Today’s meeting at the pier held by Holy Loch Heritage – The American Years Revisited has created a bit of chat up at the museum between the staff. We are reminded of two of our volunteers’ connections to the American Years.
Local girl Linda Pursely, who can be seen in the photo above holding a photo of her younger self, describes meeting her American husband Gerry for the first time –
“It was love at first sight – for me anyway. I walked over and asked him for a dance and he said no – as he didn’t know how to dance. At that point, I wished the floor would open up and swallow me.”
Linda didn’t let that put her off and she sat down beside him anyway. They married in 1963, had a family together and after moving to America in 1964 they decided to return to Dunoon in 1971.
Bud Fisher (above) is another of our volunteers at the museum. He worked as a maintenance person at Eagle Court (Sandbank) and Waverly Court (Kirn) between 1975 – 1987. He shares many fond memories with other members of the team at the museum of the time when the Americans worked and lived here. He recalls the community spirit he experienced and the lifelong friendships that were made –
“On one occasion I could not make it to cup knock-out because I was painting the outside of my house, so the week before the cup games no less than ten of our team turned up to paint so that I could play in the cup the following week”
You can read more about Linda and Bud’s stories of the Americans in Dunoon in the book entitled – The American Years Dunoon And The US Navy by Andrene Messersmith
You can also find out more by visiting Holy Loch Heritage – The American Years Revisited on Facebook.