Ukrainian arrival finds a home in Newfoundland among dozens of broken clocks

Since arriving in Newfoundland in November, Liudmyla Pass has rekindled her passion of fixing clocks and watches. (Garrett Barry/CTV)

Chapel's Cove, N.L. — The phone is ringing almost every day, each time with a clock that needs repair, and a profound personal story to match.

A cuckoo clock that was the sound of a woman’s childhood, a grandfather clock built by a deceased friend — each machine waiting for someone who could bring it back to life.

Ukranian watchmaker Liudmyla Pass has discovered that her skills are in high demand in Newfoundland and Labrador upon arriving to the province in November.

Since Pass moved to be with her daughter in Canada, Yulia Veretennyk, and her grandchildren in the town of Chapel’s Cove, she has taken on numerous jobs in the province — including a century-old clock tower in the town of Carbonear that had been silent for decades.

“It's always interesting for her,” Veretennyk says, translating for her Ukranian-speaking mother. “It's always new stories, story of someone's life, story of the clock. It’s different all the time.”

Veretennyk has made a Facebook page advertising her mother’s services, and is getting requests for help from as far away as the town of Gander — almost 300 kilometres down the Trans-Canada Highway.

“She’s very happy because of that,” Veretennyk said. “She always waits for [a] new clock to come.”

It all started with a Facebook post. In October, the Carbonear Heritage Society — which now occupies the old post office building in the community — wished in writing that the building’s old clock tower would work again in 2025 for its 120th birthday.

Veretennyk saw the post and encouraged her parents to urvey the building, thinking it would occupy some time for the couple who had just recently arrived to the country, and were worried about being bored.

“My father always complained that he will be bored here, he will have nothing to do and they will be bored and they will stay for two weeks and go back home,” she said.

In fact, the repairs only took Pass a few hours, something she attributes to her 52-years of experience fixing clocks and watches in Ukraine. She said a mix of rust and salt from the ocean air had jammed the machine.

Her work is earning rave reviews.

“To actually see it working, it was absolutely wonderful,” said Sam Slade, the deputy mayor of the town of Carbonear.

“It was the time of the year, too, when it all happened, just before Christmas, so I refer to it as a great Christmas gift to the residents of Carbonear.”

Slade estimates it had been between 60 and 70 years since the clock had reliably worked.

Now, the Carbonear Heritage Society will have someone wind and clean the clock every few days to keep it functional.

Veretennyk said her mom was fascinated by clocks ever since she was a child — observing them with a sense of wonder.

“She was always trying to understand how the clock works," Veretennyk said. "She thought that it's some witches who fix the clocks like this is some magic. She never knew that people study this profession.”

She started a business in Ukraine at 17 fixing clocks, and now, at 68, will seemingly be resuming her work in Canada.

“Almost every day I have messages, and a few messages every weekend,” Veretennyk said. “Tomorrow we have a meeting, and Sunday we have a meeting and the next weekend we have meetings.”

With files from the Canadian Press