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BOULTON o@ca.on.kent_county.wallaceburg.wallaceburg_courier_press 2005-08-31 published
BOULTON,
Frances
Josephine (née
DESHAW)
Ms.
Frances
Josephine
BOULTON, a resident of Wallaceburg passed
away on Monday, August 22, 2005 at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance,
"Public General Campus", in Chatham, at the age of 58. Frances
was born in Chatham and is a daughter of Mabel
DESHAW and the
late Gerald
DESHAW.
Loving mother of Michael
BOULTON of Wallaceburg
and Stephen
BOULTON, of Windsor. Dear grandmother of Taylor.
Predeceased by a sister Mary. The late Frances
BOULTON rested
at the Eric F. Nicholls Funeral Home, 639 Elgin Street in Wallaceburg,
until Thursday, August 25, 2005, when the funeral mass was celebrated
from Holy Family Church at 11 a.m. with Fr. Greg
BONIN,
Celebrant.
Kit KELLER presided at the organ. Pall bearers were: Michael
BOULTON, Stephen
BOULTON, Sam
CIPOLLA, Tony
CIPOLLA, Stacey
CIPOLLA
and Rick BOULTON.
Interment was in Riverview Cemetery, Wallaceburg.
As an expression of sympathy donations to the Holy Family Church
Building Fund or the Arthritis Society may be left at the funeral
home. As a living memorial a tree will be planted in Nicholls
Memorial
Forest in memory of Frances Josephine
BOULTON.
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BOULTON o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-01-01 published
BOULTON,
Matthew
And if I go:
While you're still here,
Know that I live on,
Vibrating to a different measure,
Behind a veil you cannot see through,
You will not see me,
So you must have faith,
I wait for the time when we can sore together again,
Both aware of each other,
Until then live your life to its fullest,
And when you need me just whisper my name in your heart,
I will be there.
He is Matthew
BOULTON,
March 12, 1980.
Loving memory, Mum.
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BOULTON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-08-01 published
CAIRNS,
Isabell "
Bell"
Elizabeth
(McKEE)
At Roberta Place, Barrie on Saturday, July 30, 2005 Isabell
McKEE
in her 84th year, beloved wife of the late Donald
CAIRNS,
Rosemont.
Loving mother of William and Lynda, Robert and Diane, Dennis
and Donna, Douglas and Annie, Barbara and Paul
BOULTON,
Brian,
Kenneth and predeceased by Elizabeth Ann and Bruce. Fondly remembered
by 18 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Dear sister of
the late William
McKEE.
The family will receive their Friends
at the Egan Funeral Home, 203 Queen Street S. (Hwy 50), Bolton
(905-857-2213) Tuesday afternoon 2-4 and evening 7-9 o'clock.
Funeral service will be held in the chapel on Wednesday, August
3 at 2 o'clock. Interment Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bolton. If desired,
memorial donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation
of Ontario. Condolences for the family may be offered at www.eganfuneralhome.com
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BOUMA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-08-05 published
DIELEMAN,
Marie
While we grieve Marie's passing, we rejoice that she is now with
her Lord. Marie
DIELEMAN was taken into glory on Wednesday, August
3, 2005 in her 98th year. She was born on August 5, 1907 and
was predeceased by her husband William (November 21, 2001) after
75 years of marriage. She will be sadly missed by her children,
grandchildren and greatgrandchildren; Kay and Everett
HOOYER
of Dresden, Marilyn and Andrew
OUDMAN,
Betty
BOUMA, Wayne and
Martha HOOYER,
Ed and Laurie
HOOYER, Glen
(August 4, 2004) and
Irene HOOYER;
Jane
DIELEMAN of Chatham; Adrian and Attie
DIELEMAN
of Chatham, Bill and Grace
DIELEMAN,
Brenda and Ken
VAN
OMMEN,
Ken and Ingrid
DIELEMAN,
Ron and Nancy
DIELEMAN; Marie and John
VERBURG of Chatham, Marcia and Tom
KROESBERGEN,
Jim and Jean
VERBURG;
Jim and Ann
DIELEMAN of Chatham-Linda
DIELEMAN, John
and Carol DIELEMAN,
Karen and Dennis
GOFORTH, David and Jacky
DIELEMAN, Mark and Susan
DIELEMAN; Wilma and Jake
VAN
GURP of
Brownsville, David and Charlene
VAN
GURP,
Lois and Bob
FORSYTH,
Jana and Rich
HAMSTRA,
Carol and Johan
TANGELDER, Susan and Eric
KNIGHT, Nancy and James
EILSEN, Ellyn and Keith
SINKE, Joel
VAN
GURP; and 65 great-grandchildren. A private family interment
will take place at Maple Leaf Cemetery, Chatham followed by a
public Memorial Service at First Christian Reformed Church, 25
Tweedsmuir Ave. E., Chatham on Friday August 5, 2005 at 11: 00
a.m. with Reverend Paul
STADT officiating. Donations to the Back
to God Hour would be appreciated. Online condolences may be left
at www.mckinlayfuneralhome.com McKinlay Funeral Home, 459 St.
Clair Street, Chatham, Ontario, (519) 351-2040.
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BOUMA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-31 published
LIMBERTIE-
BOUMA,
Aleida▼
On December 28, 2005 after a valiant struggle, our mother, grandmother,
sister, sister-in-law, aunt, cousin and friend drew her last
breath surrounded by her loving family. Hers was a forceful voice
in support of Toronto's artistic diversity - as one of the founding
directors of the Community Folk Arts Council she pioneered Toronto's
Christmas and Easter Around the World Festivals and was a passionate
advocate for Canadian folklore and folkways. Awarded the Centennial
Medal of Canada for her services to the arts, she was also knighted
by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for her contributions to
the preservation of Dutch culture among immigrants here. A board
member of countless organizations, including Folklore Canada
International, she helped program folkloric festivals around
the world with Canadian dancers of many heritages. Survived by
her four daughters Ineke (Catherine), Wendy, Melinda (Ken) and
Maya (Erle), grandchildren Jackie, Alex, Maya, Nicholas and Caroline
as well as her family in the Netherlands, the United States,
Germany and Oman. Predeceased by her husband Adrian. Cremation
has taken place and a Memorial Service will be held at Our Lady
of Lourdes, 520 Sherbourne Street (at Wellesley), Thursday, January
5, 2006 at 1: 00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a charitable donation
to the Community Folk Art Council may be made.
