allan neville

Allan Neville was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was the second youngest in his family (my father being the youngest). He never married or had children. He worked as a substitute teacher in Cape Breton after he left the seminary to take care of his mother (Josephine) who had Alzheimer’s (she was diagnosed in the mid 90's). Not long after his return home his father (Joseph) had a stroke and lost the ability to speak (Joseph died about a year and a half after the stroke). He spent the rest of his time working and taking care of his mother who steadily got worse until she died a few weeks before Christmas in 2002. After his mother's death he found it hard to leave the house after dark needing to return after sun set, as he would have when his mother was alive.

I remember him coming to the cottage the summer after his mother's death for supper that day. He said how he had met a young man on a motorcycle who had been run off the round and how they had talked for awhile and then Victoria (my sister) and Eric (her boyfriend) came, and that’s when he said it was Eric he had met, and they had a close relationship since. He found a permanent job at a local high school. Then he was diagnosed with brain cancer September of the same year (I would like to elaborate on the part after his diagnosis but it would take many pages). He died near the end of June in his bed around 3:00 pm. At his funeral I found out from a priest that he had given the church 75% of his pay and told them to give it to the needy but not tell them where it came from.