Homestead 121

children of Maurice O’Shea and his wife Catherine O’Connell. He attended the Valley school of which he often humorously claimed he was a graduate. It appears that he stayed in school and attained the equivalent of a grade ten standing, no small feat in those days. His best remembered teacher was Pat Bolger who among other things was an expert handwriter and instilled this gift into his pupils. Dad caught the habit for he was an excellent penman in his own style. He did not farm much on the Valley homestead but hired out most of the time. He worked on the building of the Murray Harbor railway and the first Hillsboro Bridge. Out of province ventures took him to the woods and sawmills of Maine and New Hampshire, carpentry in Bos- ton and the harvest excursions of the Canadian West. He loved to talk, was humorous and a lively mimic with an easy facility to make people. laugh. Despite his passion for keeping occupied, he had the great gift of taking time to stop and talk to people at length even in busy times. He relished a drink or two but I for one never saw him intoxicated. Though his name was William, he was known by practically everyone simply as “ Bill Shea” and had a wide host of friends around the country. Some indeed may not have been his friends for he could be blunt in his assessment of people and trends. He was also a lavish swearer and never quite succeeded in keeping the Second Commandment. For whatever reasons, he was deeply suspicious of Charlottetown and many of its institutions and had the easy ability to deflate persons of pompous bearing, especially of the merchant and professional classes there. Blessed with good health and a robust constitution, he lived to the age of 92.

Mom was born in 1889, the youngest of eleven children of John Byme and his wife Annie Murphy of Iona West. Over half that family spent their working years in the United States, with five of them and their spouses eventually coming to rest in the Catholic cemetery in Waterville, Maine. Dad always called Mom “Nellie”, but others knew her as Helen who throughout her life remained quiet and shy, very much a person of her home and community. A loving mother, she worked hard not only in the house but also around the yard, having a steady influence on the family and contributing greatly to the overall operation of the homestead. While still relatively young Mom was plagued with declining health which she bore bravely. For the last ten years of her life she was a semi invalid and spent periods of time in hospital where she passed away at the age of 64. .

Mom and Dad were married June 20, 1916 in St. Michael’s