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BOUMA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-31 published
LIMBERTIE-
BOUMA,
Aleida▲
On December 28, 2005 after a valiant struggle, our mother, grandmother,
sister, sister-in-law, aunt, cousin and friend drew her last
breath surrounded by her loving family. Hers was a forceful voice
in support of Toronto's artistic diversity - as one of the founding
directors of the Community Folk Arts Council she pioneered Toronto's
Christmas and Easter Around the World Festivals and was a passionate
advocate for Canadian folklore and folkways. Awarded the Centennial
Medal of Canada for her services to the arts, she was also knighted
by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for her contributions to
the preservation of Dutch culture among immigrants here. A board
member of countless organizations, including Folklore Canada
International, she helped program folkloric festivals around
the world with Canadian dancers of many heritages. Survived by
her four daughters Ineke (Catherine), Wendy, Melinda (Ken) and
Maya (Erle), grandchildren Jackie, Alex, Maya, Nicholas and Caroline
as well as her family in the Netherlands, the United States,
Germany and Oman. Predeceased by her husband Adrian. Cremation
has taken place and a Memorial Service will be held at Our Lady
of Lourdes, 520 Sherbourne Street (at Wellesley), Thursday, January
5, 2006 at 1: 00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a charitable donation
to the Community Folk Art Council may be made.
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BOUNDS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-07 published
BRADLEY,
Dr.
Leonard
Orville (1914-2005)
On Friday, March 4th, Dr. Leonard Orville
BRADLEY
(Brad) passed
away at the age of 90. He will be greatly missed by his wife
of 63 years Mona, his four children, Leslie, Bill, Heather and
Tom and their families, his two sisters, Dorethy and Helen, and
his many Friends and family from across Canada.
Brad was always proud of his prairie roots and had fond memories
of growing up in Neudorf, Saskatchewan.
He accomplished much in his 90 years, but his best decision was
pursuing Mona
BOUNDS, his companion through life and its many
adventures, challenges and travels.
Brad was passionate and committed to the healthcare field. He
was a pioneer in post-war hospital administration, having studied
at the University of Chicago and helped develop and teach courses
at University of Toronto. His career included many senior positions
including Administrator of the Calgary General Hospital (1952-56),
Executive Director of the Winnipeg General Hospital (1956-67),
President of the Minneapolis Medical Center (1967-69), Executive
Director of the Canadian Council on Hospital Accreditation (1969-1974),
and Medical Director of the Vancouver General Hospital (1975-78).
He received a number of honours for his work including the George
Findlay Stephens Memorial Award (1980), the Outstanding Achievement
Award for 1984 from the Medical Alumni Assoc. of the University
of Alberta, and the Extendicare Award from the Canadian College
of Health Service Executives (1988).
Brad also gave much time to the community over the years through
his involvement in Rotary and Probus, serving as President of
both organizations. Brad also enjoyed his involvement with the
United Church.
Brad strongly believed in life-long learning. He received his
M.D. in 1938. He achieved a number of other public administration
designations and notably, received his final University Degree,
a Bachelor of Arts from Athabasca University at the age of 86.
Brad always had a special place in his heart for the family cottage
on Betula Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba. Mona
and Brad never missed a summer for 46 years and it was there
that Brad was able to pursue many of his passions: playing cards
(including cribbage and bridge), kibitzing with the kids and
calling them George and Mary Jane, taking on construction projects
with son Bill, and swimming.
Brad passed peacefully, shortly after winning his final game
of cribbage.
There will be a funeral service held at Scarboro United Church
(134 Scarboro Avenue, S.W., Calgary) on Wednesday, March 9th
at 3: 00 p.m. The family thanks Darlene and the other wonderful
staff at Rockyview Hospital for their professional and compassionate
care of Brad.
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BOUNTIS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-04-27 published
BOUNTIS,
John
Peacefully with family at his side at Parkwood Hospital on Monday,
April 25, 2005, John
BOUNTIS of London in his 52nd year. Much
loved husband and best friend of Vicky
BOUNTIS.
Predeceased by
his parents Elias and Panagiota
BOUNTIS.
Beloved brother-in-law
of Mary and her late husband George, brother of Voula and Kosta
and his wife Ntina of Greece. He will be missed by his parents-in-law
Niko and Niki
PARASKEVOPOULOU of Greece, also his brother-in-law
Alexi and his wife Katerina and his two sisters-in-law Gina and
Ntina. Dearly remembered by nieces, nephews, many relatives and
Friends in Greece and
in Canada. Friends will be received at
the Logan Funeral Home, 371 Dundas St. (between Waterloo and
Colborne St.) on Wednesday 5-8: 30 p.m. Prayers will be held at
5: 00 on Wednesday by Father Elias
DROSSOS.
Friends who wish may
make memorial donations to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Building Fund or the London Regional Cancer Centre. There will
always be a heartache There will often be a tear, For all those
precious memories Of when you were here. Love you forever, Vicky.
Online condolences www.loganfh.ca A tree will be planted as a
living memorial to Mr.
BOUNTIS.
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BOURAS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-14 published
BOURAS,
Harry
Passed away at Credit Valley Hospital on Monday, December 12,
2005 at the age of 73. Dear brother of Millitsa
LIMBERIS,
Pat
MILLAR, Dena
GAUTHIER, Demi
BOURAS and Elaine
ANDREWS. Sadly
missed by brother-in-law John
MILLAR, nieces and nephews Tracy
ANDREWS, Susie
DELROSARIO, Tim
GAUTHIER and David
GAUTHIER. Friends
will be received the Scott Funeral Home, Brampton Chapel, 289
Main St. N., Brampton on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 from
6-9 p.m. Funeral Services will be held at St. Barbara's Greek
Orthodox Church, 7295 McLaughlin Rd., Mississauga at 10: 00 a.m.
on Thursday, December 15th, 2005. Interment to follow at Meadowvale
Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Barbara's Church
or the charity of your choice would be appreciated.
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BOURASSA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-06 published
BOURASSA,
Paul▼
Emile▼
World War 2 Veteran - Royal Canadian Air Force No. 419 Squadron
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of our father,
Paul BOURASSA, on Monday, July 25, 2005, in his 90th year after
a lengthy illness fought with courage and dignity. He joins his
beloved wife of 53 years, Thelma
BOURASSA (née
MARSHALL.)
Dad▼
is survived by his five children: Lynn, Paul (Violet), John and
Dale BOURASSA and Anne
HARDY
(Glenn
COOKE;) his ten grandchildren
Ryan,
Renee,
Shawn, Paul, Shannon, Michael, Jody and Krista
BOURASSA,
Lauren and Jordan
HARDY; two great-grandchildren - Kayleigh and
Shane MITTS and his sister Jeanne
MILJOURS of Noranda, Quebec.
Dad was a terrific father. He spent the larger portion of his
income on housing, feeding and clothing five children yet he
still found money to purchase passes to the local outdoor swimming
pool during the summer, take us on camping trips to Lake Simcoe
as well as outings to Musselman's Lake and Niagara Falls.
And it was pretty amazing having a Dad who was a war hero. He
saved three men from his burning Lancaster bomber when it crashed
in England after returning from a bombing mission. For that feat,
he personally received a Distinguished Flying Cross from King
George VI.
