Tillsonburg woman has seen a lot in her 100 years

The comfortable life Régine and Doug Ross live today contrasts with what she experienced as a teenager, growing up during the Second World War in Nazi-occupied Belgium. Régine turned 100 in February. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

From living through Nazi occupation in her home during the Second World War to landing at storied Pier 21 when coming to Canada, Tillsonburg resident Régine Ross has seen a lot in her 100 years.

Ross turned 100 on Feb. 23.

Her story starts in Tielt, a village in northwestern Belgium. When the Second World War broke out, her two older brothers were young enough to avoid conscription, but her father fought for his country.

While he was away, there was fighting in the streets, and their home was bombed twice. Ross remembers one of those incidents well.

“We came out of the cellar and saw the sky,” she said, adding her mother’s reaction was “Nobody got hurt, let’s clean up.”

The family owned a main-street fur business, and the pelts and fun coats had holes in them after the bombing.

After the German occupation, the Nazis kept track of the number of bedrooms in the home. If there were empty bedrooms, families were forced to billet German soldiers. Ross said they didn’t have to feed them but did need to provide a bed.

“These young men didn’t want to be in the war, and they became friends,” she said, adding they kept in touch after the war.

Food rationing was in place, and Ross’ family had tales of finding ways to sneak more food.

“If you had so many people in your family, you were allotted so many stamps,” she said. “We got a little pig, but kept replacing it so that little pig lasted during the whole war.”

The pigs were named Adolph 1 and Adolph 2.

It was a time when farmers were the ones who had the most mone,y as they sold food on the black market. Ross's mother sold fur coats to the farmers and German officers.

Ross’s father was a prisoner of war in French Morocco and became ill while being held. He was given the choice if he wanted to go free as he was too much to care for. He still had to make his way home on his own. Ross recalls her father came home flea infested and having sores all over his body.

“He was unbelievable,” she said.

At the end of the war, Ross volunteered for the Red Cross in the hospitals. The hospital had British, German and Polish soldiers in it.

“You have no idea,” she said of what she saw in the hospital. “I can’t describe it, how ugly it was. All of these young men the same age I was were shot to bits.”

Ross started attending haute couture fashion school during the war and completed it after the conflict ended. She graduated and was successful at the family business, expanding it to a second location in the nearby village of Brugges.

“If it wasn’t for the war, she would have gone to Paris,” said daughter Yonna DiLella.

Faced with a difficult situation with the family of her first husband, Daniel Luypaert, they decided to leave and head for Canada, where she had relatives in London.

On May 1, 1954, Ross and her children landed at Pier 21 in Halifax. Ross started to work at Sophie’s Bridal in London after her uncle took the family in for a short time. They moved to Tillsonburg when she bought an existing business and renamed it Règine Furs. The business did well and moved to a larger location on Brock Street. However, when her husband deserted her, Ross wasn’t making enough money to live off and went to teacher’s college. After graduating, she taught home economics in Delhi and then Valley Heights. There, she met Doug Ross, and the couple eventually married.

Both were involved in the curling club, and she was involved in the Canadian Cancer Society and was known as the ‘Daffodil Lady’ for many years. Both now live at Woodingford Lodge.