Postcard Lady among unsung women of Petrolia
Sheila Hewitt had never met Joyce Prevett, but this did not stop her from writing a book about the Petrolia woman. “I just love research,” said Hewitt, who was a teacher-librarian at Lambton Central Collegiate and Vocational Institute before her retirement.
Hewitt had one of the many booths at the Heritage Open House on Saturday, Feb. 17. Organized by the Petrolia Heritage Advisory Committee, Victoria Hall was filled with many historical items of Petrolia.
Prevett was known as the postcard lady of Petrolia, having collected as many of 1,500 post cards of Lambton County and southwestern Ontario. A portion of the postcards in her collection was produced by Louis Pesha, a photographer from Euphemia Township. The postcards were popular as they allowed tourists to have a record of their travels.
A member of the Toronto Postcard Club, Prevett was not only a buyer of postcards, but she sold them as well. She often had a booth with her friend, Murray Bradley, who sold his own vintage tools, at many events.
Many of Prevett’s collection are with the Lambton Heritage Museum, Lambton County Archives and the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs. Paul Miller of the Lambton Heritage Museum called her not just a collector of postcards, but said she was “a connoisseur of postcards.”
Janet Bradley gave Hewitt the task of writing the book about Prevett, being a caregiver and friend of Joyce. Bradley interviewed many of the people in the book, had many of the photos copied and identified.
The book, which took 18 months to write, is presented in the form of a photo album and scrapbook. There were many comments collected about Prevett at her celebration after she passed in 2022, and Hewitt said she did her best to include everyone’s thoughts about her.
Prevett was a hard oiler, born at the Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital in Petrolia, to Lillian and Cecil Prevett. Prevett attended Maude Street Public School and the her and her family lived on Fourth Street in the east end of Petrolia, a home they rented from the Volway family.
Prevett passed the entrance exam for Petrolia High School in 1939 but her mother Lillian passed away around the same time when Prevett was only 13. “At an early age, Joyce had to fed for herself,” said Hewitt
After Grade 10, she went on to the Petrolia Business School. Qualified women were needed in the business community to replace the men who had joined the armed forces during the Second World War.
Prevett went to work for Oil Well Supply, after graduation. Prevett would later become office manager of Oil Well Supply, a company she would work for until her retirement when she was 80. She also played basketball, playing on a Petrolia women’s team. She also skated and was an avid biker and walker. She biked and walked everywhere she went up until she passed. Prevett never married.
Hewitt said Prevett is representative of all the women in Petrolia of that time who were unsung.
Only 30 books have been printed with about 10 copies going to Prevett’s family. Hewitt has about 20 copies.
Blake Ellis, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent
