Talking About Joan 2

[poliphilo]

Joan got the looks. They weren't a beauteous family, the Bridges- apart from Joan.  Here she is in 1937.



I wouldn't have spotted it but Ailz went straight for the hands and saw there was an engagement ring. If the date is right it wasn't given her by the man she eventually married. He came later.  What I saw when I looked at the hands is that they are claws. This woman is smiling but she's not at ease. I know she suffered from depression in later life; perhaps it went way back. I'm guessing she was still living at home at this time, with her ageing parents, her deaf sister Kathleen and her dandified brother Harold- holding things together for four needy people.

War freed her. She got a job as a nurse at a TB hospital. Here she met and married one of her patients- a naval Petty Officer called Percy Hook.



I think they both knew he was dying.  Here are two pictures of them together- one taken in Margate, one taken back at the san. I don't think she married him out of pity. At least that's not the vibe I'm getting. He looks real. He looks like a good sort. I think it was a true marriage. He died in 1945.

Comments

[kishenehn.livejournal.com]

I'm very much enjoying all of these old family photos.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Yes. She is very tense in that first portrait.
It does seem as if Joan loved Percy. He looks like a very nice chap and the middles photo of the two on the water shows how relaxed they were with each other.
He died of TB, then? Sad.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There's a story behind that first pic. I wish I knew what it was.

I like to think of Joan and Percy as one of the great love stories.

[sovay]

Here she met and married one of her patients- a naval Petty Officer called Percy Hook.

He has a nice face, too. I like the way they look together. How long did they get?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Not very long. I don't know when they met- but it must have been during the war- and then he died at the end of it.