"England's Fair Rose Comes to Reilly Springs
Following War"

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Private Eugene Ray "June" McDonald,
stationed with the U.S. Army, in England.

 

Imagine a country boy from Reilly Springs, thousands of miles away from home, fighting for his country, meeting a young woman, thankful for the U.S. soldiers who were aiding in their protection, and a love that spanned the globe, blossoming to last a lifetime. Hitler's forces had bombed England and Dinah J. Jubilee was a young woman, living in her hometown of Cardiff, Wales. Her parents owned a small restaurant, that she and her sister had been reared, meeting and greeting the regular customers. Her brother was off fighting in the War and her sister's husband, was in the military, too. It was during the height of the War, that Eugene Ray "June" McDonald, a U.S. Army Private, found his way with friends to the small restaurant and the two met, in a happenstance occasion, as Dinah was working at the family restaurant.

 

 

 

Cardiff, Wales, hometown of Dinah Jubilee McDonald.

 

Dinah's hometown was ravaged by the bombing of Europe.

 

 

 

 

The chance occasion, developed into regular meetings, and the young soldier and his English girlfriend, decided to get married. She purchased her dress, with "hard-earned" tips from the restaurant and they ordered a beautiful wedding cake. However, the U.S. Army had different plans. June was "shipped-out" the day before they were to be wed.

They corresponded via letters throughout the remainder of the War and when McDonald was discharged from the military, he returned to his native Hopkins County and got a job working for the U.S. Post Office, delivering mail in the southern part of Hopkins County. He received a letter from Dinah in England, that she would be arriving in New York, on Easter Week of 1946.

 

 

June McDonald couldn't leave his new job with the Postal Service, so he sent his sister-in-law, Oleta McDonald, who rode from Texarkana, Texas, to New York, on the train. "This poor, country girl, from the Shooks Chapel Community of Hopkins County, didn't know a soul in New York," remembered Oleta. "But, an army buddy of my husband, Neal McDonald's, met me in Poughkeepsie, and I stayed with him and his family, for one night, and he accompanied me to Grand Central Station, where I was to meet a cousin of Neal's who was living in Brooklyn."

 

The manicured lawns of Cardiff, Wales, were quite a different sight for Dinah Jubilee, than
the cotton fields she witnessed in coming to Hopkins County.

 

"I had never seen a place as daunting as Grand Central Station and had never met the cousin, that I was looking for," remembered Oleta. "My knees were shaking, I was so scared, but I finally found the cousin I was looking for, and she took me on a tour of New York, that I'll never forget. We went to Times Square, Central Park, and other sights that I'd only heard about, and waited for Dinah's arrival at the airport, from England. I'll never forget the beautiful Easter Lillies, in bloom in Times Square!"

"We left the airport and ate at a 'trendy' restaurant across from Grand Central Station where Dinah ordered a 'fruit cocktail,' thinking she would get a drink," remembered Oleta. "She was so surprised that it was diced fruit!"

"Upon her arrival, we embarked on the train trip back to Texas. Of course, a day's train ride would more than take you all across Europe, so Dinah was constantly asking me how far it was to Texas, as the long journey unfolded," related Oleta. "She couldn't believe that the U.S. was so big!"

Oleta and Dinah, finally arrived in Texarkana, meeting Neal and June McDonald. "Dinah was adamnant that she get married in Texarkana, before meeting June's family in Reilly Springs," remembered Oleta. "So, we went with them and 'stood-up' for them as they went before the Baptist Minister, in Texarkana. They were married in Texarkana!"

 

 

 

 

Scones and High Tea were habits that Dinah Jubilee McDonald continued to enjoy
throughout her life in the U.S.

 

One can only imagine "England's Fair Rose's" first impression of springtime in Reilly Springs, as she was accustomed to living in a European city, populated by many people, and arrived in Reilly Springs, where she met June's family on a cotton and livestock farm, miles from a town, down muddy roads, and where he was one of nine children. "I remember her bringing me a rose bush, that she had brought from England," remarked Mrs. Lottie McDonald, years after meeting her new daughter-in-law. "We planted it beside the house and it continued to grow and flourish, like their marriage!"

 

 

 

June and Dinah McDonald lived first in Sulphur Springs and then he transfered to Dallas, with the U.S. Postal Service. One son was born to this union, John McDonald, and they reared him in Dallas, where Dinah continued to work for many years at the Oak Cliff Children's Clinic.

June McDonald, passed away at an early age, in January 1970, but Dinah, having her son in the U.S. never returned to England, except for visits with her family. When she retired from her work, and her health began to fail, in 1995, she moved from Dallas to Park City, Utah, to be near her son.

England's Fair Rose continued many of the English customs of her native land, enjoying high tea and scones, but developed an affinity for her life here in the U.S. She passed away in April 2008, in Park City, Utah, requesting that part of her ashes be returned to Reilly Springs and part of them to be returned to her native England.

 

June and Dinah McDonald, picutred with their son, John, in the 1960's.

 

______