Dad was a fitness guru long before it became popular. Even in
the last year of his life, test results indicated his heart was
like that of a 50 year old man. He walked vigorously after every
meal and was still cycling at the age of 85. In addition, to
exercising, Dad loved to garden, golf, bowl, tend to his dog
and cat, read biographies and do crossword puzzles, all while
listening to his beloved country music.
We children have learned a lot from Dad. We get our love of cleanliness
and orderliness from him as well as our strong work ethic. If
something broke down in the house, he would fix it before eating
his dinner. He was not a procrastinator and neither are any of
his children.
At Dad's request, there will be no funeral or memorial service.
However, a Dedication Ceremony will be held at Trenton War Museum
on Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 2: 00 p.m. to commemorate a
plaque in his honour. Dad, we willl remember the twinkle in your
eye.
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BOURASSA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-08-04 published
BOURASSA,
Paul▲
Emile▲
World War 2 Veteran - Royal Canadian Air Force No. 419 Squadron.
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of our father,
Paul BOURASSA, on Monday, July 25, 2005, in his 90th year after
a lengthy illness fought with courage and dignity. He joins his
beloved wife of 53 years, Thelma
BOURASSA (née
MARSHALL.)
Dad▲
is survived by his five children: Lynn, Paul, John and Dale
BOURASSA
and Anne HARDY; his ten grandchildren Ryan, Renee, Shawn, Paul,
Shannon, Michael, Jody and Krista
BOURASSA, Lauren and Jordan
HARDY; two great-grandchildren - Kayleigh and Shane
MITTS and
his sister Jeanne
MILJOURS of Noranda, Quebec. Dad was a terrific
father. He spent the larger portion of his income on housing,
feeding and clothing five children yet he still found money to
purchase passes to the local outdoor swimming pool during the
summer, take us on camping trips to Lake Simcoe as well as outings
to Musselman's Lake and Niagara Falls. And it was pretty amazing
having a Dad who was a war hero. He saved three men from his
burning Lancaster bomber when it crashed in England after returning
from a bombing mission. For that feat, he personally received
a Distinguished Flying Cross from King George VI. Dad was a fitness
guru long before it became popular. Even in the last year of
his life, test results indicated his heart was like that of a
50 year old man. He walked vigorously after every meal and was
still cycling at the age of 85. In addition, to exercising, Dad
loved to garden, golf, bowl, tend to his dog and cat, read biographies
and do crossword puzzles, all while listening to his beloved
country music. We children have learned a lot from Dad. We get
our love of cleanliness and orderliness from him as well as our
strong work ethic. If something broke down in the house, he would
fix it before eating his dinner. He was not a procrastinator
and neither are any of his children. At Dad's request, there
will be no funeral or memorial service. However, a Dedication
Ceremony will be held at Trenton War Museum on Saturday, September
24, 2005 at 2: 00 p.m. to commemorate a plaque in his honour.
Dad, we willl remember the twinkle in your eye.
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BOURDAGE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-01-05 published
BOURDAGE,
Stephen
John
(April 9th, 1963 - January 5th, 2003)
We though of you with love today
But that is nothing new
We thought about you yesterday
And days before that too.
We think of you in silence
We often speak your name
Now all we have are memories
And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake
With which we'll never part
God has you in his keeping
We have you in our heart.
Loved and missed by Mom, Dad, Rick, Michael and all other Family
Members.
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BOURDAGE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-05-14 published
McINTYRE,
Jerry / Gerald
Jerry/Gerald (L.F.) born Glace Bay, Nova Scotia June 9, 1936
- died Nanaimo, British Columbia May 12, 2005 at N.R.G.H. after
a short, but courageous battle with cancer. Survived by his beloved
wife and best friend Joan, son William (Gale)
McINTYRE, daughters
Kathleen and Christy
McINTYRE, brothers Frank (Linda)
HUBLEY,
Gordon (Sharon)
HUBLEY, sister Cheryl (John)
KOZEY, sisters-in-law
Carol (George)
HOY and Judy
BOURDAGE, 8 grandchildren, several
nieces and nephews, his Aunt Beauty, many cousins and dear Friends.
Predeceased by his mother and step-father Sarah and Fred
HUBLEY,
and his father Lauchlin
MacKAY. At
Jerry's request, there will
be no service. Joan asks that this man simply be remembered for
his great ability to listen, his laughter and love of life, friend
to many, and as he wished, leaves us and this world quietly.
Thanks to Dr. Helmut Mark for always being there. Donations in
his may be made to the Liver Foundation, Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, or charity of choice. Cremation.
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BOURDAGES o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-10-01 published
RICHARD,
Weillie
With thanksgiving for his life, the family of Weillie
RICHARD
announce his passing. He succumbed peacefully, surrounded by
the love of his family at London Health Sciences Centre - University
Hospital in London on Wednesday, September 28th, 2005. He leaves
many fond memories for all who knew him. Dearly beloved husband
of the late Madeleine Bélanger
RICHARD. Cherished father of Catherine
RICHARD, and Sandra
RICHARD-
MOHAMED and her husband Mahms of
London. He will remain forever in the hearts of his grandchildren
François RICHARD-
KRAFCHEK, Stéphane and Élise
RICHARD-
MOHAMED.
Dear brother of Irène
BAILLARGEON and Yvette
ROY. Dear brother-in-law
of Thérèse
CLOUTIER/CLOUTHIER-
BÉLANGER, Jeanne
BOURDAGES, Lorraine
TANGUAY,
Beatrice MORIN, Thérèse
BÉLANGER (Rolland
GINGRAS), Simone
LESSARD
(René), J. Edouard
BÉLANGER (Ginnette
VERREAULT), Marie-Ange
DORVAL (Adonia), Denyse
KRAJCIK (Jean), Denis
BÉLANGER (Diane
BENOIT.)
Sadly missed by his much loved Godchildren Joelle Dorval
BERGERON and Marcel
BÉLANGER.
Remembered with fondness by his
many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents
Joseph and Élise (née
GODBOUT)
RICHARD, his siblings Léda
LABELLE,
Marie-Ange
LAROCHELLE,
Adalbert
RICHARD, Marie-Anne
LAVIGNE,
Évangéliste
RICHARD, Rita
GUITAR, Blanche
RICHARD, Berthe
GUILLEMETTE,
Elizabeth DESROSIERS,
Fernande
FELTEAU, Cécile
JOHNSON, Ernest
RICHARD and his brothers and sisters-in-law Jean-Paul and Fernand
BÉLANGER, Adhemar
BOURDAGES, Jean-Laval
TANGUAY, Yvonne
BÉLANGER,
Gilberte NADEAU, Raymond
MORIN, Maurice
LAFLAMME and Gilles
PAQUETTE.
Friends will be received at l'Église Assomption de Notre-Dame,
384 Hillside Avenue, Oshawa on Monday after 10: 00 a.m. The Funeral
Mass will follow at 11: 00 with Father Viateur
LAURIN officiating.
