Life of Vernon and Shirley Petten

Rose pursuant to notice of October 29, 2025:

That he will call the attention of the Senate to the life of Vernon and Shirley Petten.

He said: Honourable senators,

There are good ships and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, and may they always be.

With this famous Irish proverb playing in my mind, I am honoured today to have the opportunity to pay tribute to two very close personal friends of mine Vernon and Shirley Petten of the historic and picturesque fishing community of Port de Grave in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is often said that we live in a world where you can be anything you want to be. Well, Vern and Shirley Petten chose faith, humility, kindness and friendship as their anchors in life, and I was so fortunate and privileged to have both of them come into mine.

I would like to welcome today to the Senate of Canada several members of Vern and Shirley Petten’s family: their son, Ross, and his wife, Christina; daughter Ina and her husband, Rick; daughter Ivy and her husband, Wayne; daughter Leverna and her husband, Tony; grandson Jason and his wife, Carolyn; and, of course, Vern and Shirley’s daughter, our colleague Senator Iris Petten.

I will begin this tribute with Vern, whom I first met when I was knocking on doors and canvassing for support in the 2006 federal election campaign.

It was a cool January morning when I arrived for a meeting with the Harbour Authority of Port de Grave, where Vern was serving as a volunteer board member and had been doing so for many years. While the cold northern wind sent a chill through my bones, I immediately felt the warmth and hospitality of this very kind and humble human being. On that day, I did not realize that I was in the presence of an ordinary man who had lived, and continued to live, an extraordinary life. Neither did I realize that morning that it was the beginning of a lifelong and lasting genuine friendship.

Born in Port de Grave on January 13, 1935, the son of Henry and Emmie Petten, Vern began fishing with his father at a very early age, and during his lifetime, fished every species native to local waters, from the almighty cod to the large bluefin tuna.

In the early days of fishing with his dad, the Newfoundland fishery consisted of mainly salt cod with very little return on one’s investment of time and money. Vern told me that each day they worked very hard and managed to get by. It was hard to believe that could be done when they were only getting two cents a pound for their catch. To say they were a generation of resilience would be an understatement. Without a doubt, they were iron men in wooden ships.

When his dad started discussing the need for a larger boat, there was a concern about the cost of such an undertaking, and that is when Vern proposed that he and his dad build the new boat themselves. Vern was very young at the time, and his dad was a little hesitant, but agreed to give it a try, knowing full well that it was the only avenue available to them at that particular time. They cut their own logs, hauled them out of the woods and built a great sea boat that served the family for years. During the construction of that first boat, Vern got the boat-building bug, and during his lifetime, he built 11 longliners, repaired many more and eventually reached the status of master boat builder. His attention to detail and the pride he took in his workmanship of each vessel were evident to see on every launch day when the finished product slipped into the Atlantic Ocean.

While Vern was definitely a man of the sea, he never shied away from the fact that he was also a man of God. The church always played a very large part of Vern’s life. He was a board member and treasurer of the Pentecostal Church in Port de Grave for more than 50 years. For many years, he served on the board of the Gideons society, helping to deliver bibles to schools and businesses throughout our province.

As an extension of his involvement with his church, Vern travelled to many different parts of the world to provide labour, particularly his carpentry skills, to people and places devastated by hurricanes and other natural disasters. He went to Montserrat in the West Indies in 1990, Saint Lucia and Zambia in 1991, and Africa in 1997. He was never a man to toot his own horn about his travels; instead, he had a great interest in the many different and unique cultures he experienced. He had many stories about his adventures when trying to construct a building with a very minimum amount of building materials available in the region.

While Vern and the other missionaries were in those places to carry out construction work, they also brought along children’s clothes and school supplies that had been collected by the women in their church. It was truly a community effort. Many families in those faraway regions benefited from the well-known generosity of the Newfoundlanders. Vern was so proud of the difference he and the others were making to people who were less fortunate than they were.

Vern was very involved in other facets of his community and volunteered with several local organizations, such as the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Port de Grave Peninsula Heritage Society and the local fishermen’s museum, just to name a few. Volunteering was as much a part of Vern Petten’s life as the salt air that surrounded his home in Port de Grave. He did not lend a helping hand for recognition or praise; he did things for the sheer satisfaction and joy of being able to help those less fortunate.

Pentecostal Pastor KM Bess summed up Vern very well when he told a story about Vern’s spirit of giving:

. . . There was a family in our community in need of a house because the house they occupied was inadequate for the coming winter. It was then that Vernon volunteered his entire fall, day and night, putting his carpentry skills to work. With little help from anyone else, he built this family a house, from its foundation to the kitchen cabinets. I personally witnessed him volunteering his time every day, including Christmas Eve, putting the finishing touches on the house to get the family in for Christmas Day.

Pastor Bess went on to say:

The house was completed . . . and the house stands today as a representation of selfless giving, thanks to Vernon Petten.

While he was not one to seek recognition for his lifelong contribution to making our world a better place, we are grateful that others noticed Vern’s selfless acts of kindness and nominated him for many prestigious awards, which he was granted. Vern was awarded the Newfoundland and Labrador Volunteer Medal in 2001, was inducted into the Navigator’s Marine Industries Hall of Fame in 2008, and I personally had the honour to present Vern with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024.

It is difficult to capture in a few words the enormous positive impacts that Vern Petten made in our world, but his many contributions would not have been possible without the love and support of his soulmate, Shirley, his wife of almost 70 years.

Shirley Badcock was born in Mercer’s Cove, Bay Roberts, on January 15, 1936. When her mother, Emmie, passed away at an early age, Shirley was left to care for her younger siblings. Very early in life, Shirley developed a strong work ethic when she had to accompany her family to the Labrador fishery. There, she would cook for the crew of the boat and learned how to cure fish. Vern Petten was truly smitten when he first met the beautiful, kind and capable Shirley.

