Janice M. Drover - Miracles Happen: The Rendell Drover Story

MIRACLES HAPPEN

The Rendell Drover Story

Janice Drover

Flanker Press Limited

St. Johns

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Drover, Janice M., 1952-, author

Miracles Happen : the Rendell Drover story

/ Janice Drover.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77117-473-2 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-77117-594-4

(epub).--ISBN 978-1-77117-595-1 (kindle).--ISBN 978-1-77117-596-8 (pdf)

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from Library and Archives Canada.

2017 by Janice Drover

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Printed in Canada

Cover Design by Graham Blair

Flanker Press Ltd.

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St. Johns, NL

Canada

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We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada. Nous reconnaissons lappui [financier] du gouvernement du Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. Lan dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de lart dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation for our publishing activities.

I would like to dedicate this book to my great friend, Evelyn Adams, of Upper Island Cove. Evelyn was always there despite all her illnesses. She put everyone ahead of herself. She was a true fighter in every sense of the word. Her long, hard battle with cancer came to an end on August 20, 2014, just before her sixty-sixth birthday. Rest in peace, my dear friend and confidante. You were one of a kind and you are sadly missed.

I would also like to dedicate this book to my brother-in-law, Ray Adams, of Spaniards Bay. Ray passed away suddenly on November 3, 2015, while moose hunting. This was just days before Ray and my sister, Bertha, were to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

U pper Island Cove is a little town in Conception Bay North in eastern Newfoundland. It is nestled in the hills and close to a rugged shorelinenot an ideal place for an airportwith a long history of fishing. Some of its people also worked in various places in Newfoundland, such as the mines in Bell Island and Buchans. Everybody knew everybody. It is a friendly little town off the main drag, as they say, and well-known for its witty people and their musical abilities. Many talented and ambitious people come from there, such as, doctors, nurses, lawyers, politicians, and of course sea captains.

Like other outport communities in Newfoundland, Upper Island Cove has had its share of tragedies in the past. We often listened to the older people tell of whole families becoming lost while cutting firewood for the winter or falling through a thin place in the ice. Some were lost in a blinding blizzard, some were lost while out at the seal hunt, and others were lost when their boats went down. The rugged coast brought much sadness just a few years ago, when two teenaged boys went over a large embankment on a quad and were never seen again.

This story began over sixty-six years ago. Rendell Drover was born on July 30, 1948, in a little Conception Bay North town called Upper Island Cove. Rendell was the third son of Albert and Myra Drover. His father was overjoyed to have another son because he would have a crew in the future for his fishing boat. Rendells mother probably wanted a little girl this time but never said anything. She proudly showed off her chubby little boy to his brothers and the rest of their family and friends.

Rendell soon became a middle child. Myra got her little girl, whom they called Sarah, after Alberts mother, who died at a very young age, not long after the Drovers were married. Four years after Sarahs birth, Myra and Albert were blessed with their last child, a little girl they called Shirley. The Drover household was complete with five small children, and Alberts father, whom everyone called Uncle Walter. John and Walter, their first-born sons, were named after two uncles who had both passed away at an early age.

Uncle Walter had a son Llewellyn from a previous marriage. He went to live with maternal relatives. Uncle Walter, still a young man, married Sarah Vokey of Spaniards Bay and they had four children: John, Walter, Susie, and Albert (Rendells father). Susie and Albert were the only two surviving children, and Llewellyn came back to live with them later. Rendells grandmother Sarah, being a very religious woman, would instill her faith in her children. Susie was a very intelligent woman and was often called upon to solve problems or settle arguments. When someone was sick or needed help with anything, Susies was always the place to go.

Susie was well-respected by Llewellyns and Alberts crowd, as they were fondly called. Susie married William Drover. She never had to change her name and she didnt move far from her parents home. Susie and Will had six children. Llewellyn and Alfreda had five children and lived next door to Susie and Will. The three houses were only a stones throw away from each other. They raised fifteen children between them. Susies daughter Sarah passed away at an early age.

Susie, who lived not far from the wharf, could keep an eye on those who ventured to the wharf without permission. A piece of rope with a knot was hung in the porch as a deterrent for anyone who broke the rules. Susie probably saved a few lives in her lifetime, and Id say the rope was never used. The back dock and the wharf often come up now in stories as they get together to reminisce. Susie was loved and respected by all who knew her.

As in many outport communities, in the summertime the wharf was one of the main gathering places in the small town of Upper Island Cove. A lot of families depended on the fishery, especially during the summer. You knew spring was coming when the cod traps came out of the sheds and store lofts. Boats were repaired and painted and gear made ready for the water. Many mended holes in their traps that the hungry rodents had made during the long winter in the shed. Everything had to be ready for the water when the fishery opened.

Everyone scurried to get the best fishing berth down along the shore and made sure the traps were set right. In later years, the fishermen would call a meeting and put the names of the berths in a bag, and everyone had a chance to pick the prime berths, such as Deep Water Point, Greenhead, Freshwater Rock, Hawks Nest, and Sisters. Some would be satisfied, and some would be disappointed and hope for better luck next year. They knew all the berths and what the ocean floor was like and where the tides ran, all without the technology we have today. Sometimes, all the equipment they had were a compass, a sculling oar, and a bailing can.