V.E. Day

Yesterday, May 8, 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of victory over Europe day. It was a momentous day and mention is made of it in a letter home from Dick Nevard who was stationed in England at the time.
Bill Nevard makes reference to the event in his journal on the 13th of May.
May 13, 1945: Sunday, a special Victory celebration service at Headlands school today at 2:00 pm. Dad and I went in the democrat. Bud and Carol rode with us. Uncle Arthur walked but we caught him up before we got to the school. Uncle Horrie, Joy and Donald went in the cart.  Mr. and Mrs. Tom North and daughters. Ed, Ethel and Bill Dodd. Mr. and Mrs. Millward and Ivadelle. Mr. and Mrs. Radwell and Mrs. Bowman and John. Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Barton and Geoffrey. Mrs. Bordass, Mamie and Malcolm. Mrs. Wheale, Mary and Shirley. Mr. Tingey and the same man who was with him the last time.
Roy was home for a while. He has been working for Tom Heggie and now he is going to work for Rudolph Hiske.
I finished writing my letter to Dick. In the evening I went and caught Firelight and Frank, who were both in Uncle Arthur's land, ready for work tomorrow.
Dad went up to Silver Birches.

. A photo of a Church service at Headlands school a few years later in 1951.

Narratives of the Nevards continued

In 1933 the Reverend Cleesby came to assist Reverend Badham.
In November of 1933 a steer got into a storage well that we had dug. The only way to get him out was with a rope around his neck which, unfortunately, strangled the steer. Bill skinned it. The same thing happened some years later but that time Bill and Uncle Horrie chopped a trench in the frozen soil and got the steer out. Wet and thoroughly chilled, but ok. That year of 1933 we had all bull calves born. Bill named them, Hero, Zero, Nero, Gay Caballero and Qinque.
On the night of August 17, 1934 the worst wind storm we had ever experienced occurred. Our threshing separator blew over and was rendered useless. Our stable was pushed out of plumb. Two haystacks had their tops blown off. An open bin on a rise was flattened. One wall was scattered for a quarter mile to the East. The wind came from the West. Bob Miller, six miles to the West of us, also lost his granaries, two in number. This was a dry year. We only dug ten pails of potatoes. The following year we dug 37 bags which was , I think, our best year ever.
Dad put new roofing on the chicken house. We called this building "the Jew shack" It had been on Uncle Arthur's South quarter and Mr. Fastofsky had originally homesteaded that quarter. He was of the Jewish faith. Bill also referred to it as "the Israelite's cottage".
In July of 1935 the Reverend Hillary came as our rector and held services at Headlands. On Sunday, September 17th Bill and I took cousin Roy to St. Michael's Church in Lipton for confirmation.
Down through the years the Nevard family had an assortment of dogs and cats. Rustler had a family of kittens. One was Little Vengeance, another was Sunflower . Possibly a ginger cat or tortoise shell. Bill named them all. I believe he got the names from Treasure Island, a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. A story that Bill was very fond of. There were also two dogs, Bud and Snookums. Uncle Arthur had Bud and we had Snookums. We may have got them from Hobetzeders . Their rather short lives were ended by getting poisoned from a carcass on the way home from town.
Uncle Arthur also had a dog named 'Pants" . He got his name in the following manner. When he was a pup he was fond of grabbing and pulling on pants legs. Roy was just learning to talk and he said "Pants!" in disapproval. Uncle Arthur heard this and was highly amused. From then on he called the dog Pants. On December 21, 1935 Bill recorded: "Pants went to the happy hunting ground". And the following March, another obituary notice, "Sad demise of the venerable Grip from an attack by an unknown assailant. Grip had been Uncle Horrie's dog.
Christmas day of 1936 was spent at our home with the usual family gathering. That year we had a Christmas pudding made by Grandmother Nevard in England who was well up in her eighties at the time. She was the oldest resident living in the village of Lexden at the time.

