Interview #36

Name: Jenny Collier

Sex: Female

Age: 68

Place and date of birth: Red Island, Placentia Bay, September 30, 1930

Education: Grade 10

Religion: Roman Catholic

Occupation: Telegraph Operator, Homemaker

Number of children: 11

Names of children and where they live:

Michael Collier Jr. (St. Alban's) Anita Garland (Milltown)

Margaret Collier (St. Alban's) Sally Willmott (Alberta)

Victor Collier (Mississauga) Ronald Collier (Mississauga)

Christopher Collier (Mississauga) Martin Collier (Mississauga)

Keith Collier (Mississauga) Ross Collier (Mississauga)

Gary Collier (Mississauga)

Phone: 538-3215

Place of interview: Long Path (St. Alban's)

Date of interview: March 3, 1999

Interviewers: Colin Pittman and Curtis Hoskins

Jenny Collier was born on Red Island, Placenta Bay on September 30, 1930. Her parents were Tom and Jane Norman. Her father's parents were Michael and Sarah Norman and her mother's parent's were Edward and Anne Travis. She lived with her parents until she was twenty.

Jenny worked as a telegraph operator. She sent telegrams on a keyboard using Morse Code. She worked on Red Island for two years. After this, she traveled to various locations relieving other workers. Some of the places that she worked were Bay Verte, Springdale, Pelly's Harbour, and Harbour Buffett. She first came to St. Alban's in 1950 and worked there for a couple of years. In 1953, she went to Harbour Grace and took care of her sister and her four children because her sister was sick. She stayed in Harbour Grace for three years. She married Mike Collier in 1956 and settled in St. Alban's.

Jenny remembered playing hopscotch and marbles. There were not many ball games only throwing a ball back and forth to each other. She said she spent most of her time on the head of the wharf jigging connors. She said, "I really enjoyed it." She also recalled going out in boats and visiting the smaller islands around with her father.

Jenny attended a two-room school on Red Island. In one room, there were grades one to five and in the other room, there were grades six to eleven. Two teachers she had were Miss Theresa Ryan and Mr. Dennis Barry. Jenny walked to school which took twenty-five minutes. It took longer in the winter. She climbed hills, then valleys, and then more hills. She said that the roads were not too bad because her father and other fathers helped keep it up. In the winter, the fathers would beat down the snow for the children. Jenny stated that back, children were not allowed to miss school unless there was a serious reason. It was not only the teachers. The parents would not let the children stay home. She recalled that it was a lot stricter back then. "I got more than one slap with a slapper," said Jenny.

Jenny relived a story about Mr. Dennis Barry. He had a leather strap but he was not satisfied with that so he carved out a "slapper" and gave Jenny a bottle of ink to paint it for him. She said, "I'll never forget it in my life." Jenny's father hung it over the stove to dry. The next morning, Jenny took it down from above the stove and brought it to school. The first thing Mr. Barry said when she got to school was hold out your hands. He wanted to show the rest of the children what he was going to do with the slapper. He slapped Jenny's two hands. Jenny recalled, "I'll never forget it. You think I didn't have sore hands that day. That was the thanks I got for painting it. I cried." Jenny's brother told their father what had happened. Her father went to see Mr. Barry. He said he was only demonstrating and Jenny's father told him that he does not demonstrate on his children and not to do it anymore. Jenny thought it was cruel. She said, "Sometimes the teacher would take you out of your seat by the hair of the head and throw you in the corner. Wherever you would land, you would stay because you were afraid to move." Jenny thought that the power went to the head of the teachers. Other things Jenny remembered about school were using slates, bringing splits, having hot cocoa at recess, and walking home for lunch.

Jenny had to do many chores around her house and garden. The garden had all kinds of vegetables such as potatoes, parsnips, cabbage and beets. She had a big family of sixteen children so they did not sell any of their vegetables. If anyone could not do it or were sick, her family would always share. On her way to school in the morning, she helped bring manure to the top of the hill where the garden was. She had to bring whatever needed to be brought, wherever. She carried the manure up by handbar with her school bag across her back. On the way home during lunch, she had to bring the handbar back down from the hill. It was refilled and she had to bring it back up to the garden on her way back to school. Jenny said that she worked hard. She also had to put out the water horse which is fish that is just washed. She salted their fish, then after a couple of days, she washed it and put it in buckets. After this, she had to get a handbar to put the fish on the flakes and spread them out. This had to be done in the morning before she went to school. The fish were turned over dinner time. After school, they were turned over again. After she did this, it was time to turn over the hay. She said, "I had so much work to do before school, during lunch, and after school." She said she did not really know what fun was because she did not have the time. The children saw that the work needed to be done so everyone did it.

