Neva Bayliss

Neva Bayliss

December 29, 1923 – May 7, 2021

Isabella Neva George Dunsire Bayliss was born December 29, 1923 in the Manitoba Lake District. She was the 5th child in a family of 6 children. 

They lived on the farm -where they grew grain, wheat; which didn’t ever do very well and oats for the horses. They also had a few cows, pigs and leghorn chickens which insisted on roosting in the trees. Every night one of Neva’s jobs was to shake the trees till the chickens came down then gather them up and put them in the hen house before dark. They had a big garden, potatoes, carrots, onions, beans, cabbage, and turnips — the turnips were for the cows to eat in the winter, which had to be cut into smaller pieces and fed to them as a whole turnip could choke a cow. 

Around age 7 Neva would watch as Bert, Margaret and Alice cut down trees in the woods, which were then sawed into 4 foot lengths to make cord wood with a big two-man Swede saw. A cord of wood is 4 feet wide 4 feet high and 8 feet long —this would be traded for groceries at the grocery store. 

Neva did not start school until she was eight years old when her and her younger brother Jim were taken to stay with their Aunt Jenny for a week at a time; Monday to Friday to go to school. Friday after school someone would come with the team of horses to pick them up and take them 7 miles home for the weekend, and then someone would take them back Sunday night to be ready for the next week of school. While staying there for school they both slept on one couch, one at each end. 

At the age of 12 she moved to Winnipeg with her mother and younger brother Jim to continue their schooling, at Mullvy school. They continued with Neva going through grade 8 then the family moved to Vancouver to join her father, who was working as a carpenter on the new airport being built in the Queen Charlotte Islands.  

In making the trip from Winnipeg to Vancouver Neva travelled with her mother, younger brother Jim, oldest sister Margaret, Margaret’s husband Bob and their three children, in a car with all their worldly goods being hauled behind in a trailer that Bob had made.  This trip took about a week. 

On arriving in Vancouver they set up a tent and camped in what is called the Old Orchard on Knight Road and Kingsway.  It is still there and still referred to as the Old Orchard.  They spent a week camping there while looking to find a house to rent. There were 6 to 8 other groups tenting there and also looking for housing. 

When she was 18, Neva wrote to the recruiting centre inquiring about joining the Air Force, but did not get an answer. On a Friday in May of 1941, after school she went down to the recruiting office to see why they hadn’t answered her letter. As she was 18 at the time they signed her up right then and there. She was signed up on a Friday night and Tuesday morning she was on the train heading to east for basic training.  

Her mother wrote her father to say that Neva was joining the military and he wrote back to saying *over my dead body* and not to let her go, but by the time the letter got back she was already in Ottawa at basic training.

After one month in Ottawa training she was sent to Moncton to #8SFTF  which stood for service flying training school. This was the last training the pilots received before they were sent overseas and the barracks Neva was in was at the end of the runway so it was always quite noisy, as training went on 24 hours a day. 

After that she was posted to Vancouver Pat Bay where she worked in the officer’s mess for 3 months and then was moved to the switchboard as a telephone operator.

She met and married Maurice Bayliss and they moved to Lucky Lake to farm and raise a family of 6 children. The farm is still in the family, although it is rented out. 

Neva was born with a serious spirit of adventure. 

She staked a lot and built a cabin on the BC coast at the age of 17 and 18. Neva, her father and a family friend moved all the materials for the cabin to the site in an older motor boat, nearly losing their lives at one point as they were still learning about the ocean tides. 

She loved training horses and worked with them and the cattle and all the animals on the farm. She also drove grain trucks, tractors and combines, truly being a full partner in the farming operation. 

She was a Cub leader in Lucky Lake as well as a Guide leader and district Commissioner. 

She loved the outdoors, plants, birds and animals. She planted, grew and recorded growth statistics on fruit trees from Professor Patterson to see which fruit trees would survive and thrive in Saskatchewan. 

She was a member of the Legion and always attended the Remembrance Day services. 

She ordered a pattern from the Western Producer and built a rowboat so her kids could learn to row and swim in the dugout. 

She lived in her cabin at Coteau Beach for many years, always enjoying being in the beauty of this province. 

Neva and some friends drove from Saskatoon to Alaska; camping all the way there and back on one of her adventures. They were all in their 60’s at the time. 

She attended and enjoyed many Air Force reunions. 

She also did a working barge trip up the inside passage from Vancouver to Alaska.

She cooked at an oil rig camp, and also at a northern Saskatchewan fishing/ moose hunting camp, where she made lifelong friends. 

She went moose hunting and slept out in a sleeping bag under a tarp to awaken in the morning with 5 inches of snow on top of them. 

She has rafted on the Nahanni River, North West Territories with a good friend. 

She has canoed from Gardiner dam to Saskatoon with her son Bob and grandson Chris, spending a night camping on the way. 

She made many annual trips to the Okanagan Valley, driving with a dear friend to bring home a truckload of fruit for our two families, much of which the families then worked to preserve for the winter. 

She journeyed to Churchill on a polar bear watching trip, and was delighted when a really big bear came up for them to see. She was also disappointed as one big bear means fewer small ones around.

She made a trip to Ontario to meet her first great great grandchild in 2016 at the age of 93. 

She was a member of Prairieland Park, the Natural History Society, and a couple different writings groups – Memory Writers and Silver Quills. 

She belonged to an exercise group which she attended and participated in faithfully until she was well into her 90’s. 

She was a published writer with a number of short stories sold to the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society magazine. 

She has been to Scotland a couple of times, and climbed castle steps. She has been to Mexico a couple of times, and enjoyed visiting the Mayan ruins. 

She is predeceased by her husband, her parents, all her siblings, her son John and some nephews and nieces. 

She is survived by daughters Arla (Ron) Delver, Heather (Arnie) Usselman, and sons Phil, Stan, Bob (Sherry) Bayliss, 5 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren, many nieces, nephews and cousins, and lifelong friends. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Lucky Lake History Book Committee Box 387 Lucky Lake Saskatchewan S0L 1Z0 in her name. 

An invite only Funeral will take place on Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 1:00 pm.

Arrangements entrusted to Dalmeny Funeral Home 306-254-2022.