When the Reid family of Port au Port was displaced after the closing of Abitibi’s newsprint mill in Stephenville in 2005, there was never any intention to stay away for long.
They moved to Tennessee and expected to remain there until retirement, but Don and Susan were back more quickly than they expected and, ironically, it was an Abitibi connection that triggered their return.
“We didn’t sell our house at the time because we planned to move back within six to eight years,” said Susan during an interview last week. “But we were back in four.”
And the time they spent away was enough for Susan, a Corner Brook native and former information technology worker, to train for and start a new career – in photography.
“I’d always taken pictures of family members for pleasure but never professionally,” she said. “We are active outdoors people so wherever we went in the boat, on the quad car or the skidoo, I had my camera. But it was always a hobby not for profit.”
That changed, however, while the family was away. Susan, who had previously worked at the College of the North Atlantic as an instructor, returned to school [in the United States] and trained to become a portrait photographer.
Her work subsequently took her to 14 of the southern United States, doing high-end contract photography for various companies.
The daughter of Bob Tulk, well known for his Newfoundland Joke Books, Susan never really got home out of her system and was often reminded of Newfoundland as she travelled.
“We met a lot of other Newfoundlanders down in the US,” she said.
Don, too, like his fellow islanders, had the homing instinct.
“To tell you the truth,” he said, “I really wanted to come back to Newfoundland, My heart was home and, as they say, home is where the heart is.”
So they are back, hopefully this time to stay.
“It is interesting how things comes full circle,” noted Susan.
Changes
Don had originally worked with College of the North Atlantic, but in 1997 he took advantage of an opportunity at Abitibi’s Stephenville newsprint mill as a training supervisor. Now he is back at the college working in human resources. How it worked out is a bit of an irony.
The 2005 mill shutdown that precipitated Don’s move to the US brought him to a Bowater newsprint mill, a sister plant to the Bowater mill in Corner Brook.
“It was a good position,” he said, “and for a couple of years things were going well.”
However, in 2009, a merger brought the two companies together, and the mill at which Mr. Reid now worked became an Abitibi plant.
“Suddenly things were changing; benefits were disappearing and job security again became a major issue for me,” he said.
He could see a similar trend developing as what happened in Stephenville, and not wanting to chance a repeat of the Stephenville experience, the Reids decided to return home.
“I don’t begrudge Abitibi,” Don said. “The downturn in the markets and the poor economy had a lot to do with it.”
A new career
With Don able to secure a position at the college again, Susan decided to set up her photography business, operating out of their Port au Port home, overlooking the Gravels and Port au Port Bay.
She offers a wide range of photography services and still finds time to do a lot of volunteering in the community.
“There is so much you can do with photography,” she said. “There are so many formats to use, so many different ways to portray and share your memories. You can touch the world through the Internet.”
Susan recommends people gather their memories together and display them for such things as family reunions, community celebrations and archival collections.
Over the years, Susan has been active in parent-teacher associations, the hospital foundation and has helped out at various municipal events such as the first Canada Day celebrations in Port au Port East. She has provided photos to the town council for use in a website, done archival walks on the Gravels and helped with the Twilight Seniors 20th anniversary.
Most of the photographic work she does for the community is gratis or done at cost.
“One of the things I would like to do is gather old photograph of the Port au Port area to show what life was like, say 50 years ago, for example, and display them in a format for the community to view.”
The Reids have four children – the oldest graduated from university this year, two are still attending, and the youngest graduated from high school this year but remained behind in Tennessee to continue his education.
“My favorite things,” concludes Susan, “are photography, the outdoors and people.” With that combination of interests, she looks forward to a busy and fascinating future.
