Bloom, Evelyn

Evelyn Bloom grew up in prewar Montreal, enjoying life near “her beautiful mountain”, while at the same time seeing the harsh realities of the Great depression.  When the war came, she and her sister decided to enlist.  They understood that Canada was under assault, and stories of U-Boats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence only confirmed their decision.  Evelyn joined the CWACs; she was at first deployed in Longeuil, but later was transferred to Ottawa, where she became a pioneer in the new computer technology being utilized by the Canadian military.  Evelyn’s job involved setting up the terminals, doing data entry, and keeping track of the materiel involved in Canada’s WW2 operations.  When the war came to an end, Evelyn was demobilized; she returned to Montreal, where she reconnected with a childhood acquaintance, a man by the name of Harry Bloom.  Harry had served in the Signals Corps during the war.  The two built their life together in postwar Montreal, where Evelyn became an art teacher.

We met Evelyn in her apartment at Baycrest Terraces in March 2018, where she was interviewed for this project by Arielle Meyer and Scott Masters.

Photos