IN DESPITE OF WAR

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1940, Page 6

IN DESPITE OF WAR

KENYA WEDDING BELLS STRATFORD GIRL MARRIES FORMER TARANAKI NURSE Although East Africa has been embroiled in the Italkm-Anglo phase of the war for some time now, the doubtfully courageous acts of II Duce's airmen have not stampeded British residents out of their normal mode of life. Weddings go on there 'in the same manner as they always have done in British countries. This is revealed in reports received by Mr. and Mrs. G. Smart, Stratford, of the recent marriage of their eldest daughter, Mrs. John T. Hodgkinson, formerly Miss Margaret I. Smart. at Kisumu, Kenya Colony, about six weeks ago. Mrs. Hodgkinson, formerly well known at Stratford and throughout the province, has enjoyed a most spectacular and unusual career in the nursing profession. Her husband, Mr. John T. Hodgkinson, was formerly a radio executive in the Roy:l Navy, but gave up the seaboard to accept a position as the chief wireUss office r of the Air Ministry at Kisumu, an important terminal in the Empire air lines. The report of the wedding, as it appeared in the East African Standard; reveals that the nuptial celebrations were cramped by the activities of the Italians in East Africa. After describing the wedding in detail, the record prosaically records "that the b'ride and bridegroom left by car for Uganda and the Valley of the Moon." Details of Career. Mrs. Hodgkinson, who was born at Stratford and educated at the Stratford Technical High School, entered the nursing profession as a trainee at the New Plymouth hospital under the matron, Miss B. A. Campbell. Passing all examinr.tions at New Plymouth, Mrs. Hodgkinson then took a maternity training course at St. Helen's hospital, Wellington.' Later, she assumed the position of matron at the Raetihi hospital, before. accepting a senior sister's position at the Palmerston North hospital. • In 1927 Mrs. Hodgkinson accepted a position from the British Medical Association at a hospital at Suva. Her aptitude here, in dealing with the phase of her profession affecting native diseases in hot climates, resulted in her being transferred to Nairobi, Kenya Colony, East Africa. 'She later served at Mombassa and another centre, belore becoming matron of the native hospital at Kisumu, a position she held until the time of her marriage. Several Trips Abroad. During her term in Kenya Colony Mrs. Hogkinson has made several trips abroad when granted a three-yearly furlough of eight months. On one occasion she spent her furlough on an eight months' visit to her parents at Stratford. On another occasion about two years ago, she undertook a tqur of the British Isles hnd the Continent, and in Ihe course thereof encountered one of the events which led up to the present war. When staying at Innsbruck, in Austria, she had to hastily leave the country owing to its annexation by Herr Hitler being imminent. She forsook Austria for France. I Althugh Mrs. Hodgkinson is living within an area troubled by the war, her letters, received at regular intervals at Stratford, reveal little of chis, the censtrship regulationsc being very strugent. Some time ago, however, she mentioned that her hospital was being stocked up with medical requisites as an emergency precautions measure. It was hoped, before the outbreak of war, that Mrs. Hodgkinson would make a trip to Stratford in November of this year, but this plan is now indefinite and will depend on the advisability of making an overseas crossing when the time comes.