Rite of Committal at Resurrection Cemetery Mausoleum in Whitby.
If desired and in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the
London Health Sciences Foundation, University Hospital - Palliative
Care, 747 Baseline Road East, London, Ontario N6C 2R6. Donations
may be arranged through J.J. Patterson and Sons Funeral Residence,
19 Young Street, Welland or on-line with memories and condolences
at www.jjpatterson.ca A special word of thanks goes to Brenda
DALEY,
Debbie
JARVIS, Jenna
GOODHAND, the 3rd floor staff at
Chelsey Park Retirement Community, Dr.
LO, London Health Sciences
Centre - University Hospital 4th Floor Medicine Team 3 and nursing
staff, Dr.
SCHULZ and Lynne Hughes
MARSH of the London Health
Sciences Centre Palliative Care - University Hospital. As a memorial
tribute, a tree will be planted in Memory Woods. A tree grows
- memories live.
How 2 letter Surnames like LO work in OGSPI
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BOURDEAU o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-02-22 published
JENSMA,
Regina
After a brief illness at London Health Sciences Centre, University
Campus, Regina
JENSMA of Strathroy in her 45th year. Beloved
mother of Brandy
JENSMA,
Amanda
WILSON and Jason
JENSMA all of
London. Grandmother to Chase and Madyson. Also survived by her
parents Jasper and Ina
(BEINTEMA)
JENSMA of Strathroy, and brothers
and sisters Peter
JENSMA of Strathroy, Wilma and Steve
BOURDEAU
of London, Tina
JENSMA of Windsor, Theo
JENSMA of Strathroy,
Frank and Brenda
JENSMA and Steven
JENSMA all of London. Also
survived by many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by her brother
John JENSMA (1998.) Visitation will be held at the Denning Bros.
Funeral Home Ltd., 32 Metcalfe St. W., Strathroy on Thursday
February 24th from noon to 1: 00pm when funeral service will take
place officiated by the family. Cremation at Woodland Cemetery
and Crematorium. Donations to Brain Tumor Research would be appreciated
by the family. A tree will be planted as a living memorial to
Regina.
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BOURDEAU o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-03-01 published
ELDER,
Blake
Gerald "
Gerry"
Peacefully at Strathroy Hospital on Sunday, February 27, 2005
Blake
Gerald
(Gerry)
ELDER of MacHenry St. (Forest) Lambton Shores.
Beloved husband and best friend of Norma Jean
(BORTHWICK)
ELDER.
Dear father of Lori (Doug)
ROSS,
Strathroy;
Connie
LICHTY (Bob
WELLINGTON) of Forest. Fondly remembered by grandchildren Andrew
and Ian ROSS,
Chad,
Jessica and Derek
LICHTY.
son of Vera
PARSONS
of Chatham. Brother of Audrey (Bob)
BOURDEAU of Port Lambton.
Step-brother of Ron
PARSONS and Marjorie
BURTON, both of London.
Predeceased by Helen and Arthur. Son-in-law of Gladys
BORTHWICK
and the late Chris. Brother-in-law of Thelma
LARSEN,
Ruby
STEWARD/STEWART/STUART
and the late Inez
WATSON.
Also surviving are nieces and nephews.
Aged 67 years. Resting at the Ronn E. Dodge Funeral Home and
Cremation Centre, McFarlane Chapel, 9 James St. S. at Watt St.
(Forest) Lambton Shores where funeral services will be conducted
on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m. Interment Beechwood
Cemetery. Donations appreciated to Legion Poppy Fund (Cheques
only received at the Funeral Home). Visitation Tuesday 2-4 and
7-9 p.m. Legion Parade Tuesday evening 7 p.m. A memorial tree
will be planted in memory of "Gerry" by the Dodge family.
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BOURDEAU o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-04-18 published
PARSONS,
Ronald "
Ron"
Ronald (Ron) at home on Monday, April 11, 2005 peacefully passed
away in his 74th year. He was dearly loved and cherished by his
wife Joan
(MADIGAN)
PARSONS who was by his side when his four
month battle with cancer ended. He was a loving, devoted and
caring father to Don and his wife Deb, Linda and her husband
Dave, David and his wife Joan, Dan and Bob and Derek. Will be
loved and remembered by his grandchildren Angela and Steve
HENDERSON,
Bob BOS,
Josh
MADIGAN, Crystal
BOS and Marisa
MADIGAN. Survived
by his step-mother Vera
PARSONS.
Also survived by his loving
sisters Marjorie
BURTON and Audrey
BOURDEAU, and sister-in-laws
Joey and Norma. Dearly remembered by his many nieces and nephews
and their families. He will be sadly missed by his in-laws and
longtime buddy Ross
MADIGAN and also by his Friends and neighbours.
Predeceased by his brothers Art and Gerry and sister Helen. Also
predeceased by his parents Gertrude and Arthur Sr. Cremation
has already taken place. A celebration of Ron's life will be
held at a later date. Forest City Cremation Services 675-0772.
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BOURDEAU o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-27 published
LUYT,
Joyce
Beryl
(DAFOE)
Peacefully at Sunnybrook Hospital on Monday, May 23, 2005, in
her 66th year. Predeceased by her parents Clifford and Elfreda
(BOURDEAU)
DAFOE. Survived by her sister Loretta (Dave)
ROBERTS
of Chatham and niece Lisa
ROBERTS of Toronto. Loving companion
to Jim PATTERSON for 27 years. Joyce will be remembered by Jeffery
PATTERSON, Jim
PATTERSON (jr.), Jennifer
POWELL and Julie
KREIGER
and their spouses. A memorial service will be held at the Trull
"North Toronto" Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 2704 Yonge Street
(5 blocks south of Lawrence), on Monday afternoon at 1 o'clock.
If desired, remembrances may be made to the Canadian Cancer society
or the Toronto Humane Society.
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BOURDEAU - All Categories in OGSPI
BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-02-07 published
Tony COSTANZA,
Hairdresser: 1928-2005
Immigrant from Italy took up barbering in Ottawa; for decades,
he trimmed the locks of the important and not so important
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, February
7, 2005 - Page S6
Ottawa -- For 45 years, ambassadors, prime ministers, viceroys
and thousands of less-celebrated men had their hair cut by Tony
COSTANZA at the Roma Barber Shop on Elgin Street in Ottawa. Holding
court behind his favourite barber chair -- the first on the right
when you came in -- he dispensed advice, jokes, opinions and
stories to a never-ending stream of customers.
Everyone felt welcome, from working stiffs to the late Ray
HNATYSHYN
when he was governor-general. Pierre Elliott
TRUDEAU dropped
by, as well as judges from the nearby provincial courthouse and
cadres of lawyers from surrounding office buildings. National
Defence Headquarters isn't far away, so he served soldiers, airmen
and sailors of all ranks, too.
