NIPIGON
HISTORICAL MUSEUM January 20, 2006
Jefferey
LeBar
Born:
Nipigon Hospital 1955
Parents:
Audrey Nona (Atkinson) LeBar, Wesley LeBar
Grand
Parents: Vivienne (Van Tassel) Atkinson, Carl Atkinson
Elizabeth, Oliver LeBar (Coldwell)
Siblings: Cheryl, Ronnie, Shawn,
Allan
The LeBar’s moved from Manitoulin to Coldwell. Wesley LeBar
then
moved from Coldwell to Nipigon to marry Audrey.
They were married on June 18, 1951 at the Nipigon Anglican Church. They had five children all born in Nipigon
Hospital. Wesley LeBar was a war vet and
a member of the Nipigon Legion. He went
to the second world war and he was under age, was taken prisoner for a while by
the German’s and entered into a prisoner of war camp. When they were being moved to another camp in
railway box cars; they had the job of emptying the latrine pails when the train
stopped, so he and his partner found a steel bar that they hid in their clothes
and then they were back on the train and pryed the wooden boards off the box
car and then jumped out while the train was still going and landed on barbed
wire on the side of the tracks. Thy
stayed still for quite a few hours until daylight and then when they knew it
was safe they found a house and were taken in by some people. He was later injured from a gunshot to the
leg.
Wesley worked as an Engineer for
Domtar for 35 years, Audrey worked at the Plywood Mill in the 1960's and also
for the Hudson’s Bay Company as a receiver.
Audrey’s father Carl Atkinson owned a beach combing business in Nipigon
for many years with his son Rowley Atkinson.
Coldwell was a commercial fishing town
situated on Lake Superior 15 miles west of Marathon, which had a big railway
station and railway houses. There was a
school house and small church and approximately 20 houses. Elizabeth and Oliver LeBar ran a restaurant
from their house. They had five
children; Wesley, Elizabeth, Penny, Ernie, and Budd.
When I was a kid my grandparents had a
camp at Honeymoon Cove and we went there in Grandpa’s boat and had picnics
there. Then they moved their camp over
to Still water and we used to walk down the tracks at the mouth of the Stillwater
Creek which came out on Lake Superior.
After they had that camp, they moved one to the Little Mill area and
that was the last place they had it because someone shot up their old
camp. I used to Beach Comb with C.
Dampier and J. Dampier and Henry Dampier to St.
Ignace Island and there were roads and camps there. Back then they had dams and they let the
water out, the logs would come down the Nipigon river and the men would stand
by the sides of the river and push the logs down and then the big booms would
catch them.
Everetteville was up on the highway
and my Auntie Eileen lived there, it was up where the Petro is now. The houses started at the Petro and went to
where the Jehovah’s Witness place is now(2006), Mrs. Black lived up there too. The Voyageur was up there and the Shell to
when I was a kid we used to walk or ride our bikes to Loftquist Lake and there
used to be a road to Loftquist from the Cop Shop road but then they closed it
off. I started beach combing when I was
about 12 or 13 with the Dampier’s along with Ricky Dampier and we used to sleep
on their boat for weeks at a time. My
Grandpa did Beach combing on the Nipigon
Bay and the Dampier’s ran from the mill to St.
Ignace Island and to Jack Pine.
We’d stay at St. Ignace Island
with Alfred and Cookie Dampier at their camp.
Somewhere towards Thunder Bay there was a Light house and there were two
old couples who lived out there and kept an eye on the Light house. There was one on Lamb’s Island too. I went to the Nipigon Public School and my
teachers were; Mr. Frankham, Mrs Taylor,
Mr Sukomoto, Mr Peele, and Mrs Nyman.
Our family lived across from Hebert’s on Front Street.
