More Old Nevard Photos

 I thought I'd seen them all but a few more old Nevard photos turned up this morning. Found in a box while searching for something else as often happens with me. Did not find the thing I was looking for but these are pretty interesting. First one is not too clear but pretty sure it is Grandpa (Horace) and Grandma (Alice) Nevard with son Roy. Date on the back is 1923. Location I am not hundred percent sure but think it is their house on the homestead. Newly constructed in 1920.

Next is a wedding photo from October 1952. Joy Nevard and Leslie Goff. Bridesmaid Gladys Goff and best man Dick Nevard. Taken at St. John Anglican Church in Fort Qu'appelle. I have several photos from that same event but this is a different angle that I have not seen before. 

Headlands Picnic 1943

From the daily journal of Bill Nevard.
June 29, 1943
Dad and Uncle Horrie both went to Lipton with wheat. I was cultivating. Jubilee seemed to find it hard work so I let him out after dinner and got Spark instead. I found out this afternoon that Violet has a wire cut in her fetlock so I let her out tonight.
Roy and Joy went to Balrobie dance.

June 30: I caught Embers this morning and went on 25 with the John Deere gang plow. Dad had put the new shares on but it soon cleaned and is working alright though plowing rather deep. Not an awful lot of tall growth on the stubble yet excepting stinkweed. Joy and Donald went to Headlands picnic and all three of them went to the dance.

December 16 1947-Winter and Winstanley Grove

Got another two loads of wood in and after dinner we went and chopped a bit.
Donald went off on Rusty to phone the doctor. John Fleming and his family went
to Lipton in the morning. Charlie Huber brought the doctor up as far as his place,
then Donald and Joy went down with the team and sleigh and fetched him up to
Winstanley Grove that night. But Bud and Carol had become the parents of a baby
girl before the doctor arrived. Richard Supple brought a Mrs. Tom Berner there.
She was an English war bride and a nurse. Joy stayed there while Bud drove the
doctor back to Lipton. He never got home until about 5 a:m .

December 17: I went up to Silver Birches and heard the particulars of last night's
events. Dick and I put in the morning cutting wood in the bluff and cleaned up the
manure after dinner. Blowing and drifting quite a bit with a nasty cold wind so we
did not bother to get water.

October 29 1952

Today, October 29 , in Nevard history . Actually I already made reference to this occasion 3 years ago in this Nevardblog post so some of you may think it looks familiar if you have been following that long.
For those that haven't , the wedding of Joy Nevard and Les Goff as seen in this photo.

We did a re-enactment of this historic photo using the same car this past August. It went well.

Today In Bill's History

On his day off from working at the Fort San Bill Nevard walks the approximate 20 miles back to his farm home.
October 16, 1948
A miserable day. I walked most of the way home but Henry Meyer's two daughters overtook me with a car and gave me a lift for 3 miles. I had dinner with Uncle Arthur and afterwards went on up to Silver Birches where I saw Aunt Alice , Roy, Joy and Donald. Bud has gone to Calgary with little Eric. I collected a bag of stuff then headed back South. I had to walk all the way to Lipton getting there just in time to catch the bus. My first bus ride.
Oct. 17: Sunday. Got my first beets ready this morning. A messy job with beet juice all over the floor of the vegetable room making it look  like a slaughter house. At night Dick and walked down to the Fort to an Anglican service. Bill Levey gave us a lift in his car. It was a nice moonlight night.

Lipton main street in the late 1940s.

Narratives, The Final Chapter.

Tommy was our first cat. . I had suggested to Dad that we might get a cat and he replied, "what do we want a cat for, we have no mice?" I asked cousin Joy to save a kitten for us. I bought a case of cat food and put it in the shed. Dad saw it and asked "what is the cat food for?" I replied that it means we are getting a cat. Dad said nothing more. He only smiled.
That fall we got Steve Tomenchuk to haul our firewood down to the new house for us. Dad went with him and brought the cat back too. As they started back Dad had Tommy in a sack on the cab floor. Tommy was protesting so Dad carried him home on his lap. The cat was quite comfortable and content there. Dad and Tommy became quite attached to each other. Dad would get up in the night to let him in.
Aunt Alice passed away on April 27 of 1953.
On October 29th, 1952 my cousin Joy, and Leslie Goff were married at St. John's Anglican Church in Fort Qu'appelle. The reception was held here in my house at Dad's suggestion. It was a warm, sunny day. Even Tommy the cat joined in the celebrations by eating some leftover ice cream.