All his clients received the same, no-fuss treatment. The interior
of the tiny shop, which also houses Tony's Smoke Shop, is decorated
with postcards, military cap badges and framed photos of favourite
clients. The late Conservative politician George Hees is up there,
along with former chief of defence General Ramsey Withers, and
Paul Robinson, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada.
Retired warrant officer Roger
DESPARDE was one of many clients
who made Friends with Mr.
COSTANZA. "I was in at least once a
week. I got to like him and we got along very well. He was like
a brother to me, he confided in me."
The shop is an oasis of civility in an uncivil world, a place
"where people came by to talk," said David
HOMA, a long-time
client who recognized Mr.
COSTANZA for his acts of kindness.
"From time to time, someone would come in for a haircut but couldn't
pay. He'd thank them for their business, even though he knew
they wouldn't be back to pay. I'm sure that happened a hundred
times."
Originally from Sicily, Mr.
COSTANZA served in the Italian border
police in the late 1940s and then spent five years working in
the coal mines of Lancashire, England. In 1955, he immigrated
to Canada equipped with little English and just $20. A year later,
he sent for his wife, Genoveffa, and son Alex.
Settling in Ottawa, he found work wherever he could. In 1955,
he took up barbering. After working for others, Mr.
COSTANZA
set up on his own in 1960. Nine years later, he moved across
the street to the present location and never looked back.
It wasn't easy, though. Six days a week, Mr.
COSTANZA opened
the shop at 7 a.m. and spent the next 13 hours there. He only
took a vacation twice, returning to Italy in 1976 and 1988.
On a good day, he served about 10 clients, or roughly 100,000
haircuts in a career. Now and then, he felt obliged to exert
professional influence. "If a guy wanted a particular style and
my father thought he didn't have the hair for it, he would tactfully
suggest something else," said son Mario
COSTANZA. "
The guy would
usually walk away happy."
The late 1960s and early 1970s weren't kind to Mr.
COSTANZA.
Long hair was fashionable and most males no longer wanted a "short
back and sides" every two weeks. He waited patiently for better
days and played a lot of checkers.
However, things changed when son Alex
COSTANZA began work at
the shop. "I thought it would be a good idea to learn the trade
and help my father out. We got along, didn't have any disagreements."
His younger brother Mario had already come to know the shop in
the 1960s. He had a job there sweeping floors after school. "It
was a thrill to be there and see my father at work and listen
to him shooting the breeze with his customers. At the end of
the day, he'd throw me a quarter."
In 1978, Mario decided to make it a family threesome. "I liked
the relaxed atmosphere [so] I decided to follow in my father's
footsteps."
On January 10, Tony
COSTANZA cut his last head of hair. He went
home early after deciding he did not feel well, and now his chair
sits unoccupied and his brushes, scissors, clippers and combs
lay untouched.
Gaetano (Tony)
COSTANZA was born in Sicily on February 13, 1928.
He died in Ottawa on January 13. He was 76. He leaves his wife,
Genoveffa, sons Alex and Mario, and his sister, Concetta.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-23 published
James COWAN,
Army
Officer 1928-2005
As a raw lieutenant, he took command in the middle of a battle
in the Korean War and was recommended for the Military Cross
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, March
23, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Jim
COWAN achieved a rare distinction for an inexperienced
22-year-old army officer when he took command of his infantry
company in the middle of a battle. On May 30, 1951, he was a
lieutenant with the Second Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment,
commanding a platoon of 35 infantrymen during their first major
action in the Korean War when his company commander was wounded.
Mr. COWAN's seniority got him the job, said John
WOODS of Ottawa,
one of two other platoon commanders during the battle of Kakhul-Bong
almost 54 years ago. "John
STRICKLAND of 9 Platoon had lost three-quarters
of his platoon in the first five minutes of the attack. [My platoon]
came up and took over his position, so Jimmy and I fought side
by side up the hill."
Suddenly, word came that their commander, Major Harry
BOATES,
had been hit by a Chinese mortar bomb. Mr.
COWAN sprinted breathlessly
over to Mr.
WOODS. "
What date was your commission?" he asked.
Even in the middle of a battle, it was important for officers
to observe certain professional niceties. "Feb. 16, 1948," Mr.
WOODS replied.
"That gave him three months seniority over me, [which] entitled
him to take over the company."
They discussed what to do next. "We thought about making a full
bayonet charge with both platoons, but we decided... it would
have been suicidal."
The Second Battalion, which had formed at Camp Petawawa, Ontario,
less than a month after North Korea invaded South Korea on July
25, 1950, had trained at Fort Lewis, Washington., before shipping
out on May 4, 1951. Placed under the command of the 25th U.S.
Division, it had been advancing north of Seoul when it was ordered
to capture the heavily fortified 500-metre summit of Kakhul-Bong
and the village of Chail-li beyond it.
D Company, including Mr.
COWAN and his men of 10 Platoon, had
been told to take the main objective -- the twin peaks of Kakhul-Bong.
At 6: 30 a.m., Major
BOATES sent his three platoons leapfrogging
forward until they were pinned down by Chinese machine-gun fire.
A driving rainstorm that started at 7 a.m. didn't help matters.
Not long after, Major
BOATES was wounded and Mr.
COWAN took over
the attack.
"Jimmy was very cool and very professional," said Mr.
WOODS,
who remained a lifelong friend. "The way he accepted the responsibility
of taking command was very impressive."
A handful of men advanced to within six metres of the summit
of Kakhul-Bong, only to be stopped by heavy fire. "Victory was
so near -- yet so far. Below, the Chinese could be seen concentrating
in substantial numbers for a counterattack," wrote G.R. Stevens
in The Royal Canadian Regiment, Volume Two, 1933-66.
"Determined to deny them access to the Chorwon Plains -- to which
Kakhul was virtually the key -- the enemy opened up with mortar
and artillery fire. In pelting rain and with no high ground for
observation, it was obvious he was firing from guns which had
been previously dug in and ranged," wrote correspondent Bill
BOSS of The Canadian Press. For three hours, both Mr.
COWAN and
Mr. WOODS deployed their platoons "in a bombardment not seen
by this correspondent since... the Second World War."
Mr. COWAN radioed battalion headquarters that his right flank
was entirely exposed, reported that 3,000 Chinese soldiers in
the valley below were preparing a counterattack and said he had
only 70 men left. Brigadier-General John
ROCKINGHAM, commander
of 25 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group, ordered him to disengage.
Second Battalion had suffered six dead and 25 wounded. Both Mr.
COWAN and Mr.
WOODS were recommended for the Military Cross.
Years later, Mr.
COWAN, who had been wounded that day, said that
"becoming a company commander while under fire is an experience
no young man ever forgets."
The son of a Toronto police officer, Mr.
COWAN joined the cadet
corps of the 48th Highlanders of Canada at 13. He was commissioned
into the regiment seven years later before volunteering for the
regular army in 1950. After the Korean War, he followed the conventional
career path of thousands of officers, including battalion and
staff postings in Canada and Europe.
In 1953, he enjoyed an unusual job for an army officer when he
cruised the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Pacific
as ground-liaison officer aboard the aircraft carrier H.M.C.S.
Magnificent. While in Halifax aboard Magnificent, he met a navy
nurse named Betty-June
BALLANTYN and they became sweethearts.
Then, after spending a number of years in Vietnam and Laos as
part of the International Truce Commission, Mr.
COWAN returned
home in 1957 and they married.
The next 13 years saw Mr.
COWAN and his family assigned to postings
around the world, including stops in India, Germany and the United
States. He commanded his original unit, the Second Battalion,
Royal Canadian Regiment, in Soest, West Germany, from 1968 to
1970. He retired from the Canadian Forces in 1982 as a brigadier-general.
He later spent seven years as Chief Executive Officer and priory
secretary of Saint John Ambulance.
Brigadier-General James Albert
COWAN was born on September 30,
1928, in Toronto. He died of lung cancer on January 1, 2005,
in North Bay, Ontario He was 76. He is survived by his wife,
Betty-June, sons Ian and Scott and brother Bill.
He was predeceased by his brother Dave and his sister Jean.
He will be interred with full military honours in Ottawa's National
Military Cemetery in May.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-04-14 published
Douglas GUNTER,
Army
Officer: 1921-2005
Artillery officer who experienced savage fighting in the liberation
of Europe was years later lauded as a 'gallant base commander'
who played host to the Royal Family
By Buzz BOURDON,
Thursday,
April 14, 2005, Page S9
Special to The Globe and Mail
Ottawa -- Colonel Douglas
GUNTER loved organizing things, so
when National Defence Headquarters told him in 1972 to expect
a Royal visit to Canadian Forces Base Shilo, he found himself
in his element. For three months, he was everywhere, planning,
inspecting and double-checking everything. He resolved that Shilo,
the home station of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery,
would be in tip-top shape for a visit to Manitoba by the Queen,
Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and Princess Anne.
Even his own family was involved. A possible rail strike meant
they might have to be evicted to house the Royal Family. "When
I told them that we might be moving out to make room for royalty,
the children thought that would be exciting, while my wife, with
her Irish heritage, was less enthusiastic," Mr.
GUNTER wrote
in a 1993 family memoir.
His daughter, Anne
BRIGHAM, who was 10 at the time, recalled
the havoc. "German shepherds were brought in to sniff for bombs.
My mother's silver tea service was replaced by 'something better.'
She was offended!"
The family was instructed on etiquette, she said. "I had to curtsey
to the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and Anne; my brother had
to bow. My mother was a good girl and did what she was told for
my father's sake."
Finally, the big day arrived on July 13, 1970. Father and daughter
made a final tour of the base at 9 a.m. to see that everything
was ready. Then the weather, the one thing beyond Mr.
GUNTER's
control, went haywire. Appalled, he could only watch in horror
as the clouds unleashed lightning, thunder and pelting rain on
the royal enclosure. "Vicious rains were soon blowing chairs,
bunting and children horizontally across the prairie," he wrote.
In due course, the Royal Family arrived and took their places
on a reviewing stand to watch paratroopers from the Canadian
Airborne Regiment make a free-fall parachute jump. Other soldiers
then demonstrated rappelling by sliding down ropes from a hovering
helicopter. That's when the spit hit the fan. Unexpectedly, backwash
from the helicopter struck with a prolonged blast of air. Hats
went flying and soldiers arrived at a dead run to steady the
dangerously teetering structure.
A young Princess Anne managed "to hang on to her hat while her
lime-green mini-skirt was flying in all directions. The ever-alert
members of the media rushed with their cameras to the front of
the stand to capture the royal thigh on film," wrote Mr.
GUNTER.
Reacting quickly, he shielded her with his umbrella, earning
him transatlantic kudos as "the gallant base commander, protecting
the modesty of the young princess."
"Not since the days of Sir Walter Raleigh 400 years ago has such
gallantry been seen," one newspaper reported.
Doug GUNTER had joined the army in 1939 and attended the University
of New Brunswick. He was posted to 12 Field Regiment, Royal Canadian
Artillery. He landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day in 1944
and fought his way across France, Belgium, the Netherlands and
into Germany.
In February of 1945, he took part in a major operation to clear
the west bank of the Rhine River for the drive into Germany.
The attack opened with 1,200 guns in the biggest artillery barrage
of the war. "My guns started firing high explosive at 0400 hours
the continual flashes of gunfire meant you could read a paper
anywhere," he wrote. "We continued firing until 1600 hours."
Retired Major-General Reg
WEEKS of Ottawa first met Doug
GUNTER
during the autumn of 1944. Operating about 150 metres behind
the fighting, Mr.
GUNTER was acting as a forward observation
officer, recording the fall and effect of artillery and calling
in corrections amid the noise and confusion. A wrong move could
mean untold casualties by friendly fire.
"I never knew him to make a mistake in bringing down artillery
fire in the right place and the right time," said Mr.
WEEKS.
Those desperate months remained with Mr.
GUNTER for the rest
of his life. "Our gun positions were usually littered with the
purple, bloated bodies of horses, cows, pigs and enemy soldiers."
He never did become accustomed to the discovery of body parts.
"I remember doing a reconnaissance for a gun position near a
Dutch farm house. I discovered a teenaged girl and started to
question her when artillery shells started to fall. We both dove
for shelter in different areas. When the shelling stopped, I
found [her] decapitated body in the farm yard. That I found very
disturbing."
After the war, Mr.
GUNTER transferred to the regular army, moving
his#17 times before he retired in 1974 as director of
artillery. He served in Canada, Korea, Germany, Britain and Cyprus.
Mr. GUNTER spent the next 10 years as the executive director
of the Canadian Figure Skating Association.
Douglas Hayward
GUNTER was born on March 22, 1921, in Saint John,
New Brunswick He died of cancer on March 4, 2005, in Ottawa.
He was 83. He leaves his wife, Josephine, children Anne and Richard,
sister Dorothy and brother Harold.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-05 published
Tom HOUGH,
Fighter
Pilot and Lawyer: 1922-2005
Royal Canadian Air Force Spitfire pilot survived the notorious
'long march' of allied PoWs near the close of the Second World
War
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Thursday, May
5, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- The order came with characteristic German terseness.
All Allied prisoners, more than 1,000 aircrew from Canada, Britain
and other Commonwealth countries, were to be ready to evacuate
Stalag Luft III on 30 minutes' notice.
Tom HOUGH of the Royal Canadian Air Force had been expecting
it, but the news still hit him and his fellow prisoners, or "kriegies,"
like a ton of bricks. "Hysteria reigned. The pervading feeling
was of immense relief not unaccompanied by apprehension. Val
started playing his guitar, and in a spontaneous excess of spirits
we all started singing," he wrote 40 years later in an unpublished
memoir.
After packing his meagre belongings, Mr.
HOUGH, a Spitfire pilot
who had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and served
with the Royal Air Force squadrons and with the Royal Australian
Air Force in Egypt, had crash-landed behind enemy lines in Italy.
A prisoner of war for almost a year, he paraded with the rest
of the men. It was very cold and snowing lightly.
The Russian army had launched an explosive attack across the
Vistula River two weeks earlier on January 12, 1945. Hitler's
Third Reich was falling to pieces all over Europe, but German
authorities saw fit to evacuate tens of thousands of Allied PoWs
away from Russian forces. The Germans thought they would be useful
in peace negotiations.
On January 28, 1945, they marshalled the prisoners -- all of
them hungry, exhausted and fearing the worst -- and sent them
by foot across 90 kilometres of frozen countryside from Stalag
Luft III, near Sagan, in southeastern Germany, to Luckenwalde,
near Berlin. Now known as "the long march," the event was duplicated
at many other camps. It is regarded as one of Germany's worst
war crimes.
Walking 15 or 20 kilometres per day took its toll on the prisoners,
many of whom had been in captivity for five years, Mr.
HOUGH
said. "What would happen to those too ill to walk? Many of us
were suffering from foot trouble. Socks were removed, carrying
parts of burst blisters with them. An increasing number were
developing painful limps; many had developed coughs and running
noses. Some had temperatures. Many had diarrhea or intestinal
infections."
It was also the coldest winter Germany had experienced in 50
years and hundreds of PoWs collapsed and perished by the wayside.
Ironically, Mr.
HOUGH and his mates also had to contend with
Allied aircraft that mistook them for a German column. In one
incident alone, Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter bombers strafed
and killed 60 PoWs.
Despite the horrors of the march, a comic incident occurred when
a German officer made an unusual appeal, Mr.
HOUGH wrote. "'If
the kriegie who has stolen [his] birthday goose from his staff-car
does not return it forthwith, you'll all have to sleep in the
snow. If he returns it immediately, no questions will be asked.'
The word was that it was too late, but apparently the officer
settled for a D-bar [chocolate] and an unstated number of cigarettes."
Five days later the ragged column arrived at a rail siding and
a long line of boxcars labelled 40 hommes ou 8 chevaux. Hundreds
of men were crammed inside each car. Conditions were worse than
primitive, Mr.
HOUGH said. "The press was so acute that no one
could lie down. At best, perhaps half of us could sit down at
one time, knees drawn up to our chests. Later, when complete
exhaustion set in, some collapsed on top of others, so in places
we lay in layers."
Three days later, Mr.
HOUGH and his comrades arrived at Stalag
IIIA, 50 kilometres south of Berlin. Advancing Soviet forces
soon cast aside German defences and
on April 21, 1945, he simply
walked to freedom.
After the war, Mr.
HOUGH qualified as a lawyer at Osgoode Hall
before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force's legal branch. In
1962, he founded his own law firm in Ottawa and was later appointed
Queen's Counsel.
Thomas Harris
HOUGH was born on January 2, 1922, in North Bay,
Ontario He died of a heart attack on March 27, 2005, in Ottawa.
He was 83. He leaves his son Tom, daughters Teri, Lynne and Janet,
sister Pat and brothers Bill and David. He was predeceased by
his wife Denise and son Mark.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-17 published
Evelyn HORNE,
Civil
Servant and Volunteer: 1907-2005
Ottawa secretary worked for Mackenzie
KING and was acquainted
with a succession of prime ministers. From her vantage point
at the centre of power, she saw everything and knew everyone
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, May
17, 2005 Page S9
Ottawa -- Everyone came to see Evelyn
HORNE to pick her brains
on people and policy, including Jean
CHRÉTIEN.
She spent 30 years
at the centre of political power. Starting with Mackenzie
KING,
Miss HORNE knew five prime ministers in a row, including Louis
SSAINTURENT, John
DIEFENBAKER, Lester
PEARSON and Pierre
TRUDEAU.
From 1941 to 1973, Miss
HORNE perched just off centre stage as
a perceptive spectator of some of the most tumultuous events
in recent Canadian history -- from the anxious years of the Second
World War to the new welfare state that came later. Surrounded
by statesmen, politicians, governors-general and civil servants,
Miss HORNE knew practically all of them, many on a first-name
basis.
"She told me that she knew
CHRÉTIEN when he was a young pup who
came and sat on the corner of her desk and talked politics,"
said her nephew, Robert
PIKE of Ottawa.
Other
Ottawa mandarins who valued Miss
HORNE for her administrative
skills during the '40s and '50s included Prime Minister Paul
MARTIN's father, Paul
MARTIN Sr., Jack
PICKERSGILL and C.D.
HOWE.
For all that, Miss
HORNE never forgot the years she spent working
for Mackenzie
KING.
Getting that job was a "case of being in
the right place at the right time and knowing the right people
though I would be selling myself short if I didn't admit that
I had some native intelligence and was willing to go the second
mile into overtime when it was necessary," she said in 1997.
Miss HORNE first attracted Mr. King's attention when, as a provincial
civil servant, she was secretary of the committee organizing
the Nova Scotia segment of the 1939 visit to Canada of King George
Virgin Islands and Queen Elizabeth.
"When Mr. KING asked to meet me during his tour of East Coast
defences in the fall of 1940, I knew I was to be interviewed
for a job. And what an interview! Presumably, someone had told
him that I could write a fairly good letter; he asked me nothing
about my work capabilities," said Miss
HORNE.
Instead, Mr.
KING quizzed her about the architectural features
of the room they were sitting in at Nova Scotia's Province House,
Canada's oldest seat of government. "[It was] the most perfect
example of Adam architecture in North America. He asked me to
explain the symbolism of the bas-relief around the fireplace
and recount the history behind the life-size portraits of kings
and queens that adorned the walls," she said.
Fortunately, Miss
HORNE knew all the answers and found herself
in Ottawa in January of 1941. "My first reaction was disappointment.
I found the city dull and boring -- after Halifax. There was
no immediate awareness that there was a war on. And I was very
disappointed in [my new] job. I was assigned to do the 'routine
correspondence.' "
It was so simple and repetitive, she was "bored to tears. When
I could stand it no longer, I complained to the boss -- not Mr.
KING, of course, but [to his] principal secretary. I said I wanted
to go back home. The work was too easy -- there was no challenge
I didn't have enough to do. As a result, I was given the responsibility
for the whole of the Prime Minister's correspondence."
That task was not without its lighter moments, Miss
HORNE told
her niece, Frances
PIKE. "
One day, she reached an envelope addressed
'To the Biggest Prick in Canada.' There was nothing inside except
an unused condom. 'Mr.
