As someone who just sort of accidentally ended up on an island (give or take a few job interviews), I’m always fascinated by the processes that led to other people ending up on one. Even more interesting forces are at play when they decide to stay there.
Bernita Joyce took the shortcut of being raised on Swan’s Island, but that by no means lessens the mystery. Her presence here involved generations of moving homes and finding work and falling in love. I had a chance to talk with her at a recent island meal.
Nothing brings people together like food and stories—preferably at the same time. I was invited to a family party a few weeks ago and loaded up on all sorts of delicious things in the kitchen. I suspected I’d probably taken more than I could handle as I strong-armed my plate towards the table.
That’s when I noticed—with excitement and dread—that each place setting contained a huge lobster. I barely survived, but managed to rally in time for dessert.
As I tried to find unoccupied sections of my stomach I was treated to the usual blend of old and new island stories. I was across the table from Bernita, who is one hilarious lady. She told me my predecessor with the historical society, Meghan Vigeant, kept coming back for more of her stories.
“I guess she thought I was a character,” Bernita laughed. I decided I’d better listen to Meghan’s interview and see what I’d missed.
In terms of choosing the island life, Bernita didn’t stand much of a chance. She grew up with two island parents and lots of love for the people around her.
Bernita’s mother, Laura Green Joyce, was raised on Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick. Her father, Llewellyn Joyce, was a Swan’s Island native.
They found each other in Rockland around 1945. Bernita described their meeting at the Samoset Resort:
“I don’t know a lot about it, but I know my dad was in the service—I believe he was home on leave. At that time a lot of our relatives on the Joyce side were living in the Rockland area. And if I have this correct, he was there at the Samoset and he saw these two girls. He had his eye on one of ’em that he wanted to ask out to supper that night.
“Well, it turned out the one he wanted to ask out to supper was my mother’s sister, Ruth, and Ruth said no. So he asked my mother out and a month later they were married.”
Even after her marriage, Laura had to remain in Canada for a period “until all the red tape got cleared.” As a child, Bernita visited Grand Manan once or twice a year. Her grandfather, Robert Green, owned two sardine packing plants and two lobster pounds there.
Bernita remembers visits to Grand Manan, and still has a taste for its dulse seaweed and landscape.
“On either end of Grand Manan Island is a lighthouse,” she recalled. “And both ends of the island have these really amazing cliffs. There have been stories written about those cliffs. There’s been songs written about them, poems written about them.”
Bernita’s mother didn’t have as tough a time adapting to Swan’s Island life as many new wives would.
“It was quite an easy transition,” Bernita said. “I remember she did tell me that at one time. She said if she’d had to go a city or something, you know, that would have been a big change for her. But moving here wasn’t.”
She describes her father Llewellyn as a good man, if a bit of a rascal.
“He went lobstering at a young age, because he had to. When he was 17 he went in the army, and he was stationed in Guam during World War II.”
Llewellyn was homesick during the war and wrote letters to his brother Robert, who was unable to serve due to his health. Bernita still has the letters and enjoyed reading through them.
“That was kind of fun. Sometimes you find out things about people you never knew. Family secrets and all. He used to tell me, actually, about when he was in the army—some of the things. But I guess the hardest part for him was the people that he made friends with that didn’t come home.”
When Llewellyn returned to Swan’s Island he got his own boat and started lobstering. He and Laura moved into the home that they would spend the rest of their lives in.
The couple was known for their music.
“My parents used to sing on the CB radio in the winter time, by request,” Bernita said. “People used to get on there and say, ‘Come on Laura and Llewellyn, sing us a song.’ My mother played the piano. And they would, they would sing.”
The Joyce family: Llewellyn, Laura, Bernita and younger brother Spencer, began singing together at church. Bernita’s not sure quite how, but they ended up singing hymns in Maine prisons.
“The next thing I knew, we were going to the prison in Bangor, and then to the Thomaston prison. And of course being from Swan’s Island we weren’t used to seeing police or anything like that. I can remember being afraid—and the only reason I can think of is because the guards had uniforms on and they must have had guns or something.
“We used to sing a couple of songs and then our part was done and whoever happened to be there for a minister would do his sermon.”
Bernita wasn’t scared of the prisoners.
“At the time I can remember they all had blue jumpsuit things on. And they used to have the ankle shackles—some of ’em did. But they used to sit very quietly. They’d come in single file, and set down in the chairs. It was not a thing where they had to come, you know. You got to come if you wanted to.”
Life out here can bring you in contact with some unusual people. The Joyce family had fun meeting the rich and famous as they enjoyed summer sailing trips to the island.
“Usually if there was someone around, either Spencer or my father ended up finding ’em,” Bernita laughed.
“I can remember the first time I ever met Walter Cronkite,” she said. “He came here on his yacht. Actually my brother got to meet him first, of course. And I can remember getting in my father’s row boat and rowing out to the yacht and rowing around and around and around the yacht while Spencer is setting on the deck of the yacht having a Coke with Walter Cronkite and pretending like he didn’t know me. But later on he came up to my dad’s and I got to meet him and everything.”
Apart from a year in Florida in 1970, Bernita has made her permanent home on Swan’s Island. Her words explain part of the reason why:
“I love it here, in the summer and fall. I guess because I’m older, I’m satisfied being here during the winter. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had my door locked. Ever. Being an island girl, I grew up here and, you know, I’m probably a little backwoodsy at times, but so be it.””
The one downside for her is waiting in line for the ferry, which she laughed about:
“And even then you may or may not get off. Even after setting there for two hours. But if we didn’t have the ferry, we’d have a bridge. And I’m afraid that if we had a bridge, Swan’s Island wouldn’t be Swan’s Island. The one that we enjoy. So we put up with the ferry for that reason.”
Bernita stands by her home with all her good humor and love of people. If you come out to visit, you can recognize her in her truck with her big white dog, Jack, bouncing happily from side to side in the back.
I’m sure she’ll be glad to share a story or two, and her outlook on island life:
“I think we’re like a big family, just like brothers and sisters. Everybody fights and squabbles at times, but when someone’s in trouble, or someone’s sick, or whatever, everybody shows up. And everybody supports that, you know.”
Kaitlin Webber is an Island Fellow on Swan’s Island through AmeriCorps and the Island Institute and works with the historical society.