Nesta (James) Leduc

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly. 
“One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.” 
– Hans Christian Anderson

Nesta Bethan James was born in London, England, on July 23, 1933. She is the third child of James Rowland James and Elizabeth Davies. She had an older sister, Buddug, who was born in 1923, and one older brother, Brennig, who was born in 1926.

Her father, Jim, was one of eight children. There was only one girl. Six of the boys, including Nesta’s father, fought in WWI and all survived. Actually, her father took his own horse to war. He spent six years in the army. His wife, Elizabeth Davies, was one of four children, two boys and two girls. Both families were born on farms a few miles apart.

After they married, her parents moved to London and started a dairy. The milk was delivered in churns and her father had to wash the bottles, fill them, and then deliver them by handcart because people had no fridges. All used bottles had to be collected, washed, and reused the next day. Her parents also had a grocery store. The family language was Welsh, although they were all bilingual.

At five years of age, Nesta started school in London in an English language convent. On September 3, 1939, Britain declared war against Germany. That day, her mother drove Nesta and three cousins to the town in Wales where she had grown up. Nesta was given the choice of living in town with her father’s sister and attending a convent, or on a farm with her mother’s brother and five cousins. Nesta commented that she made a very wise decision to live on the farm and attend a two-room school, where the teaching was in Welsh. As more evacuees came from Liverpool, England, English also became the language used. Nesta was the only one who was bilingual. She remained there until June, 1944.

She enjoyed life on the farm even though she seldom saw her parents. She did visit London once or twice a year at the time when bombing was not so bad.

In addition to their full-time work in the dairy, her father drove an ambulance in the evenings and at night while her mother was a member of the ARP (Air Raid Patrol) and spent nights in tall buildings looking out for fires.

Her brother and his whole school had been evacuated from London to Cornwall. It was several weeks before his parents knew where he was. Nesta’s sister was already in boarding school in Wales.

Nesta was sent to boarding school in North Wales at the age of eleven and remained there until she graduated in 1950. The highlights of that school were Girl Guides, camping, and hiking. At the age of 17, she spent one year in a technical school in London. Then at the age of 18, she was accepted in Edinburgh University Medical School where she spent six years, graduating in 1958. Following this, Nesta spent a year in Edinburgh in an internship, and then two years in London for further training in Obstetrics.

In 1961, Nesta boarded the Empress of Canada and sailed to Montreal, then took the train to Vancouver with stops on route at Toronto, Banff and Edmonton. She next did one year of training in Paediatrics at Vancouver General Hospital.

Nesta planned to spend a year in Vancouver and then travel the world for a year or two. In July, 1962, she arrived in Whitehorse for

a six-week stay to earn enough money to continue her travels. She was to assist Dr. Bill Buchan, the only other doctor in town.

In 1964, Nesta left for London to study Public Health at the university there. She returned to Canada to work as a General Practitioner in the Northwest Territories under the employment of the Canadian Government. She spent four months in Fort Smith and two years in Fort Simpson.

There was no regular road to Fort Simpson. Supplies were brought in by barge on the Mackenzie River in summer and by truck on the winter road when the river was frozen. There was scheduled airline service twice a week all year round to Edmonton.

Nesta’s main medical referral center was in Edmonton, although more urgent cases could be flown to Yellowknife and, if necessary, from there to the South.

Nesta was responsible for the medical care of about 1500 people living in five smaller communities. She visited each community once a month by single engine airplane on either floats or skis. There would also be medivacs to the communities. Radio was the means of communication.

Nesta met, and got to know, her future husband, Rene Leduc, who was the resident pilot in Simpson. He was the pilot for the many flights Nesta took on her official community visits.

Rene and Nesta both qualified for the rifle shooting team at the first Canada Winter Games in 1967 in Quebec City. Neither garnered any medals but had a great time in their beaded northern Regalia. They even got married in Edmonton on the way home. They raised two children, Tara and Alan.

The most memorable medivac was a young man who walked into a propeller and almost lost his arm. He had to be medivaced to Yellowknife for blood transfusions and then on to Edmonton. All of the time Nesta was on this trip, she was dressed in a rather skimpy white dress.

A year in the office of the Northern Health Services in Edmonton showed her that administration was not for her. So, the family returned to Whitehorse where Nesta returned to practicing Family Medicine and Rene continued to fly. Nesta remained in that position until she retired in 1998.

Nesta stated that, as a young person, she was not an athlete, but had always loved the outdoors—walking and cycling. She learned to canoe and to kayak and paddled several Yukon Rivers including the Tatshenshini, Yukon, Firth, and Teslin. She also enjoyed downhill and cross-country skiing.

One day in the 1990s, Nesta saw an ad in the newspaper about Orienteering and she was hooked. She says that she loves navigating the bush with a map and a compass. She has competed in numerous countries in the World’s Masters achieving a gold and silver in Australia and also two bronze in Italy.

One achievement of which she is quite proud is that of visiting every province and territory, spending at least a week in each.

Nesta’s husband, Rene, passed away in December, 2014. In 2019, Nesta bought a condo in downtown Whitehorse overlooking the Yukon River.

Nesta’s son Alan, lives in Ottawa and has his degree in industrial design. Her daughter, Tara, received her degree in agriculture majoring in forestry. Tara, who lives in British Columbia, is married and has two step-children.