St. George woman was descendant of town's founder
Published Wednesday April 22nd, 2009
C8
Derwin Gowan
Telegraph-Journal
ST. GEORGE - Bernice Campbell did not interrupt when her husband Steve sat down
to share stories on local history with a visitor.
Bernice Campbell
She might not even stay in the room but, their friend David Goss of Saint John
said Tuesday, "A pot of tea would appear."
Bernice Campbell died Friday at 91, less than a year after the death of Steve
last July.
"He lived to 95. He had a long life, but Mom missed him terribly," Ellen Hatt,
the eldest of their four children, said Tuesday.
Bernice Clinch and Steve Campbell married on Oct. 13, 1936, giving them more
than 71 years together. They raised four children: Ellen, Jane, Stephanie and
William.
Steve moved into the Fundy Nursing Home at Blacks Harbour three or four years
ago. Bernice followed last year, leaving the home they built at Breadalbane, on
the shore of Passamaquoddy Bay, west of St. George.
They moved to Breadalbane when Steve was about 57, his son William Campbell
recalled on Tuesday. "They really enjoyed their years down here at Breadalbane."
Steve Campbell grew up in St. George, but stories of Breadalbane figure
prominently in the three books of local history that he wrote in his retirement
years: Come Back with Me, Come Back with Me Again and Remember When - St. George
Area in the early 1900s.
"That's where my grandfather had a fishing camp," Ellen Hatt said, explaining
the family connection to the area.
Steve Campbell turned to writing after he retired from his job with a
chip-sealing crew that worked on roads across the province through the summers.
Their mother did not completely share this passion. "No, she really didn't. She
just supported him. It took him two or three years to write the books. He wrote
them all longhand," Ellen said.
"Bernice was always behind the scenes, but she was always supportive of anything
he did," Goss recalled.
Bernice, a descendant of Peter Clinch, the Loyalist founder of St. George, grew
up on the Manor Road north of town, where she and Steve set up housekeeping as a
young married couple.They later lived on Pancake Hill in St. George before
moving to Breadalbane.
Bernice graduated from the St. George Superior School in 1936.
"She was a homemaker," Ellen said. "She was an excellent cook."
She was the last surviving of 11 children of the late Edward and Elsie (Goodiell)
Clinch. Rev. Darren Millett will officiate at the funeral at St. George Baptist
Church at 2 p.m. Thursday.