England native reflects on World War II, cultural differences

As World War II loomed, Norma Willoughby’s father gave her some sound advice.
“With the war coming, my father said, ‘Norma, you’ll have to quit college,’” Willoughby told a small audience at Sunnyview in Rockwell City on a recent afternoon.
Her father, a government employee, encouraged her instead to take a civil service test and get a government job. His goal, she said, was to make sure she was employed before England entered World War II and the government stopped hiring for such jobs.
“After the great crash of 1929, the government workers were not affected at all,” Willoughby said. Her father was among those workers able to keep a good job throughout the Great Depression.
The anecdote was one of several Willoughby shared from her recently completed autobiography, a copy of which is available at the Rockwell City Public Library. Now 96, Willoughby moved to Calhoun County after World War II as a war bride.
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