy in 1944. Their grandson, Jack, also served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, years later.

Mrs. Alta Wilkinson from Ottawa, Ontario, was the 1975 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1975, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On July 18, 1944, her son, Private Arthur Campbell Wilkinson, was killed while on duty near River Orne, France. He was 24 years old and serving with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.

Mrs. Wilkinson, née Campbell, was born on March 30, 1898 in New Richmond, Quebec. She married Curt Lorne Wilkinson and together they raised five children, including Arthur, Dorothy, Richard and David.

She published two books, Ottawa to Caen: Letters from Arthur Campbell Wilkinson, a collection of letters received from her son while serving overseas and Remembrance Association, Silver Cross Women of Canada. Mrs. Wilkinson was the National President of the Silver Cross Women of Canada. She faithfully attended the national Remembrance Day ceremony from 1975 through 1982; missing only one to attend a funeral.

Mrs. Wilkinson died in September of 1990.