Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 30, 1883
Place of BirthWestmorland Point, New Brunswick
CountryCanada
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinCharles Etter, father, Westmorland Point, New Brunswick
Trade / CallingTrackman
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number832136
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion145th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentWestmorland Point, New Brunswick
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 14, 1916
Age at Enlistment32
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 3, 1968
Age at Death85
Buried AtSaint Mark's Anglican Church Cemetery, Sackville, New Brunswick

Etter, Roy Clifford

Roy Clifford Etter was born on 30 September 1883 in Westmorland Point (later renamed Aulac), New Brunswick, close to the Nova Scotia border where his family farmed. His father Charles Etter was from New Brunswick while his mother Margaret Ann Miller was from Nova Scotia. Roy had two known older siblings, Herbert (1881-1955), and Lucilla (1882-1965), and a younger sister, Minnie (1885-1977).

On 12 September 1911 Roy married Ivie Isabella Cove. Born in 1884 in the Westmorland Point/Mount Whatley area, Ivie was the daughter of John Cove and Frances Lowerison. At the time of the marriage Roy was living in Westmorland Point and working as a track master while Ivie was living in Mount Whatley.

Roy signed his attestation papers in Sackville, New Brunswick on 14 January 1916. His occupation was given as trackman, his father Charles in Westmorland Point as next of kin, and previous military service as four years with the 74th Regiment. The 145th Battalion (New Brunswick), CEF was a unit of about 600 men in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Based in Moncton, New Brunswick, the unit began recruiting in late 1915 in Kent, Albert and Westmorland counties. Although Roy had been found medically fit in January, by the time he arrived in Valcartier, Quebec that summer as a Private with the battalion in preparation for going overseas, he was diagnosed with valvular heart disease and sciatica (nerve issues). Roy was discharged from service as medically unfit on 28 August 1916 at Valcartier.

Roy returned to Westmorland Point where sadly his wife Ivie died on 14 January 1920 of complications due to tuberculosis. The next March Roy married Frances Muriel Carter. Born on 23 June 1898 in Mount Whatley, Frances was the daughter of Willard Carter, merchant, and Ada Etter who had married in 1897 in Westmorland.

Roy and Frances were to make Aulac their home where Roy worked for the Canadian National Railway as Section foreman and Extra Gang foreman. The couple gave birth to three daughters, Margaret, Olive and Dora. In 1950 Margaret moved to Kenora to serve with the Anglican Church Diocese of Keewatin. The office was responsible for 45 parishes in the central region of Canada, straddling the border of the civil provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, comprising over 900,000 square kilometres and having parishes in Northern and Central Manitoba from Lac du Bonnet to Churchill and Tadoule Lake in the northern most reaches. They also serviced parishes in northwestern Ontario from Kenora to Fort Severn on Hudson’s Bay. Following retirement Roy and Frances moved to Kenora in 1966.

Roy died on 3 October 1968 in Kenora. He was predeceased by his mother Margaret (1927), father Charles (1932), brother Herbert (1955), and sister Lucilla Lowerison (1965), all back in the Maritimes. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Frances, daughters Margaret of Kenora, Olive (Norman) Bacon of Toronto, and Dora (Cecil) MacPhee in New Brunswick. He was also survived by his sister Minnie Siddall of Sackville, New Brunswick. Roy’s wife Frances died in 1982. Roy is interred in Saint Mark’s Anglican Cemetery in Sackville, New Brunswick along with Ivie and Frances. Daughter Margaret stayed in the Kenora area, retiring from service with the church in 1991. She died in February of 2015 and is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

By Judy Stockham

photos of Roy’s children and of Roy and Frances later in life: as found in an online slideshow tribute to daughter Margaret
gravemarker photo: Colin MacKinnon, findagrave.com


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