Interview #24

Name : Gordon Willcott

Sex: Male

Age: 87

Place and date of birth: Ship Cove, September 20, 1911

Education: Nil

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Labourer

Number of children: 0

Phone: 538-3315

Place of interview: St. Alban's

Date of interview: February 15, 1999

Interviewers: Dale Willcott and Kerri-Ann Snook

Gordon's father was Arthur Willcott and his mother was Mary Hoskins. His father was married twice so he has seven step sisters and one step brother. Gordon said that his mother died with TB. "I'll tell you now. I remember my mother taking me up in her arms and giving me some money. I got out of her arms and headed over to Uncle Lawrence's. That's where I lived for God sake. By the time I got over there, the bell was ringing and she was dead just as fast as that."

Gordon's first job was in the woods. He and Luke Marshall worked at camp one. Joe Willcott was the foreman. There were very little wages so Gordon asked for a raise. He got an extra twenty-five cents per hour.

Gordon went overseas for five years from 1940 to 1945. He remembered that Joe Willcott, Tom Snook, and Norman Hull also went from St. Alban's. They spent a week in Hermitage waiting for the news to go. Gordon got fed up waiting so he went to a dance every night at Dawson's Cove. He stayed with Uncle Charlie Robert's. After a while, the coastal boat came in and picked the men up. The boat went all around the coast picking up people from all the little ports such as Harbour Breton and Marystown. It took seven days because there was no convoy. One night, before they got to Liverpool, the stern gave them the signal to stop because the Germans were up ahead but they did not stop. "We just opened her up," said Gordon. The next morning, Gordon saw people cut right in half floating in the water. "We were lucky," said Gordon.

When they got to Liverpool, they were safe. Gordon was twenty-nine years old at the time. A lot more men went over in 1941. The ship Gordon was on was so big he did not think anything could hurt it. One night, the submarines attacked the ship Gordon was on and they were crying and praying on their knees.

Gordon said that the food was good on the boat. The men carried their own clothes. There were many people on the boat. There were people from the troops, the army, and the forestry. "We all had our own bunks. That's how big the boat was. Just like you were staying in a hotel," said Gordon. When Gordon first got overseas, he stayed in a cotton tent for a couple of months and then in bunk houses after they were built.

Gordon did his training as a home guard overseas. Gordon worked in the Forestry unit and said, "The timber was wonderful." As logs were cut, they were hauled to Canadian mills which were close to where the men were cutting. When Gordon signed up, he got paid fifty-two dollars per month and half of that money was sent home. That was the agreement because his father did not want him to go. The money was taken out of their pay and given to the Newfoundland government who delivered it home to the families of the men.

A few jobs that Gordon did were loading trucks and working at the sawmill. Others hauled wood with tractors. The timber was cut to finish building bridges. As the trees were cut down, someone came up behind and replanted the buds. "We were only were only here to Gordon Leroux's from the first settlement," said Gordon. Gordon went to dances every night. There were lots of fights and drinking was heavy. The only reason Gordon went overseas was because they were looking for volunteers and so he decided to volunteer.

Gordon worked for fifty cents a day as a game warden. He said, "That was just as good as money today." His father was a game warden for twenty-six years. He was only the game warden until the fall because in the fall he went trapping. His father would trap around Trine Hill and came home just before Christmas. Gordon was the warden for a couple of months. He was in there one day with the supervisor from Port Aux Basques, whose name was Brigs. They were going down by Long Pond and they saw some caribou tracks so they looked for the caribou. Brigs said, "Oh we got to chase them caribou." Gordon felt bad when they got on the other side. Brigs said, "The hell with these, let's get the hell out of here." Gordon was happy when Brigs said that. Gordon said he never wanted to catch anyone. Gordon remembered once when he was at the Conne pond cabins playing cards. Gordon was playing cards while someone went out and killed a beaver.

Gordon also worked with Cyril Taylor. Cyril was the head man and Gordon was next to him. Gordon had to drive the dogs. He also worked with Air Canada in Stephenville. He cleaned off machines that went to the planes for three years. Gordon had a janitor job at the power house at Camp Boggy. One day while Gordon was working with George Sutton and Albert Barnes, Copper came down and said, "One of you fellows got to go." Gordon said, "I am your man because I got one more year, so I'll go." Gordon was only fifty-nine so he drew unemployment for one year and got his pension from overseas when he turned sixty.

Gordon's father was a trapper and so was he. "We would get a good price for our furs back in them days," said Gordon. One time Gordon's father gave him and his buddy a map to follow to a place called Pipe Stone for trapping. They built a dory and carried it down to the causeway and into Long Pond on their backs. They also carried one hundred pounds of flour and five pounds of baking powder. Gordon and his buddy were gone for seven weeks when they got up to Milk Lake. When they got there, they saw a wigwam that belonged to a fellow from Conne named Louie. Louie said, "I'm going to cook a Sunday supper for you fellows. Louie had fat dough in a big pot. Gordon said, "My God! What a supper!" When Gordon and his buddy got home, they took their furs to Gaultois in a dory because that was the only way to get there.

Gordon recalled when he and Ambrose Willcott wanted to go trapping but had no money. This was in April. The ice was frozen out to Crow Head so they pushed a dory out over the ice and jumped aboard. They headed out to Gaultois looking for some traps. Gordon and Ambrose never had any money and had to face Mr. Garland. They got out to the Passage and stopped for the night. Gordon had three traps and set them. The next morning, he and Ambrose looked at the traps and they had caught two muskrats. Gordon threw them in the dory and continued on. They walked up to the store and Mr. Garland said, "What in the hell you boys doing out here? You boys don't know anything about trapping." Gordon said, "I don't know. I sought three traps late night and caught two muskrats." Mr. Garland did not believe Gordon so he took him down to the dory. When Mr. Garland saw the two muskrats, he gave Gordon and Ambrose everything in the store.

Gordon wanted to go fishing on the boats but his father would not let him go. One day, he towed some logs down Conne River. A fellow from Lamoline wanted Gordon to go fishing but he said he had to go home first. The man said, "You don't need to go home. Just come on aboard the schooner and go from here. Gordon said, "No! I got to go home and see my father first." His father would not let him go. The fellow offered Gordon everything, even rubber boots but he never got the chance to go.

Gordon worked in Corner Brook for three years and he wanted to come home. Father Hull was his boss and said, "You know you are not going back to Bay D'Espoir." Gordon said, "Look here Father Hull, you put a million dollars on the table and I'm still going home." That was just before Hydro came to Bay d'Espoir and Gordon came home.

When Gordon celebrated Christmas, people had to get their rum from St. John's. A bottle of screech costed two dollars and fifty cents. People would go house to house. Gordon said, "We use to have some good Christmas I tell you." People celebrated for twelve nights. They would play cards and put on a boiler of moose or caribou soup. Gordon stated that there was many caribou back in then.

Gordon said that there wasn't much to do in St. Alban's. There were good times back then but not much money. He said it is not much difference here now. Everyone had to go to church. Gordon couldn't remember if anything happened to someone if they didn't go to church only that everyone had to go.

Gordon stated that the teachers weren't bad but the students were devil's. He recalled that the teachers drove him out of the schoolroom or put him in the corner on his knees. Parents would not give the children anything to eat if they were bad. When Gordon had an argument with his teachers, he was afraid to go home. He came home one day and hid under the boats. His uncle saw him hide and threw water at him to get him to come out.

Gordon recalled that Dr. Oldrafty was once here and that Dr. Rodrecky lived where Rick Benoit's apartments are located today. People had to go to Harbour Breton by boat if they were really sick. Once, Gordon cut off his thumb off at Conne Brook. He was first put on a tractor, then on a truck to Milltown. He went from Milltown to the doctor's office by boat. The next day he was carried to Hermitage. He crossed Dawson's Cove on his way to Harbour Breton. Gordon remembered that it took a day or so to get to Harbour Breton.

Gordon remembered that back in the olden days, his family never went hungry because they made hoops and barrels and cut birch. He said, "You could sell anything in them days." The harbour was full of schooners that were ready to buy anything but now nothing can be sold. The birch that was cut was sent to St. Pierre and exchanged for rum. Gordon stated that there was a lot of food back then. There were big punts of molasses and a pound of beef could be bought for five or six cents.

Gordon's wife usually made their clothes. He said, "You would wear anything back then." Many people made shirts and underwear out of wool. Gordon also had to cut wood. He remembered one time, his grandmother Bessie Willcott, who was a midwife, made him cut down a big hardwood. There was plenty of wood but those big ones had to be cut down with a cross cut and then junked up. His grandmother used the boughs of the trees for the cows. Besides cows, Gordon's grandmother had sheep and pigs.

Gordon thought that the best thing that happened to Bay d'Espoir was the roads. Hydro was also good but the only thing is, they got the best out of it. Gordon said, "We should have got more." Gordon worked in Long Pond doing the survey. He also did surveys in Turn over and Bay du Nord.

Gordon remembered the Tidal Wave. He and Leo were at Gordon's house. There were two weddings that day. Jim Hoskins was one of the people who got married. Gordon's house started to shake and tremble. Someone yelled "Fire" so Gordon and Leo grabbed buckets of water and went up to the roof. When they got up there, there was no fire. That night Gordon stayed at Father St. Croix's place. Water was coming all the way up to Fonse Organ's house. The water took the wood and everything. Fonse wanted Gordon and some others to come over because he was afraid but they wouldn't. Gordon and George left to walk out to Sam Organ's house. That is where the teachers stayed. After that, Gordon went home and went to bed. It was a nice day but that night it was really bad. Sam and Liz came to Gordon and said, "She's going to sink." They were all frightened to death.

Gordon recalled that in order to get water, six or seven men had to dig a trench and lay pipes down. When water and sewer was hooked up in St. Alban's, it made life a little easier for most people. Gordon said it didn't make a big difference in his life because he had a well anyway. Gordon said that getting lights made a big difference. He remembered that a teacher from university was staying in St. Alban's and he had running water and pressure in the taps and he could not understand how it was possible.

Gordon recalled that the post office was over on Birchy Point. Mary Hunt and Sammy D. Collier would put mail on the boat. He stated that Garland's was the first store in Bay d'Espoir. Gordon had a store once and sold all kinds of stuff like candies. He recalled that Gaurward Hoskins, Sam Cox, and Ches Cox built St. Ignatius church. Sam Cox fell off the church while it was being built.

Gordon has traveled all over this country to places such as Buchans, Fortune Bay, and Rencontre and he walked all the way. Gordon said he was in good shape in those days. One time when Gordon was moose hunting, the warden was going to give him a ticket. Gordon said, "That will be the first ticket I ever got in my life." The warden said, "Look at how many you should have got." Gordon and his buddy Jack Hull got the ticket anyway because Jack had a magazine in his gun.

Another time when Gordon, Bruce, and George were moose hunting, George said, "Put me out here." Bruce said, "You don't care if I drive." Bruce said this because he was only fourteen years old." Gordon said, "I don't care." Later on, George thought they should stop before they ran out of gas. George was gone a long time so Bruce decided to go and look for him. Bruce went down the path and saw George coming up with blood on his pants. Bruce said, "Oh, you got him." When Bruce went to tell George, he was right behind him. Later, they went back to get the moose with Pat Willcott.

Since George has retired, he obtained a lobster licence and has done a lot of fishing. He is always doing something to keep himself busy.