Hillier, Bessy. Interview with Bessy Hillier about her life in Green's Harbour, her childhood memories, and especially about the generational gap between her childhood and now.

Bessy Hillier shares her life experiences in Green's Harbour and about her professional life in the Canadian Air Force. She highlights differences between the time she grew up and present day. She talks about the generational gap, the notion of respect, and helping others is not as widely practiced now as it was when she was young.00:07- 01:39 Hillier was born in Green’s Harbour on the other side of the Harbour, grew up there till she was sixteen, she taught school for two years, in 1943 for new adventure she joined Canadian Air Force, she taught in the Hopeall and Notre Dame Bay, she is the youngest and she had two sisters who passed away, she had two children, one son and one daughter, her son is in St. john’s and her daughter is here in Green’s Harbour; 01:43- 03:02 she went to an all grade school, the school was from kindergarten to grade eleven, then teachers did not punish exactly, she tells that they used to respect them a lot, there was no bus then, one had to go by her own, she played hopscotch and skating, she says that there was no hangout then like now, she went to the stores and bought an apple and that’s all, there was no hangout places then; 03:11-03:51 importantly there is a vast difference between the time she grew up and today’s children, she shares that nowadays it’s common to hear that children always says that ‘I'm bored’, but during her time they did not get bored much, she used to collect water from the well, bringing the wood and she loved to read books, there was not much money to buy things, they did not have that craving to buy many things or spent money for unnecessary things; 03:56-05:42 most of the people did fishing, her father was also a fisherman, clothing and necessary things were found in most of the stores, her mother used to knit clothes, also her sister did some knitting, sometimes her mother sold some clothes especially mates to make money, they always had their own garden, enough to supply the family’s need but not for selling; 05:51- 08:50 24th May was the day to celebrate and also the Christmas was special to her, Christmas then was not like it is now, they got up in the morning and the Christmas tree would be there, she received dolls and other gifts in Christmas, chicken and turkey were the special meals during Christmas, those who had sheep and cows they used to kill them for special meal, on Sunday they had special meal like chicken or fresh meat and desert, her mother used to made ginger breads and pies as desert for the Sunday special meal, they went to the churches on Sundays; 08:55- 10:43 going to the school, bringing wood for the night, filling up water those were the daily chores she used to do in her childhood, she used to have herbal tea and leaves for cough and cold as home remedy, she tells that her family was a pretty healthy family, doctor used to come once in a week in the Harbour, there was a nurse also; 10:51- 14:12 her mother was from the Carbonear, there were five members in her father’s family, she writes poems to pass her free time, recites one of her poems about the differences between old days and modern days, in her poem she describes the complexity of wars, she calls for humanity in her poems, she urges young men to come forward to do humanitarian works; 14:21- 16:21 she thinks her time in Canadian Air Force was very interesting, she went to Ottawa for basic training, then went to Toronto for six months to do some courses, she was sent to overseas, her husband was also in the British Navy, her husband was from Green’s Harbour, she and her husband returned here after finishing their job, her husband passed away three years ago; 16:27-20:13 she is involved with the Senior’s Group here, she is also involved in Church organizations, she plays darts, goes to card games, when she was young she used to dance even she used to dance before her husband passed away, she never played any musical instruments, she does not much believe in ghosts stories, she is little bit worried about the generation gap, now the notion of helping others is almost gone, she tells that people are busy with phones, people has more money, she shares that they respected their teachers but now children do not do like they did; 20:15- thanking Hillier for the interview and end of the interview