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).

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Arnold's Story: June 30, 1950

A bill from Harvard University. I am unsure what the Veterans Excess charge would be; could it be tuition after the GI Bill educational assistance is deducted?

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Arnold's Story: May 30, 1950

Arnold writes with the details of his flight home to Los Angeles. 

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Arnold's Story: May 24, 1950

Laura's joining the church may indicate her confirmation in the church.

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Arnold's Story: May 22, 1950

Arnold stays in touch with his deceased friend 's mother, Vera Cummings. 

May 21 was "I am an American" Day, honoring naturalized American citizenship. It started in 1938 spread nationally by 1940. Later it became Citizenship Day and moved to September, being renamed Constitution Day.

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Arnold's Story: May 18, 1950

Arnold receives an invitation to dinner at the home of one of the doctors at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital after their last tutorial.

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Arnold's Story: May 1, 1950 Dolly

After Dolly bought a carving knife for herself and her husband Wayne, she proposes to collectively buy another one as a Mother's Day gift from all the siblings.

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Arnold's Story: May 1, 1950 AHN

Ralph W. Sockman was a well known Methodist pastor, a frequent speaker on the weekly radio show, National Radio Pulpit, and a writer of several best-selling books on Christianity. 

"City Light" was film classic of 1931, a silent film produced and directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin.

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Arnold's Story: April 28, 1950

Hazel writes with family news and to firm up plans for Arnold's visit in June.

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Arnold's Story: April 14, 1950

Bill mailed that letter and check late in the day on Wednesday, April 12th, and it has already arrived on Friday, April 14th. 

Arnold had planned for a clerkship at the University of California, Berkeley, but now decides to do an internship at a hospital in Twillingate, Newfoundland, Canada. He thinks it will prepare him better to become a medical missionary in Korea. The extra money he saves flying coach instead of deluxe about $90 in 1950 (about $1000 in 2021) will cover his expenses in Newfoundland for three months.

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Arnold's Story: April 12, 1950 WEN

Bill asks Arnold to make a surprise visit to the New York office of the family firm to check up on how things are run there.

$400 in 1950 dollars is $4400 in today's money, so quite a generous gift.

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Arnold's Story: April 12, 1950 Harry

Harry here is probably Harry Schmidt. The Congo Club might have been a nightclub in Los Angeles.

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Arnold's Story: April 8, 1950

Arnold writes about future travel — to New York City at Easter and to California in June. He jokes about his "Scotch" blood when citing Ben Nevis. The Nevis family is Portuguese, originally Neves, and we adopted the Scottish spelling Nevis to keep the pronunciation closer to the Portuguese, so there is no genetic relationship to the name of the mountain in Scotland.

We see in 1950 that a cross-country round-trip airfare is $278 for coach and $364 for "Sky Chief"/ "Californian"/"Sky King". In 2021 dollars they translate into $3000 (coach) and $4000 (deluxe), so it is quite a luxury to travel by airplane in 1950. Arnold saying that the difference is $80–90 would be about $1000 in today's money.

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