‘St. John’s saved my life’
Ontario man flies to Newfoundland to say thank you
Seven decades ago, an immigrant baby nearly died crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Werner Peters is 72 years old now. He flew to Newfoundland this week to say thank you to the people of St. John’s who saved his life.
As he sips his black coffee at Tim Horton’s on Kenmount Road, the Goulais River, Ont. pastor gestures out the rain-speckled window in the direction of the harbourfront. That’s where his story almost ended 71 years ago when he was just an infant.
It’s also where his family of German immigrants took their first steps in their new Canadian home. For Werner’s wife of 50 years, Carole Peters, it’s where their love story truly began.
“It is the story of us,” she says, smiling at her husband.
An article published on the front page of The Daily News on May 15, 1951 tells the beginning of that story.
“A tiny six months old baby weighing only a few pounds caused a ship of thousands of tons to alter its course this week, and thus to St. John’s, Newfoundland from midatlantic came Mr. and Mrs. Hermann Peters, formerly of North Germany,” the article reads.
That tiny baby was Werner Peters, son of Hermann Peters.
The big ship was the S.S. Anna Salen, used by the International Refugee Organisation to carry the 1,500 people on board from Bremerhaven, Germany to Halifax. The ship carried many more thousands of people to their new lives in the years after the Second World War.
In the middle of the Atlantic, baby Werner became sick.
“My mother opened my diapers and found nothing but blood,” Werner told Saltwire.
“They called the doctors on board, and the doctors diagnosed me with bowel obstruction, and said that there wasn’t any chance of my survival unless I can get the surgery real quick.”
The ship’s captain changed course, and headed for the nearest port: St. John’s.
“My mother’s big fear was that I’d be buried at sea,” Werner says.
“There were a lot of Christians on board, and (my father) organized some prayer meetings. My father (told me)...‘we literally gave you to God.’ He said, ‘If you are to survive, only to serve God.’”
TREATED AT ST. CLARE’S
The ship arrived at St. John’s, and the family of seven disembarked.
Werner was treated at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital. The rest of his family stayed at the Crosbie Hotel on Duckworth Street. According to The Daily News, they likely spent at least a couple of weeks in St. John’s.
“Originally, our family was intended to go to St. Catherine’s (Ontario). My father was going to work as a farm hand as part of a deal to work off the expense of the trip, and whether we had sponsors there or what, I don’t know. But instead, because of the delay, our whole trajectory of our life changed.”
The family ended up in Minitonas, Manitoba.
“We grew up in Winnipeg, and I had a very difficult childhood.”
When Werner was just eight years old, his mother died of cancer.
“From that point on, our life got pretty turbulent. My father had to work two jobs to keep us afloat. We pretty well raised ourselves …The discipline that we needed wasn’t there, and things fell apart, and I recognized pretty early in life that I would have to make it on my own … At 17, I had my own apartment, my own car, but I was lost. I didn’t know where I was going, or why I was here.
“A number of us siblings went through times of depression and discouragement, but all the way through, I think the church was my safe harbour, and it was the influence of the church that kept me on the straight and narrow.”
‘A WONDERFUL LIFE’
Werner met Carole at age 22. They were married six months later. He became a pastor at age 27. He served mostly with the Associated Gospel Churches, and a couple of Baptist churches. He even spent some time in Austria as a pastor. He and Carole have three children.
“It’s been a very interesting life,” he says.
Returning to St. John’s, though, is something he’s always wanted to do.
“St. John’s saved my life,” he says.
“I wanted to see where it started.
“I’ve heard that people in St. John’s are really friendly … that’s evidenced by the fact that we were taken in and treated like royalty, from what I hear, when we first came to Canada. And so, I guess maybe there aren’t any survivors from 1951 anymore that would view this message, but I want to say thank you to St. John’s for being there to save my life, and it’s been a wonderful life for me.”
Carole says coming to St. John’s means a lot to her, too, because of the significance of what happened here. How would her life be different if the St. Clare’s doctors and nurses hadn’t saved Werner’s life?
She says these stories about the lives of immigrants are important to tell, especially today as the country welcomes more and more new Canadians.
“I think it is very important … that people read stories from immigrants from the past that have stories about coming here, and growing up here … and there are Canadians of tomorrow that will be sharing their stories.”
THE HELPERS
The article in The Daily News listed some of the people who helped the family during their stay in St. John’s in May 1951. Werner would like to thank them himself, if any of them are still alive. If so, they’d likely be in their 90s. Otherwise, he’d like to thank their descendants.
The Daily News listed those people as follows: “Rev. Dr. Freestone of Cochrane Street United Church, Mrs. Fred Emerson, Miss F. Lindsay of the Furness-withy Ltd., Travel Bureau, Miss Clarke of that office, Messrs. J. E. Hickey, C. Angel and Mr. Barban, Sr.”
If any of these people, or those who know them, would like to connect with Werner, they can contact Saltwire journalist Juanita Mercer by email at juanita.mercer@ thetelegram.com or by phone at 709-364-2323, or they can email Werner directly at werner1950@gmail.com.