In 1956 neighbors George and Jennie Birns gave us driving lessons and that summer we bought a new Chevrolet. We built a double garage and gave the Birns half of it in payment for teaching us to drive.
My father, Ernest Nevard, passed away September 5, 1958 at the age of 80. Uncle Arthur on January 11, 1965. My brother Bill passed away on November 7, 1975.
The author, Richard A. (Dick) Nevard passed away March 14th, 1995. Just past his 80th birthday.

Narratives 14 to 1942

In 1937 the Reverend Thomas started taking services at Headlands. In June of 1937 I had my first goiter operation and the second one the following January.
In May of 1938 I saw three deer on NW13, something I had never seen before. Bill had seen them when I was quite young. I remember Bill coming home for dinner and asking Mother and I to guess what kind of an animal he had seen. I guessed lions, tigers, and various others not seen around our hemisphere. So you can guess how old I must have been. I might add that I was rather disappointed in his not seeing something more thrilling.
On October 18, 1938 John Leslie sold out and moved from the district. He had been our faithful mail man for over 20 years. People coming home to our district from Regina knew that if they came to Lipton on Friday's train they could get a ride home with Mr. Leslie. John Fleming took over the post office (Headlands) until it was closed in 1947. On November 25 Bill recorded the sad death of Drizzly Inkblot Dwump, which was one of our cats. I was rather amused over the odd name Bill gave this particular cat.
On October 10, 1940, cousin Joy was confirmed in the Anglican Church in Ituna.
In May of 1942 the Reverend Frank Turnbull came and took Church services at Headlands. Cousin Donald was confirmed November first of 1942, also at the Anglican Church in Ituna.
In the spring of 1942 I had my first experience of working away from home when I worked for the Norths for two weeks while Tom North was laid up with the mumps.

Picnic at Winstanley Grove about 1934. Left to right: Arthur Nevard, Alice Nevard, Uncle Eddie, Horace Nevard, Roy Nevard, Don Nevard, Dick Nevard, Joy Nevard, Bill Nevard, Mary Nevard, Unknown, possibly Mrs. Hammil.

Narratives 11 School Days

A few days later Aunt Daisy took across Section 26 and the southeast of 35 to Headlands school which had been moved a mile east to the southeast quarter of 34 that winter. Aunt Daisy drove us with Dan and the buggy for a few days until we got to know our way. She put about 3 flags or rags on long poles to guide us. I did not go to school much the first year due to illness and other things. I did not learn much. The things I was most interested in were the songs and games. These were the things I told Mother about when I arrived home. Mother wanted to hear of the serious side of my education.
There was some excitement in the district that summer when some of the pupils came to school one morning telling us of a lunatic being at large in a nearby district. Mother had dad's rifle across a cream can although she did not know how to use it. Bill and Dad went to bed armed with clubs. One night Bill's club rolled off the bed on to the floor causing Dad to awake and wonder what was up.
The fall of 1924 was a wet one with lots of water in the sloughs. There were lots of ducks also and they raided the stooked wheat. Uncle Horrie was especially bothered as he had a big slough on his SW quarter of section 30. Some duck hunters came up from Regina and camped in Uncle Arthur's yard. Just at that time my cousin Joy was born. Mr. Cresweller, one of the hunters went in his car to phone for the doctor. Bill went with him to the gate with a stable lantern so the doctor could find his way in. They had just begun threshing our wheat but we were stopped for a wet spell.
Just after that I had my adenoids removed using the kitchen table as an operating table. There was no more school for me that year.
The Reverend Bowley started holding Church services in Headlands school. The first service was held on a week day evening in the fall of 1924. During the service, the lamp which was suspended from the ceiling, fell to the floor. Aunt Daisy grabbed Mrs. Creaser's coat and smothered the flames. Mrs. Creaser was not pleased over her coat being used for such a purpose.
Mr. and Mrs. Bowley slept at Uncle Arthur's and Aunt Daisy's home that night and did some visiting the next day.
In the spring of 1925 I started back to school again and attended more regularly. At Christmas that year I took part in my first Christmas concert. I had learned a recitation for the concert the year before but the weather was too cold for us to attend. I will never forget my first concert in 1925. I got so far and then got stage fright. I could not think of the next words. It seemed like ages before the teacher, Miss Mill, came to my rescue with the next word. Mother knew it by heart. Aunt Daisy said later that she should have come to my rescue and prompted me. In 1927 Aunt Daisy took seriously ill and went to a hospital in Winnipeg where they put her on a diet containing liver. In July of that same year my cousin, Donald, was born to Aunt Alice and Uncle Horrie. Mrs. Orford nursed Aunt Alice.

Arthur and Daisy Nevard

Cold Days On The Farm

It was -30F this morning. Warmed up to -25 by the time I went out to check the cattle. It was actually not bad in the sunshine and protected from  what little wind was blowing. I let the cow and calf out of the shelter and they headed out to where the rest of the herd were at the hay feeder on the south(sunny) side of the bush. A little while later they all showed up back at the barn for chop and water. Turning on the hydrant and filling the trough is so easy compared to how it was done years ago, as seen in Bill Nevard's  journal entries from 1942.

February 16
30 below zero this morning and a cold Nor-west wind blowing. We let all the horses out but they would not go down to the well and consequently never had a drink. The cattle did not drink much.
February 17. As it was still cold this morning I decided to try and melt snow for the animals. It took quite a while to get ready and quite a while to melt but we managed to give them all a drink. It was nice and bright today. Roy and Joy were here this evening.
February 23. Snowing and drifting the roads up. Quite a bit of fresh snow has fallen so I melted snow again. We seemed to get through with the melting quicker today. We let all the stock out. Uncle Arthur was down here this morning. Not a bad sort of day on the whole.

Some Nevard cattle on the trail from the big slough.

Coronation Day 1937

May 12, 1937 actually. While Bill Nevard worked at home planting the crop , some of his family made the  trip to town for the day of celebration of the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Some excerpts from letters give quite a good account of the day's events. This one written by Joy Nevard....

Donald, Uncle Arthur and I walked to Senft's. When we arrived quite a few people were there. Edith Seip, Miss Dodd, Mrs. Newton, Tom and Irene. We waited for a while til Mr. Dan Seip came with the truck with some of the other children in it. We all got in the truck and went off singing and yelling. When we arrived in town we got out and wandered around buying and looking at things.
At ten minutes to one we all went to the town hall. There were 8 schools there including Lipton, Hayward, Jeshurun, Shawlands, Headlands, Balrobie,  Heavylands and Freelands. Then all went up in twos and we had medals pinned on our coats. After that Mr. Fisher gave a speech. We all marched to the school grounds where there were some trees stuck in holes in the ground and piles of dirt on each side and as each pair came up we went one on each side of the hole and threw a handful of dirt in. After that we marched to the sports ground. We had races. Donald won one race and got fifteen cents. I raced but I did not win.
Then there were ball games. When the games were over we went to the town hall for supper. We went out and had some fun. Then Mr. Dan Seip, Uncle Arthur and Miss Dodd came to the truck. They stood talking for a while. Then Miss Dodd came and told us we could stay to the picture show. We got home about 11 o'clock.
                                                                Your loving cousin, Joy
P.S. Kenny Fisher took pictures of us while we were having our badges put on and we were standing in line.
 Now some from Roy's letter....

I guess you heard the coronation celebrations over the radio eh? Well Bud and I rode down to Lipton on Snap and Fly on coronation day  and Uncle Arthur and Joy and Donald went with the rest of the children in Dan Seip's truck.
We watched the different school groups all assembled in front of the school. Then we went over to the station and watched the children march to the sports grounds. We went over to the sports grounds and watched the procession circling around. We saw Sidney Ford and he was with us for quite a long time. He was asking us about you too.
We went to the Chink's cafe and bought chocolate, ginger beer, peppermints, gum, etc.
After a while we went to the sports grounds again and watched Headlands playing softball against Heavylands. Heavylands won. Balrobie played against Hayward and Balrobie won. Sandy Goff was pretty good.
We went to Calver's and got tickets for the picture show. Then we had lunch at the chink's. We had supper at the town hall. At half past seven the picture show started and lasted for two hours. When we came out we saw them shooting off fireworks in Walwyn's back yard. We came home a few minutes later.
                                                     Your loving cousin Roy

Main street of Lipton as seen from the top of a grain elevator in the 1930s

Today In Nevard History

From the journal of Bill Nevard. October 29, 1952.
This being the wedding day of Leslie Goff and Joy Nevard, Dick changed days off with Syd Longstaff so he could go to the wedding. Dad stayed home . Besides Rev. Corkhill, who performed the ceremony, Les and Joy, were Dick as best man, Gladys Goff bridesmaid, Uncle Horrie who gave the bride away, Mrs. Corkhill, Mrs. Goff, Doris, Mavis, and Sandy Goff and his girlfriend. Mr. Hobetzeder, Grace and Ivy and I. Roy brought Uncle Arthur, Jack Goff and Donald in his car but he arrived too late for the wedding. We had the reception after at Dick's house and they all went home in good time. It was a lovely day for the wedding.