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Born February 3, 1899, at Torbrook Mines, Nova Scotia.
Died January 2, 1964, at Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
Cecil enlisted in the Army when he was only 16, telling the authorities he was 18. He was a councilman and managed a hockey team in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He met Cora May Balcom (b. May 13, 1898; d. April 14, 1994, in Nova Scotia) before going overseas in World War I. Her uncle had a restaurant in Middleton, where he was stationed, and she worked in the restaurant. She took a liking to Cecil before he went overseas.
He joined a western unit and was posted to the eighth Winnipeg Rifles. Their cap badge was a devil on a scroll bearing the Latin motto "Hosti acie Nominati" (so named by the enemy). They were called little black devils by Louis Reil's troops in the Rebellion of 1885, when they wore dark green jackets and black buttons, instead of the usual red coat and brass buttons. He served in France and Belgium for three years, being wounded twice, the first time before he was 17 years of age. He returned to Nova Scotia and joined the 40th Battalion at Middleton, being posted to the 25th Nova Scotia Battalion.
After returning to Canada, he went to Timmins, Ontario, and worked in the Hollinger mine, at
that time the biggest gold mine in North America. He then came back to Nova Scotia and married
Cora in 1920 in Halifax. They lived in Halifax for a time, and then moved to Wolfville, where
he took up barbering.
For a time, he served in the Nova Scotia Provincial Police, until they were taken over by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He turned down the opportunity to join the R.C.M.P. because he would have to go to Regina, Saskatchewan for training, being paid about $1.25 per day. He decided to return to Wolfville and set up his own barber shop, which he ran until the beginning of World War II in 1939, when he joined the army again. Because of his wound in World War I, he was not allowed to go overseas, being kept at Camp Aldershot in the Infantry Training Centre, where he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Before the war, he served on the town council and the school board. In 1945, he was given time off from the army to run as a candidate for the C.C.F. (Socialist) party, against Lorimer Illsley, a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King. He was defeated. After the war, he went back to barbering in Wolfville. He suffered a stroke in 1963, and died from an aneurysm of the aorta. He is buried at Nictaux cemetery.
He visited Cornish relatives during World War I (Uncle Sampson's family--Gertie, Charley, Nelly, Josiah, and Will). Cecil loved playing bridge. He and Cora had the following son: