Arnold's Story: July 1950 Newfoundland

Arnold arrived in Twillingate, Newfoundland, Canada, at the beginning of July 1950. Twillingate is off the northeastern shore of the island. 

Here are some of his postcards. They all had unfranked Newfoundland stamps on the back but I only scanned the one back side. Newfoundland was a separate Dominion from Canada in the British Commonwealth until 1949, when it joined the Dominion of Canada. They issued their own stamps through 1949. This two-cent stamp of King George VI may have been issued as early as 1938.

Arnold related an incident from a home visit where his colleague Clem Hiebert delivered a baby in Newfoundland. The family requested some grace. Somewhat surprised, he happily said a prayer for the baby. The family thanked him for the prayer, but again requested grace. Finally he came to understand they were saying grease, but it sounded like grace to him; he offered some ointment for the new-born baby. In Clem's book Seldom Come By: A Surgeon's Stories, 2003, that delivery was actually of twins.

Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital and Nurses' Home, Twillingate, Newfoundland (postcard)

This two-cent stamp with King George VI was issued in or after 1938 by the Dominion of Newfoundland
 and certainly before it entered into confederation with Canada in 1949 when NFL stopped issuing stamps.

Decades later Clem Hiebert wrote of his residency experiences in Newfoundland, when he, Jerry Foster and Arnold interned at Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital in Twillingate under Dr. John Olds for two–three months.

"Seldom Come By: The Worthwhileness of a Career in Surgery,"  Archives of Surgury, 1989, vol. 124, issue 5, pages 530–534

Here is a photo of Clem Hiebert, Arnold and Jerry Foster from an article on the the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) site about a special collection in the Twillingate Public Library. 

 

Clem Hiebert, Jerry Foster, Arnold Nevis, 1950

Clem Hiebert's photo of Arnold operating with Jerry Foster and an unidentified nurse, 1950,
from the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Library collections

1950 photo by Clement Hiebert of a very tired Arnold Nevis
returning from rounds by boat, Twillingate Harbour

Originally presented as his presidential address for the New England Surgical Society at the end of his term in 1989, Hiebert later published his memoire as Seldom Come By: A Surgeon’s Stories (Blue Publications, 2003).

next post  July 10, 1950

previous post  June 30, 1950

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943