Women behind the Y
Female supervisors ran the organization during wartime
During the First World War, more than 1,000 women served as volunteers for the Toronto YMCA. But it wasn’t until the Second World War that the YMCA hired Gene Herrmeyer as the first female supervisor of recreational programs for all of the army camps in Canada.
“It was1942, Canada had only about 11million people, and the war was not going well,” says Herrmeyer, now 97 years old.
“The YMCA was finding it difficult to recruit men, as the able-bodied were enlisting, and so they decided they would train female supervisors, and I was in the right place.”
At the time, Herrmeyer was picking up good experience working at the shipyards in Toronto, managing more than 500 employees, including welders, tractor drivers and electricians’ assistants (all women). When the YMCA hired her, she moved to Moncton, N.B., for her first posting. Herrmeyer was only 26 at the time. “I loved it,” Herrmeyer says. “I did all that I could do — I played sports with the men and set up crafts, I even taught them how to knit and crochet.” Herrmeyer moved around to other YMCA centres during the war, including one in Fingal, outside of London, Ont., welcoming soldiers in the Air Force. The days went by quickly, says Herrmeyer, with many planned activities, and they would often arrange to have girls come out from the town to dance and listen to music. “Many of the young men played instruments, they were very musical, so we started a band,” she says. But it wasn’t all fun and games. Herrmeyer also recalls some very sad times. “Sometimes, I felt like their mother, even though they were young men,” she says. “We might have breakfast together, and they would go out on a bombing and gunnery stint, and one crew might not come back. I felt so sorry for them, all I could do was let the 18and 19-year-olds cry on my shoulder.” When the war was over in 1945, Herrmeyer ended up at the YMCA in Toronto, helping the men at Manning Depot on the CNE grounds, where many soldiers passed through on their way home. From there, she worked for the Y out of a hospital for soldiers, sailors and airmen near Hamilton until the end of October 1945.
Did Herrmeyer see herself as a feminist then? “Always! I’m not a gentle broad, but I try to do good things. I was proud and honoured to serve,” she says. “And so were all of the other women — they all deserve to be recognized, too.”