Despite her wayward lifestyle, Joan did remain sporadic written correspondence with her mother between 1940 and 1942, and she is known to have infrequently returned home to Tunbridge Wells for brief periods—twice in the company of Canadian soldiers she was dating—to visit her family, before opting to return to Godalming or Guildford. She is known to have held several menial forms of employment from 1940 onward; alternately residing in cheap lodgings or sleeping rough. Wolfe is also known to have formed a close friendship with an elderly lady named Kate Hayter in the village of Thursley while she lived and worked in Godalming. According to Wolfe, Hayter allowed her sleep at her bungalow, and to both wash and change her clothes, when she was unemployed.