WORKING ON THE BASE

I went to work with the Engineers on the US Naval Base in Argentia in September of 1941. The engineers showed us what to do with block lines, how to give sights, use a plumb bob to sight and learn their signs to read what they wanted you to do. There was a lot of work to it. They'd send you out on the trails to take the height of the land for laying out the guns. You had to learn as you were going. We lived on the Base for so many years, then we'd drive home every night with Ernest Bennett.

I worked in the tire shop repairing tires for cars, busses and tractors and changing them on the big tractors. We had to service the cars and take care of the big trailer tires. When the war was on we didn't get any holidays. We worked seven days a week and I worked a twelve hour night shift for two years. Then we went on day shift. I worked on the Base for 28 years.

ABOUT OUR GARDENS

When I got a week off in May, I set the potato garden. I didn't set the small seed because it needed more care. We'd put the potatoes in in the Spring, trench them in June and then dig them in the fall of the year. There was no leisure time. We worked like a dog. When I'd come home every night, I'd go in the woods and cut wood for the next day. When it came time to paint my house, I had a scaffold set up and I spent a couple of hours painting in the evening. It took the whole summer to do it.

FUNERALS

When people died, Mr. Ben Fowler would prepare them for burial. They would dress them in a brown habit that was handmade. They would be waked at home and someone would stay up all night at the house. They would be brought to the cemetery by horse and sled in winter and horse and cart in summer. The blinds on the windows would be pulled down while they were passing by.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, early 1900s