Interview #57

Name: Everest LeRoux

Sex: Male

Age: 65

Place and date of birth: St. Joseph's Cove, July 7, 1933

Education: Grade 7

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Woodsman

Number of children: 5

Names of children and where they live:

Yvonne (St. John's) John (St. Veronica's)

Dwayne (Ontario) Doug (Ontario)

Trina (St. John's)

hone: 538-3744

Place of interview: St. Joseph's Cove

Date of interview: March 29, 1999

Interviewers: Sheri Peters and Pamela Organ

Everest is the son of Cyril LeRoux and Yvonne Organ. He had four brothers and one sister in his family. His siblings are Joe, Charlie, John, Gordon, and Alimeta. His father's parents were Mary LeRoux and John LeRoux. His mother's mother was Susie Organ. His great-grandfather Francois came from France in the early 1800's and settled at Great Jarvis.

In November of 1938, Everest's brother John and two other boys wandered off in the woods. At that time, Everest was five years old and his brother John was three. Everest was supposed to go with them but he turned back. They were going in the woods to meet Everest's father, who was working in the woods then. The boys took the wrong trail and ended up getting lost. It became evening and it rained and sometimes snowed. The boys were in the woods overnight without proper clothing to wear. Sandy MacDonald was in around that area but he did not hear them. When the boys were found, Everest's brother John had died and the two other boys, Stan MacDonald and Sam LeRoux, were near death but survived.

Another tragedy that Everest remembered being told about was the tidal wave of 1929 . The tide came up to where the Fire Hall is located today.

As a young boy, Everest played games such as batball, hopscotch, and tiddley. There was a combined school and church located in St. Joseph's Cove. His teacher was Molly Willcott. In 1965, the school was torn down by Newman Baker. After this, the children were bussed to St. Alban's. The first radio was brought to St. Joseph's Cove by Father St. Croix and put in the school. When the Bishop visited, there was a big celebration. There were bough arches on the bridge and the women knelt and kissed his ring.

Everest said that the priests around in the past were Father St. Croix and Father Hayes. People were only allowed to have dances on Friday nights at St. Alban's and Father Hayes would attend. He was very strict and people did not have much freedom back then.

Everest remembered some doctors that were in Bay d'Espoir. Dr. Okellerham was around in the late 1950's and he resided at the old doctor's house. Dr. Rodriguez was around in the late 1960's and he was a Japanese doctor. If someone got really ill, they travelled to Harbour Breton by boat. Everest's grandmother, Mary LeRoux, was known as "the jack of all trades." She was a midwife and a doctor. She also pulled out teeth. She also walked to St. Veronica's if someone needed her help there.

Everest's uncle Leo owned a small convenience store in St. Joseph's Cove. Everest said that people could buy almost anything they needed. A can of milk was thirteen cents. Flour was sold in one hundred pound sacs. During the tidal wave, the tide came up as far as where the Fire Hall is to today.

The first vehicle that Everest purchased was a 1954 Ford. It came down from Port aux Basques on a coastal boat. His second vehicle was a 1955 Chevy. Everest said, "It was 1958 before you could drive right through the Bay." Everest recalled crossing the ice for the first time by car in the late 1950's.

Everest said that during the Christmas season, the adults played cards. There was lots of singing and dancing and plenty of homebrew to go around. People celebrated the twelve days of Christmas. On St. Anne's Day, people went to Conne River by dory. There was a Mass service followed by a supper and a dance at St. Alban's.

When the men were working, the women tended to the children as well as the daily chores. They went down to the shore to dig for shells, "cock and hens," to feed the chickens and hens. Families also had cows and sheep. The cows supplied the milk and the sheep supplied wool for the family. The women had to sheer the sheep, card the wool, and spin it on a spinning wheel to make sweaters and socks. People had vegetable gardens in which they grew cabbage, turnip, carrots, and potatoes. They also had to get their water from a brook.

Everest started working at age seventeen in Corner Brook in 1950. He also went to work at Deer Lake on a plane for the first time. He worked on the Bay d'Espoir Highway with a surveying crew in 1963. The highway was finished being paved in 1974. It went right through to St. Alban's. The Harbour Breton highway was completed in 1971 and the Trans Canada Highway was completed in 1967. Everest said that Wish Walsh was the first man to drive over it in his car when he was on his way home from summer school.

Everest worked at Bay d'Espoir on a sawmill. He worked with the Department of Highways for three months. Roy Kearley was in charge. In 1969, he worked for six months on the transmission lines going down to Harbour Breton. He also worked with Bowaters. The logs cut there were loaded on a ship and shipped to Port aux Basques and Corner Brook.

Everest said that before the early 1970's, the Legion, the drugstore, the clinic, the Lions Club, and Riff's did not exist. These buildings did not set up until the early 1970's. Everest helped to build the clinic in St. Alban's in 1973. Hubert Marshall was the man in charge. In 1980, Everest worked in Grand Falls for twelve weeks on the transmission lines from Grand Falls to Buchans. The last job he had was with the Bay d'Espoir Development Association. He worked there until the day he retired. Everest said, "Work was very plentiful back then. You did not have to worry about getting a job. Even though times were hard everyone was quite content."