Vern and Shirley were married on November 10, 1955, and built a strong and loving relationship lasting more than 69 years. Shirley devoted her whole life to her family and, in the early years, worked side by side with Vern in the fishery, on the wharf, gutting the codfish, then salting the catch and spreading the fish on the flakes.

Shirley was an excellent homemaker. She was well known for her cooking and baking and her unique and special creativity in putting meals together. I had the pleasure of sitting around their kitchen table in Hibb’s Cove on many occasions. There, I enjoyed many a cup of tea, along with a homemade tea bun or a bowl of homemade soup on a cold winter afternoon. However, I have to fully agree with something Vern told me one day about his wife’s cooking. “Fabian b’y,” he smiled and said, “You never tasted good fish until you have had Shirley Petten’s pan-fried cod.” How could one ever turn down an offer like that? So, yes, I did very much enjoy a lovely meal of cod on more than one occasion, complete with the potatoes and the scrunchions. Once again, Vern was right: It was a feed fit for a king.

I often reminisce about the many conversations we had while sitting around that kitchen table and how much I learned about life from watching and listening to Vern and Shirley.

While Shirley was a quiet and extremely humble lady, she was a great community volunteer in her own right. Many local residents held her in high regard, and she was reverently referred to as “Aunt Shirley” throughout the community. If someone in the town or church needed support, a large pot of soup and several loaves of freshly baked homemade bread would arrive from Shirley’s kitchen. During church conventions, the visiting pastor would often be billeted at Vern and Shirley’s home. This was a house that Vern had built himself and where he and Shirley had raised their six children and lived out their lives. Regardless of how many people were present in their home at any given time, Vern would be known to remark, “There is always room for one more.”

Shirley showered her children with love and affection and helped form a solid foundation for each of them through her quiet and ever-so-humble example. I say with confidence that Shirley Petten was indeed one of a kind.

In his youth, Vern began keeping a handwritten journal of his daily activities. Blessed with an impeccable memory, and with his journals by his side, Vern wrote his memoirs in 2018 and titled his incredible life story Things that Forever Linger in Your Mind. A quote from Vern can be found in the first few pages of the book, and it goes like this:

Life is but a storybook

Being written every day.

Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is unknown.

Prepare for tomorrow

And live for today,

Then, the words in life’s story

Will be written OK.

I am honoured both to have been mentioned in a few lines in Vern’s book and to have my own signed copy. To me, it is a treasured keepsake from an ordinary man who definitely lived an extraordinary life. I am also extremely grateful to the Petten family for the gift of one of Vern’s ties, which I proudly wear here today, along with his codfish pin in my lapel. Both remind me of a true friend.

As I find my way to the close of this tribute to Vern and Shirley, I am reminded once again of that 2006 meeting I had in Port de Grave and the day I first met Vern Petten. Port de Grave was well known in the Newfoundland and Labrador political sphere as what we would call “a hard-core Liberal town.” After all, it is the hometown of the Honourable John Efford, a well-known and vocal Minister of Fisheries, both provincially and federally.

As a Conservative candidate, you would understand my trepidation in making a campaign stop in this Liberal stronghold. The Port de Grave harbour authority office sits on a rocky hill overlooking a majestic harbour with a long and steep staircase that takes you down to the local wharf. Several of my colleagues in this chamber who served on the Fisheries Committee during our seal study a few years ago had the privilege to visit Port de Grave, and they all had the opportunity to meet Vern at that time. He was the ultimate host.

Following my first meeting there in 2006, when I was leaving the office to walk down the stairs to talk to some of the local media who were waiting on the wharf, Vern offered to walk down the stairs with me. Having just met the man, I jokingly said to him, “Mr. Petten, if you walk down those stairs with me, the crowd in the media will think you are supporting me in this election,” and without a hint of hesitation in his voice, he replied, “Sure I am, Fabian, because you are one of us.”

It was then and still is today music to my ears. It was the start of a friendship that I truly consider to be one of my life’s greatest blessings.

On Sunday, January 12, this year, I was one of hundreds who gathered in the community room of the Pentecostal tabernacle in Port de Grave with Vern, Shirley and their family as we came together to celebrate Vern’s ninetieth birthday on January 13 and Shirley’s eighty-ninth birthday on January 15. It was a joyous occasion, full of storytelling and good wishes from all those gathered. It is now another treasured memory.

Two days later, on January 14, we received the news that Vern had suffered a severe stroke and had been rushed to the hospital. Sadly, just a few days later, on Thursday, January 17, Vern passed away. It is still difficult to believe how much our world can change in less than 48 hours.

About six weeks later, on Thursday, March 6, Shirley Petten left this world to once again be by her husband’s side. She did not linger on too long after Vern left.

Having been witness to the profound love these two beautiful people had for each other, I know Vern was waiting at heaven’s gates with open arms to welcome Shirley home.

Vern wrote Shirley a poem a few years ago for Valentine’s Day, entitled “A Love That Never Ends.”

Valentine’s Day is Here Again

It Comes but Once a Year.

It’s Time to Say I Love you Dear

The Same as in Yesteryear.

Today You Are Still My Valentine

And We Have So Many More

So, Love Don’t Stop on Valentine’s Day

It Continues Another Year.

Vern and Shirley have left a proud legacy to their family and friends. They lived lives of giving, sharing and loving. They were a perfect example of lives well lived, and they are currently missed by their family and those of us who were so fortunate to call them our friends.

They have completed their journey on this earth and finished the race. The lessons they taught, the stories they told and the love and kindness they shared will remain with us forever. May their gentle souls rest in peace.