George Edwin Shiels
- Born: May 21, 1922 at Corning, Sask
- Died: Nov 10, 1979 at Napinka, Man
- Parent: John George Shiels & Pearl Gerry
- Married: Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Jones on Oct 6, 1945 in Bridgend, Wales
- Children: 7 – Rosemarie, David, Dan, Patty, Bill, Gareth & Lynda
The Early Years
George Edwin Shiels was born May 21, 1922 at Corning, Sask 20 miles north of Stoughton. He was the 8th child of John Shiels and Pearl Gerry.
George’s mother Pearl died when he was 11. He worked on the farm with his Dad and brothers. In 1937, when George was 15, the family moved to Manitoba in 1937. The settled in the Bede area north of Melita.
George continued to farm with his father for the next 4 years until he joined the army and went off to war.
George Shiels in WW2
George and his brother Howard joined the Canadian Army in 1941. After training in Ontario, George went overseas to fight in World War II. George was stationed in England as part of the Great Britain Defence formation to start the war. He remained there until Nov 1943 when he went to Italy and fought there until Feb 1945. At that time, they moved over to France under the cover of darkness and worked their way up to Belgium.
When the war was over, he transferred back to England then then went back to Canada in Nov 1945.
Click here to see the details of George’s war efforts and the medals he earned.
George Shiels & Betty Jones start a life together
In the fall of 1942, George and his two mates, Laun Gannon and Bill Burack, took a map of Wales and by closing their eyes and sticking a pin in the map, they picked the place to go on leave. This place was the city of Bridgend, South Wales. Betty Jones and her sister Ray met the men one night on a bridge. It was love at first site for George & Betty. Betty & Ray took the men home and their mother, Gwladys, and she said they could stay at the house instead of paying room and board at the Y.M.C.A.
From this time onward, George spent all of his leaves with Betty. The leaves were every three months and would last for seven days. George, with the help of Betty’s youngest sister Vi, went to Cardiff on a Saturday night in Aug 1945 to pick out an engagement ring. George had to get permission from the army to get married and Betty had a lot of forms to fill out.
George finally got the license and they were married on a special leave on Oct 6, 1945.
They had a one-week honeymoon and George went back to his outfit. Three weeks later, he was back for a weekend before sailing from Southampton on Oct 27, 1945 for Halifax. He went from Halifax to Winnipeg by train and arrived back in Napinka, Manitoba in Nov 1945.
Betty could not come at the same time as there were many forms to be filled out. She even had to get an identity card that she had to carry everywhere. She left her home on Jun 9, 1946 with her mother for the train trip to London. They stayed overnight and Gwladys returned home the next day.
Betty left by train to Southampton. Along with other war brides, she left Southampton on her birthday, Jun 11, 1946 on the Queen Mary. They arrived in Halifax on Wednesday Jun 14 and were transferred to a train heading for Winnipeg.
It is truly amazing how this young woman had the courage to travel so far away from her family.
George & Betty in Canada
Betty arrived in Winnipeg on Friday night, Jun 16, 1946. Laun Gannon and George were there to meet Betty and they arrived in Melita the following day. George was working for Percy Brockington at the time and they lived south of Melita on Percy’s farm. The ladies of the district gave Betty a welcoming shower in the school at Peninsula District.
Three weeks after Betty arrived, George had to be rushed to Souris for an appendix operation. After the operation, they went to live with George’s brother Ken, north of Napinka. That fall they went to Broomhill to farm on the old House place.
George & Betty's Family
A daughter, Rosemarie was born while living near Broomhill and they moved in Jun 1948 to rent the Harvey Gould farm near Bernice. Two sons were born there, David and Dan.
Dan’s history can be traced through this link.
In 1952, the family moved to Napinka to half a house on front street beside George’s father John. George went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Patty was born there and they moved to the Johnny Holland house on the north side of town. George started working part time for Hector McInnes on the farm at night and for the CPR during the day.
After Bill was born, George quit his job at C.P.R. and went to work for Hector full time. They moved to a little house one mile west of Hector. George’s father John had lived in this same house ten years earlier before selling the farm to Hector. George and Betty had two more children there, Gareth and Lynda.
George rented a quarter section of land north of Napinka that he worked after hours and on weekends while he was working for Hector.
In the fall of 1965 George and Betty bought the old Will Gould house in Napinka. They completely remodelled the house and built on an addition. George started doing carpentry work and worked on the bridge west of Napinka that winter with Jim and Jack Holden. In the summer of 1966, he worked on the new Toronto Dominion Bank building in Deloraine. He worked on the Tweed Garage addition in Medora. He also worked for Johnson Construction building houses in Melita area and later in Brandon.
George also did a lot of work on his own, building cupboards and house remodelling, as shown in many houses in south‑western Manitoba. In Jul of 1972 George and Gareth started to build a new house in Langruth for his daughter and son in‑law, Rose and Bud Carriere. During this time, on Aug 5, 1972, their son Bill was killed in an automobile accident. He was only 17 at the time. Fourteen months later, on Oct 7, 1973, another son, David lost his life in another automobile accident. Gareth and Dave’s wife Beth were hurt in the accident and spent a long time in the hospital.
George was very resourceful. Here he is shown heating his water for tea during a power outage.
George could build anything. He actually built himself a garden tractor. He started with a motor from an old combine and lots of scrap iron. With his own welder and his self-taught skills, he was able to put all the pieces together. He used this tractor for many years, working the garden in the summer and moving snow in the winter. He even put a front-end loader on the tractor. He was not one to buy the parts needed, he would rather make them himself. That was true recycling! During 1976 and 1977 George was a 4‑H Leader and enjoyed sharing his love for woodworking with the younger people of the community.
In Jul of 1978, George went to Winnipeg for a month to stay with his son Dan and wife Judy. Dan and Judy had just bought a house and George came in to renovate the house prior to moving in. He built lovely new cupboards and they laid new carpet and trim throughout the house. Judy worked with George during the day and Dan helped at night.
George continued to do carpentry work in the Napinka and Melita area until the time of his death on Nov 10, 1979.
Betty continued to live in Napinka until the spring of 1992 when she moved to Brandon with Ken Heatherington. Ken & Betty were married on Apr 29, 1995 and moved to Campbell River, BC in 1997. Betty had a major heart attack at Christmas 1997 and had a serious stroke a year later. In Jun 1999, Ken & Betty split up and Betty moved back to Winnipeg to live with her son & daughter-in-law, Dan & Judy Shiels. Betty had her name legally changed back to “Shiels”. She moved into West Park Manor in Winnipeg in Jan 2001 and really liked her new friends. The home is very close to Dan and she enjoyed the programming and the many sing songs.
Betty passed away on Jul 27, 2005 in Winnipeg.