Tom that generation were born and raised during some tumultuous times -WW1, Great Depression. And then they had to live through WW2. I think some people were greatly affected even damaged by this sort of stuff and with some it was the making of them and it gave them the inspiration to do good things

She was one weird lady. Husband married her in 1943 when she was 21. He went off to India, she stayed and had a baby alone during a blitz bombing raid. He dominated her for the rest of her life and I don’t think the true “her” ever got to manifest as he bullied and controlled her.