Page 70 - William D. Roach, Woodcarver

ISSUE : Issue 60

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1992/6/1

for having purchased that certain (carv? ing) , you know. (How did you start carving?) I started at about 4 or 5 years old. It was my uncle that--Uncle August. And he used to whittle all the time. And he never was married and never had any kids of his own. So he used to come over our place and sit in the wood? pile- -you know, in our firewood. And he'd always whittle. And I used to sit with him. And he'd be whit? tling, and I'd watch him. And he used to give me his knife and tell me, "Watch you don't cut yourself. Try it. Try carving," He used to carve lit? tle boats, and things like that. So one day he came along, and he had a knife for me--a lit? tle jackknife. My mother was kind of scared. She said, "You can't have that--you're too small," But my uncle said, "Oh, it's all right," He said, "I'll be with him.,,," So that's how I took an inter? est in the carving. At Gioi'o & Lim, we specialize in Italian and Chinese food. Choose from either, or if your tastes are exotic, mix and match from our special combinations! • Greek and Canadian items also available • Open daily 4 p.m. Offering you a world of fine food! 536 George St., Sydney (Across from Centre 200) For take-out & delivery call 539-8066 (What kind of things did your uncle carve?) Little boats, little buoys. Just little odd things. He wasn't a--what you would call a good carver, I guess. But he just liked doing it. He still--to this day, he still does a little whittling, you know. He likes doing it. He just whittled and he gave that away. He used to give some to kids--little boats to float. Just did it for the love of it. For something to do. I guess, I guess my main people that helped me along was him, and Marguerite Gallant, Be? cause she--she used to be real good, too, to us kids, because we were neighbours. And we were a kind of poor family. And when we went over there and she gave us a cookie, we thought--you know, we felt like she'd given us a piece of gold. Because cookies were hard to come by. And she used to tell us stories all the time, about her past, and about God, or on the Bible, or-- always telling stories of some kind. And the one time I remember, I made a drawing for Marguerite--Marguerite Gal? lant, It was a drawing of Jack k Marcel? lin, is what they call it in French. He lived not far from Marguerite, and he had a farm. And he was a good friend of hers, And he died. So, I think it was about 4 years after he died--she used to talk about him a lot, And I had a picture of him at home, a little photograph--maybe 2 inch? es by 1 1/2 inches or something like that. And I drew her a picture of him, of about 8 We're proud to be your Cape Breton Home Hardware dealers McKinnon Home Hardware Building Centre Port Hawkesbury 625-0674 Alex McKinnon • MacRae Home Hardware North Sydney 794-4711 Shirley & Carl MacRae • Baddecl( Home Hardware Baddeck 295-2170 Bill Turner Wilson's Home Hardware Sydney 562-6020 Ken Wilson • Robin Jones & Whitman Inc. Cheticamp 224-2022 Cyril Aucoin • Robin Jones & Whitman Inc. Inverness 258-3092 Angela MacDonald Ingonish Home Hardware & Building Supplies Ingonish Beach 285-2323 H. C. (Ted) Goodyear • Harbax Hardware Glace Bay 849-3108 Fred Whyte & Jamie Whyte • Louisdale Home Hardware Louisdale 345-2720 Joe Marchand EVERY HOME HARDWARE STORE IS OWNED BY YOUR NEIGHBOUR "*''' hardware building centre IN CAPE BRETON "Our price is more competitive because we make the product in our own factory. There is no middleman.' D P A MTI -TO N E Beauti-tone Paint & Stain are manufactured in Home Hardware's "''"'''' ?? ?? ?? V'"''- own "brand new" computerized paint factory. PAINT & STAIN By producing our own paint and stain, we can assure you of the best for the most competitive prices! We guarantee it! GUARANTEED #1 QUALITY Available from your Cape Breton Home Hardware Dealers Home Hardware stores are individually owned by someone in your home town!

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