The Bermuda Years

September, 1940 to June, 1942

 Walter went to Bermuda working for Pan Am in the early war years.  Elsie and Nancy followed.  Early accommodations were at the Belmont Hotel.  I remember Mom saying it was like a vacation and Nancy had the run of the hotel being the only child around.  Apparently Pan Am picked up the tab until my parents found a place to stay.  This would attest to a reasonably important position for my father.

This is Nancy at the Belmont Hotel.  I’m not sure what the movie cameras were all about but there were a few pictures in this batch that were similar.  Was there a movie shot in Bermuda in 1940?

They found an apartment above “The Corner Shop”.  Places in Bermuda had names, not addresses; this one was called “Corn Nook”.

These blowups show that the little girl is Nancy and, although difficult to read, the poster in the window says, “WE WILL WIN THIS WAR”.

This was early 1941.  The United States was not in the war yet but Britain, which owned Bermuda, was.

This picture is interesting because Mom, on the right, is pregnant with ME; Nancy is 2+ years old.

The back of the picture has this written with a fountain pen by Mom:

“Dorothy and Eddie Steadman and us you can see - Nan, Walter and me.  Isn’t the swing a work of art?  Walter put it up and does Nan love it.

Corn Nook - Bermuda Dec. 1940”

So what was the most important event of 1941?

On the back porch of Corn Nook, Mom arrives home from the King Edward VII hospital with her bundle of joy, Andrew.

Women were kept “in hospital” for 2 weeks following delivery back then.  Amazing that she could stand up!

At that time, I was told, the only motor vehicles on the island were the ambulance and a fire truck.  Personal transportation was bicycles and horse-drawn carriages.

Some time later, they moved into a house.  Go to the next page.