The place Jenny was born, Red Island, was nine miles long and three miles wide. When Jenny was growing up, around three hundred people lived there. There is nobody living there today. In the 1960's, people resettled to various places. Some people went as far as Boston and New York. The people had no choice because Joey Smallwood kicked them out. Jenny said, "It was really sad. People are still hurting from it today." The people had to leave everything behind and they had everything they needed to survive. They had their own meat (hens, sheep, cows), vegetables (gardens), fish, and their own homes. The people were given six hundred dollars to find another place to live. Jenny said, "What the people found was more or less shacks." At this time, Joey Smallwood was a big shot. He took the telegraph office from Red Island, then their hospital boat that would come in once a month, and then he took their school. She said, "It was like Joey said to the people stay if you like but I am still going to take everything." The people of Red Island had no choice but to move. Many people tried to fight it and a few families stayed there a couple of winters but they could not handle it. There was no way to reach anyone. Jenny said, "It was really sad. Joey really made a mess of it. He ruined many lives. He didn't care. He was out for himself. He wanted to make a big name for himself. He got his way."

Jenny's house today is similar to the one she lived in on Red Island except there were no bathrooms and no electricity on Red Island. It had five bedrooms upstairs. It had two stoves. One was in the back kitchen and the other one was in the living room.

The closest hospital to Red Island was at Placentia. To get there, people had to travel by boat. She recalled a time when her brother cut himself. Her mother put his head under the running brook to clean it. The coldness of the water helped stop the blood. Her family took turpentine off the trees, squeezed the cut together, and put the turpentine on the cut. It healed in a couple of weeks. Other remedies that Jenny recalled were taking the bark off a tree, boiling it, and drinking the liquid to cure a cough and using ginger wine for a bad stomach.

Jenny recalled that church was very important in the past. A priest came to Red Island every two or three months. Every Sunday, everyone on the island went to church at eleven a.m. and six-thirty p.m.. Mr. Garvis Ryan said the rosary. After he died, the justice of the peace, James McCarthy, said it. When the priest was on Red Island, people fell on their knees if he passed them and knew he was going to see a sick person. They did this because they knew he had the blessed sacrament with him. Jenny remembered that Monseigneur Fried was one of the priests who visited Red Island. Jenny recalled that he was strict. Two altar boys were caught talking in church and the next day he shaved their heads. In St. Alban's, Jenny remembered Father Hayes. She said, "He was a good man that helped with everything and everyone. He was a saint on earth." All priests were strict back then but they were also really respected.

Jenny remembered some historical information about Bay d'Espoir. Some telegraph operators that worked in St. Alban's were Jim Kearley, Mr. Fiander, Mary Hunt, Vera Willcott, and Martin Davis. Some people who resettled to Milltown were the Courtney's and the Garland's. Some people who resettled to St. Alban's were Sam Hiscock, Albert Farrell, and Billy and Mrs. Blakes. When they were going to build a road in St. Alban's, Father Hayes was so against it. He thought it would be the end of the community. He did not want strangers in the town because he wanted things as they were. Jenny believed that it was a good thing for the bay in the end because the people of Bay d'Espoir only had the C. N. boat that came in once a week delivering the mail and passengers.

Jenny felt that Bay d'Espoir did not get anything from Hydro except empty promises. She felt that the government promised the people everything and they believed it. Jenny said, "The government does not care about the people. We're paying their wages. We should have control over what they say. It is not going to change."

Jenny felt that Confederation did not do much for Newfoundland either. The people of Newfoundland were placed on the bottom of the list and left there. She said that Joey Smallwood took everything from Newfoundland and never put anything back.

For Jenny's wedding, Mass was held at nine a.m. in the church on the beach. Anthony Collier and Bernadette, Jenny's sister, stood up for them. After the wedding, there was a lunch in their own home. Their house was already built before they were married. There were no invitations. Everyone came because they knew they were welcome to come.

Jenny said that Christmas was spent with the family. For Easter, people attended church services and had Easter Sunday dinner. Jenny said that children do not go to Church anymore. When she was a child, she went to the stations of the cross at least two or three times a week. The teachers took the students. For April 21, the first day of Spring, children would break an egg on the road and whoever was the first person to walk over it, would be the person they would marry.

Jenny said, "I help with anything that needs to be done." In June of 1985, she became an extraordinary minister. In September of that year, she started visiting the homes. She still visits shut-ins at eight homes and goes to K. M. Homes every Friday. She brings communion and says prayers with them. She said, "I enjoy my work because I know they look forward to it. I have visited a lot of people. It is a big list. I love doing it." Jenny is also involved in The Cancer Society and The Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Jenny's interview was very interesting. She has a good heart and this is proven by her generous acts in the community.