Interview # 69

Name: George Collier

Sex: Male

Age: 64

Place and date of birth: St. Alban's, December 29, 1934

Education: University and Engineering Certificate

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Teacher

Number of children: 5

Names of children and where they live:

Daphne - St. Alban's

Randy - St. John's

Gary - Toronto

Amanda - St. John's

Dion - St. Alban's

Phone: 538-3555

Place of interview: St. Alban's

Date of interview: April 13, 1999

Interviewers: Sheri Peters and Kerri - Ann Snook

George is the son of Leo and Agnes Collier. George has one brother, William. His grandparents on his father's side were George Collier and Sara House. His grandparents on his mother's side were William Collier and Susan Willcott. George was born in St. Alban's and has lived there all his life.

When George was only six years old, his father went overseas. He and his brother, who was a few years older, had to be the men of the family. Since he was so young, his brother did most of the work. He was almost thirteen before his father came back from overseas.

Some chore's George had to do were cut wood, trap rabbits, and hunt for moose and caribou. The games that he played were tiddley and soccer. In the 1940's, ships came in from foreign countries with soccer teams. George and a few other young boys would get a team together and play against them. George said they were very good.

Going to school was kind of hard for George because he couldn't read until he reached grade eight. He was dyslexic, but this didn't stop him from getting his education. George graduated from high school and later graduated with an engineering certificate. Some teachers he had in school were Miss O' Leary, Miss Flynn, Miss Willcott, Mr. Everson, and Mr. Perry.

After completing high school, George started working with Bowaters where he would cut pulpwood up at Conne Brook. They would walk from Camp eight to Camp ten that would take four hours to get there. He worked with Bowaters for two years.

At the age of twenty, George left home to go to University, where he went for five years. During these five years George also worked here in St. Alban's as a summer student with the hydro project, in which he would get payed $250.00 a month.

George graduated from University at the age of twenty-five. He then started teaching at Conne River for two years. He would get payed $139.00 a month. He had to support a family on this amount. After two years he began teaching at St. Alban's, where he taught for thirty years until he retired at fifty-four.

George remembered there being a church located where the fire hall is today. He also remembered another small one located on top of the hill just up over the old cemetery. Father Hayes was the priest at the time and if he passed you on the road with the Blessed Sacrament, everyone had to kneel down to show respect. Father Hayes was also a male nurse and he had first aid. He was just as good as a doctor. He would pull out teeth for free.

Some illnesses that were around were the whooping cough and measles. TB was the deadly killer and this was compared to Cancer later, and antibiotics weren't available until 1945. Turpentine was used to heal cuts. People would boil cherry bark and drink the broth to cure the flu or a cough. Many home remedies came from nature, for instance, trees. Some midwives mentioned were, Carolyn Organ, Aunt Joanie Collier, and Aunt Eve Collier. In 1905, Dr. Scott came here and built a house straight across from where George lives today. In 1916, Dr. Scott left and George's grandfather bought his house.

While the men were working in the woods, the women had to do daily chores such as knitting and sewing. They also had to care for the children, chop up firewood and pack it away. Some families also had farm animals and vegetable gardens that had to be taken care of. Kerosene lamps would be used to light their homes. For cooking and heating their homes, woodstoves were used. They also used a scrub-board and a large aluminum tub to wash their clothes. They would get their water from a well. A lot of their clothing was made from wool. George remembered his grandfather having berry bushes and would trade berries for fish to people in Gaultois.

Before the roads, boats were the main source of transportation. George however, owned a bike and can remember going everywhere on his bike. Before telephones, the only way they could communicate was through wireless telegrams and morris code.

The main occupation was working in the woods and sawmills. Sawmills were booming back then. Almost everyone who owned a store owned a mill as well. When Bowaters first started, ships would come into Burnt Woods in Conne River and be loaded up with plenty of logs. Edward Brushett's father got killed working on one of those ships. Also, in the 1920's, there was a water powered generator located down at Swanger's Cove that produced electricity.

George can remember the weather back than being very harsh, sometimes going as low as -25 degrees. Boats would only get in as far as Roti Point. So people had to go out by horse and sleigh to pick up the freight. It was six miles out with the wind blowing in your face on the way back.

Some stores that George remembered were Garland's, Co-op, George Hoskins's store and S.D. Collier's which was the most popular store then. Arthur Willcott had a small restaurant out along the shore in 1946, only adults were allowed to go there.

During special holidays people would order in rum from St. John's. Everyone would work, even on weekends right until the holidays, then back to work right after.

The best thing that happened to Bay d'Espoir according to George was when the road was completed. The road made it easier to get where you needed to go.

As you can see, George has been a great help in preserving our communities past.