 

Bill's Trip To Town January 1944

  Headlands P.O.
Sask. Jan 9, 1944
Once again I'm writing to you on Sunday night as usual. I don't know just when it will be posted. Uncle A said a few days ago he would have to go to town soon, either Monday or Friday on account of getting in the bank but Dad was up at Silver Birches this evening and he never said anything about going tomorrow.
After you left on the train Tuesday I went over to the elevator but Andy Gray wasn't there. Jake Huffman was in with a load of wheat and I talked with him for a while, then went over town and posted the letters. Then I bought the lumber Dad wanted. Willie Wilson told me there was some freigtht over at the station so I went and put that on the platform ready to pick up. It was for Uncle A. Then I went to the elevator again and saw Andy Gray. He told me he had room for wheat but not for oats and barley just then. I can't haul until we get more snow anyway.
I asked him about salvage paper. They are not doing anything in Lipton about it yet. The last time they collected salvage paper there it was kind of a washout. They had a whole lot of it stored in sheds and were going to have it trucked out but they were told that the expense of hauling it out would be more than it was worth. So finally , needing the sheds for other purposes, they paid somebody $6 to take it out and burn it.
I got home alright on Tuesday night and on the fifth I hauled away manure and got a load of wheat straw. In the evening Tom and Ed North came along in their covered in cutter after the parcel. They came in and stayed for a while.
On the sixth I got a jag of last year's hay home from 13 for the cattle and on the seventh I got a load of good hay home for Raspberry and the team. Yesterday being a nice day I went up the hill for a load of wheat straw and brought the mail home with me including your letter to Dad. Uncle A. has heard from Bud at last, he is in Italy.
I had two more books from the Open Shelf, "52 Years a Policeman, and Commentary on the Bible". The latter is a big book containing the text of the first five books in the Bible. There is about 675,000 words to read in it so it will keep me busy to get through the two books in the time I'm allowed.
Well I guess its bedtime again and five o'clock will be here before I'm ready for it so goodbye Dick.
From your loving brother............... E.W. Nevard
Aunt Alice wishes me to thank you for your letter to her.
                                                                    
Bill and Ernest Nevard 1946.

Dick Joins The Army

This was the first letter Bill Nevard wrote to his brother, Dick after he left to join the army in January of 1943. This copy is heavily edited to hopefully fit the attention span of today's average reader.

Headlands P.O. Sask.
Jan. 30, 1943
Dear Dick

We got your letter last night so now that we have your address we can write to you and let you know what is going on back home. Glad to hear that you made the grade alright and I hope you will be happy in your new surroundings and will find some congenial companions to make army life more pleasant.

When the train pulled out with you on Tuesday the smoke or steam from the engine blew in between the train and the town so that I could hardly see the train and I don't suppose you could see much of Lipton either as you took your departure. I didn't hang around town long after you'd gone. I got the coal oil at Cohen's, hitched up the team, drove around to Jampolsky's for the groceries and then headed home. I didn't find it so cold going home as I expected. I came along quite a bit faster than usual. We went down to the well, watered the cattle and got inside in time for Fibber Mcgee and Molly.

Next morning I woke up in the dark and heard a strange noise. It sounded like a train whistle. Then I heard further noises. I thought it might be Raspberry calving so I got up and lit the lamp. It was 6:45 am. Dad got up , lit the heater and we went out to the stable but it was a false alarm. I guess maybe it was a train whistle I heard. It was sixty below zero when we first went out.
It was too cold to do anything with the horses so I went and cut a load of wood on our north line just west of the gate into Uncle Horrie's. On Thursday it was little warmer and I got a jag of hay and one of oat straw. Friday night I walked to the Post Office. I think it was the first time I've walked there since the Leslie's moved away. The walking wasn't too bad. It was a cold night, moonlight coming home. John Fleming wasn't home when I got there. Jack Binnington and Leonard Wheale were both at the post office.
It was cold and windy on Monday so I went and cut a little dry wood for Uncle Arthur on his North line. On Wednesday I got two more loads of wood home which makes twenty loads in the yard.
On Friday I borrowed your skis for the trip to the post office as the fresh snow has made walking none too good. We got your second letter alright and Mother got letters from Aunt May and Aunt Flo. Aunt May spoke of you visiting them in your uniform.
I guess some of us will be going to Lipton next week to post this letter. I am thinking of writing to Bud now that we know the government definitely intends to keep you. I hear that Edwin and Victor Senft have to go up for training.
We are getting along alright although Mother is bothered with a cold. Dad is listening to the game between Regina and Flin Flon. Previously he was listening to the game between Toronto and Boston won by Boston. Syl Apps was unfortunate enough to break his leg in the second period.
Well Dick , thats all I can tell you for now but I hope to write to you pretty regularly and hope you will find the going not too tough.
So long and best of luck from your brother

E. W. Nevard

E.W. (Bill) Nevard at back left, Dick Nevard at right.