CALEB NICKERSON
STARK’S CORNERS
Nov. 13, 2019
Remembrance Day makes Lynette Harris think of her father, Iverson Harris.
The native of . . .
Stark’s Corners passed away in 1987 after serving as a flight instructor in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, and operating a successful aviation business as a civilian. Lynette wore his air force dress blues to a recent function in his memory.
Iverson left the family farm in search of adventure, and along with his friend Louis Welsh from Norway Bay, signed up to head overseas. He got his wings in 1942 at Uplands Airport in Ottawa at the age of 20, and was off to England that year, where he first met a pretty flight mechanic in the Royal Air Force named Patricia.
Though Lynette was uncertain about many of her father’s exploits during the war, she said he was quickly promoted to flight instructor, and worked training pilots for the Free French. He kept seeing Patricia, and their romance was very nearly cut short by a German bombing raid.
“They often said they used to go on dates, and they would hear the bombs, they were in a theatre once and the theatre got bombed in London,” Lynette said. “That was one of their first dates …Both my mother and father always told me about how terribly dangerous it was but because they were so young, they found it very exciting, the most exciting time of their lives.”
Luckily, both escaped the conflict unscathed. As the war waned, Iverson married his British sweetheart in 1944, and she followed him back to Clarendon in 1946 with their son, after clearing some hurdles with immigrations services. Lynette recalled her mother’s reaction to arriving at Iverson’s plain Quebec farmhouse with a chuckle.
“She says to my father, ‘Don’t worry, I know what I’m going to do. I’ll get on the bus in the morning and I’ll go into town and buy some curtains.’ She’d still be waiting on the bus today,” Lynette said. “Bit of a culture shock, wouldn’t you say, from London England to a farm at Stark’s Corners.”
Iverson worked on the farm raising cattle and eventually founded Harris Air Service and worked as a bush pilot, flying hunters and anglers into remote locales.
“There were lots of Americans that would come and hire him to fly them into these remote lakes, and hunting and fishing camps,” Lynette said.
He also set about constructing a flight school on his property and taught many local people how to fly on his Cessnas. Lynette said he had quite the reputation as a sky jockey.
“He really was exceptional,” she said. “He was very good at his job.”
