WILNO – The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406 has revealed that its 2019 Silver Cross Mother is Doris Hudder of Wilno.
Traditionally, the honour is reserved for mothers who have lost a child during war. However, President of the Barry’s Bay Legion Heather Poliquin said the legion does not, to her knowledge, have any women in its membership hat meet the actual definition of the Silver Cross Mother, so the legion attempts to select a wife/widow/mother of a veteran or serving solider.
Doris Hudder, now 91, met her husband, Private Peter Hudder, after his time served overseas. He was working at a lumber camp in Whitney. She agreed to help a friend who was cooking for the men at the camp, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After marrying at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Wilno, the Hudders had six children. While Peter did not talk much about his time overseas, Doris clearly remembers his clear distaste for mutton.
“He just said he worked in the bush,” Doris said of his time overseas. “But he couldn’t stand lamb chops. That’s all he ate in Scotland was mutton. Mutton – sheep – that’s all they ever got there. He couldn’t stand the smell of it after.”
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