Mrs. Clara Smallwood, Clara Smallwood, Premier Joseph Smallwood and Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, circa 1950.
Clara Smallwood Russell was on the front lines of Newfoundland and Labrador's definitive political battle of the 20th century: two 1948 referendums choosing between Confederation and independence. As her father, pro-Confederation leader Joseph R. Smallwood, rallied his forces to a narrow victory of 52.3 per cent, she was feisty, vocal, and committed to his vision.
"Mom and I, we lived down there [at the National Convention] we were there every session just about," Russell said in The Premiers documentary on CPAC. "And it was so exciting, you can't imagine." She once jumped to her feet witnessing her father in a spirited exchange, and was admonished by her seatmate, the sergeant at arms.
The results divided the province for decades. As did the trappings and fallout of Smallwood's two-decades-plus career as premier. But Russell would never hear a word against him.
The only daughter of a clan that could have fashioned itself as the first family of Newfoundland politics, but, domestically, eschewed fanfare, she chose a quieter and industrious life of farming, while still standing firm in her role as Smallwood's daughter. During her father's political reign, she saw people reach out and touch him "like he was a saint or something," she said. She also listened as their house got pelted with eggs. Both reactions, to her, were unsettling.
Of course there were thrilling moments, too. At her father's side, Russell attended U.S. President Richard Nixon's inauguration on Jan. 20, 1973, and was introduced to Neil Armstrong; she met Cuban leader Fidel Castro when he stopped in Gander in May, 1973, and The Queen and Prince Philip on all of their Newfoundland visits from 1959 on. She also went to the April, 1968, Liberal Convention with her father, who was backing Pierre Trudeau. Other exciting connections included being companion to World Champion skater Barbara Ann Scott when she came to open Memorial Stadium in 1954.
"It had to be heady stuff, living it," said her daughter, Dale Russell FitzPatrick. "Mom was right there."
Smallwood remained a flashpoint long after his death in 1991, a week before he turned 91, but Russell "revered him," said Russell FitzPatrick.
And she was a trailblazer in her own right. "People forget that she and Dad were early pioneers of farming." Through this, Russell also made her parents a homeplace at Russwood Ranch at Roaches Line on the western side of Conception Bay, south of Bay Roberts.
Russell died April 30, of complications following a car accident in December.
"There goes another direct link to Smallwood," said archivist and writer Bert Riggs. "There is a generation that has grown up that has no knowledge of him."
Clara Smallwood Russell was the youngest of three children of Joseph R. Smallwood and Clara Isobel Oates. Mrs. Smallwood was musical and especially noted as a pianist. She had met her future husband at her aunt's boarding house in Corner Brook in 1925. He was organizing for the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill workers. They married Nov. 23, 1925, and had Ramsey (1926), William (1928) and Clara (Jan. 7, 1930).
She was born in Corner Brook, where her father was the owner/editor of the Humber Herald. Her mother was from Carbonear, and the children spent many summers there with their grandmother Oates.
Joseph Smallwood struggled from one career to another, from unions to publishing, before he found success in 1937 hosting the VONF radio show The Barrelman and then forging into politics. Up until then, the family was poor. When Russell was five, and the Smallwoods had just moved to Bonavista, she woke on Christmas morning to hear her mother call out that "Santa didn't come." Mrs. Smallwood explained that Santa couldn't find them, because they had just moved. Russell would never forget how sad her mother's words made her feel.
But things improved for the family. Settled in St. John's, Russell was well known in the 1940s as the only girl riding horseback in the city. "I remember her riding her horse to school," said author Helen Porter, a friend since they studied at Holloway school. "She'd hitch it up outside." It was while riding she met Ed Russell, also an avid rider, and they married on Nov. 22, 1950.
By then, Newfoundland was a province and her father was premier. Still, the Smallwood family lived as quietly as possible.
Mrs. Smallwood gave only one public speech and guarded her privacy. "It must be awful to be in the public eye all the time," she said in a rare interview. Once, when asked by a journalist whether she, as the premier's wife, was first lady of Newfoundland, or whether the wife of the lieutenant-governor would outrank her, she laughed gently and said, "I've never troubled to find out, child. It's not that important to me."
Indeed, Russell was often a "stand-in" for her mother at government functions. "Her mother only did the things she couldn't get out of, like when Queen Elizabeth II came, or Eleanor Roosevelt," said Riggs. Besides these rituals, Russell, with her husband, was deeply involved with farming at the site they had founded on Roaches Line.
They broke ground there in May, 1951. "They carved it out," said Russell FitzPatrick. "It was just a cart path. There was no road, no electricity." The Russells had been driving all over that part of the island, looking for a potentially good spot. On Roaches Lines the driving was so bad they stopped, got out, and walked. From the highest patch of ground they saw the land they wanted. This became known as "the Lookout," and, by Russell family tradition, a horse statue is set there from May 24 to Labour Day. The statue is known all over the province. "People call it Joey's Horse, but it's not," said Russell FitzPatrick.
The Russells "lived in a homemade trailer, Mom called it a 'box on wheels,' the first winter." Then they constructed a Quonset hut, and that was home. Before the roads came, in stormy weather they used an old Bombardier machine on tracks for transportation.
"Dad broke every kind of record for land clearing," said Russell FitzPatrick. The resulting 1,000 acres produced "everything under the sun." Created primarily as a cattle ranch, it also, over the years, produced poultry, eggs, pork, and included a mink farm. Joseph and Clara Smallwood were supportive of the endeavour - in fact, they loved farm-life - and made Roaches Line their permanent home. The farm would later be split between the Russell and Smallwood sides, and is still a family operation today, with Russell FitzPatrick's stead yielding hay, forage, and Christmas trees.
Russell, of course, was hardly idle. Her earliest chores included pasteurizing all the milk consumed by the farm workers and their families. From 1965 to 1995, she also managed a succession of the farm's offshoot businesses - The Farm House Restaurant, The Cellar, and the Dairy Bar.
Sadly, Russell was widowed young; she was only 42 when her husband died. She remained very close to her parents (her mother died at 93 in 1994). She liked to garden and grew orchids, exotic plants and cacti. Her other hobbies included keeping tropical fish and breeding Siamese cats.
She was youthful, even into her eighties, with her engaged, curious mind, personable nature, and beautiful skin. And she had the gift of gab. "We all say it was genetic, from grandfather," said Russell FitzPatrick. "She could literally talk the ear off you."
Clara Smallwood Russell leaves her daughter Dale (Tom FitzPatrick), grandchildren Jamie and Ashley, and brother Ramsey.