PICKERSGILL,' she said, 'what do I do
with this'? He said, 'Miss
HORNE,
I'll take care of it. As far
as the contents are concerned, you may do with it what you will.'"
Although Miss
HORNE rarely saw Mr.
KING during the war, the Prime
Minister's Office "was an exciting place to be, right at the
heart of government, during those increasingly intense years
of war. There were so many pressing concerns, and all kinds of
people wrote to the Prime Minister about all kinds of problems.
I had to find the answers, or find the people who could.
"I learned so much, not only about government, but also about
the people of this country, who showed so much courage, stoicism,
and forbearance in the face of all the tragedy and the hardships
that affected us all during those terrible years."
In 1946, Miss
HORNE moved from the East Block to Laurier House,
Mr. KING's home, where she handled his personal correspondence
and did some speechwriting. "I became acquainted with [him] as
a person, and I liked him."
In 1950, Miss
HORNE struck an early blow for women's rights after
she went to work for the assistant private secretary to Robert
WINTERS, then minister of reconstruction and supply. Despite
all her experience, Mr.
WINTERS "wouldn't take her on trips because
he thought that was unseemly. So he hired a man, whom she had
to train. He was hopeless, but making more money than her," said
Mr. PIKE, the nephew.
When Miss HORNE complained to her boss that she should be earning
as much as the new man, he retorted that he saw no reason for
a raise -- she was making excellent money "for a woman."
"So she packed up and went home," said Mr.
PIKE. "
Then she called
Jack PICKERSGILL, who told her to sit tight for a few days and
he'd see what he could do. Very soon after, she went to work
for Ellen FAIRCLOUGH at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration."
Miss HORNE finished her career with the federal government in
1973 when she retired from the National Film Board. Awarded the
Coronation Medal in 1953 and the Centennial Medal in 1967, she
received a Governor-General's Caring Canadian Award in 2004 for
her years spent as a volunteer.
Miss HORNE first started volunteering during the First World
War, when she knitted scarves for the troops. "I distinctly remember
the outbreak of the war in 1914, and I recall many occasions
when I went to the train station in Truro with my mother to meet
the troop trains to present gifts of food and cigarettes and
warm knitted items."
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Miss
HORNE's volunteering
became a "way of life. I worked as a check-girl for the weekly
dances at the famous North End Services Canteen, and playing
the odd game of snooker with the boys who didn't feel like dancing.
Many times, I would best serve by lending a sympathetic ear or
looking at pictures of sweethearts or wives and children back
home."
Life in Halifax during the war was grim, she recounted. "The
most vulnerable spot in all of Canada, the city was actually
at war and everyone pitched in to help. I can laughingly say
that my war work was entertaining and being entertained by the
officers of the great battleships that anchored in Halifax harbour.
We had a lively social life.
"But the shadow of war was always close at hand; and more than
once, men I had danced with one night were brought back two days
later, burned beyond recognition when their ship was torpedoed
by German U-boats just beyond the harbour headlands. Volunteer
visits to Camp Hill, the [military] hospital, were a high priority
for me at that time."
Evelyn
Annie
Ethel
HORNE was born on February 23, 1907, in Truro,
Nova Scotia She died of heart failure on March 21, 2005, in Ottawa.
She was 98. She leaves her niece, Frances; nephews Robert, David,
Peter and Donald; 16 great-nieces; and 11 great-great-nieces
and nephews.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-03 published
Alex SMART,
Hockey
Player: 1918-2005
Left winger from the minors set a scoring record in his first
National Hockey League game that still stands
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, June
3, 2005, Page S7
Ottawa -- Alex
SMART burst into the National Hockey League like
a meteor. In his very first game, on January 14, 1943, he defeated
the Chicago Black Hawks single-handed by scoring three goals
for the Montreal Canadiens.
His first two goals, scored in the final minute of the second
period, came only 14 seconds apart; the third goal occurred in
the third period. Final score: Canadiens 5, Black Hawks 1. Along
the way, he also racked up an assist. Then 24 and on loan to
the Habs from the Montreal Senior Canadiens of the Quebec Senior
Hockey League, he set a benchmark for goals scored by a rookie
in his first National Hockey League game. The record, which was
tied by Real Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques in 1979, still
stands.
Montreal's daily newspapers were delighted. "Amateur Alex
SMART
Paces Canadiens to Brilliant 5-1 Victory," crowed the The Gazette
the following day. Veteran Montreal hockey reporter Baz O'Meara
described Mr.
SMART, who played left wing, as "a smooth skater
with an accent of speed. He is solid enough despite his rather
frail appearance, one of those sinewy fellows who shed body checks
easily, who is effortless in the extreme."
Mr. SMART, who scored his four points against Chicago goaltender
Bert Gardiner, played with Buddy O'Connor and Gordie Drillon.
They accounted for four of Montreal's five goals.
Joe GORMAN of Ottawa, the
son of Canadiens' general manager,
Tommy GORMAN, was in the Forum that night. "Alex impressed me
because he was a natural left winger and played his position.
Buddy O'Connor was able to feed him passes from centre."
One person who wasn't present in the crowd of 6,549 was Mr.
SMART's
wife of seven months, Freda. "He was so nervous he didn't want
me to go. I went to the show at the Seville Theatre with my girlfriend
(instead). I found out what he had done that night when he came
home. I couldn't believe it."
Mr. SMART continued to burn up the National Hockey League for
another seven games, scoring a total of five goals and two assists,
for seven points in eight games. Fellow rookie Maurice "Rocket"
Richard needed twice as many games as Mr.
SMART to score five
goals and six assists before he broke his leg, ending his season.
The Rocket, of course, eventually scored 624 goals and hall-of-fame
immortality while Mr.
SMART found himself back in the minors.
Mr. SMART developed his skills in southern Manitoba during the
1930s. After playing for the Toronto Marlboros and the Verdun
Maple Leafs in Montreal, he landed a spot with the Senior Canadiens
in 1940. Over the next six years, he scored 86 goals and 188
points over 183 games, some of which were in the service of the
Montreal Royals and Montreal Vickers.
It was also in 1940 that he met his wife Freda. "I was going
to O'Sullivan Business Collage and he saw me every day. He found
out that a girl who lived where he boarded knew me and asked
her to arrange an introduction."
To break the ice, Mr.
SMART asked Freda -- who wasn't "the least
bit interested in hockey" -- if she'd like to attend a game.
"He said, 'here's two tickets.' I said, 'I thought I was going
with you.' He said, 'no, I'm playing.' "
Mr. SMART and his Senior Canadiens won the game and "from then
on, I watched a lot of hockey games," said Mrs.
SMART.
They were
married the day after his 24th birthday. "I told him I was his
birthday present."
After the war, Mr.
SMART got a job in Ottawa with the Goodyear
Tire Company, where he worked for 45 years. He still loved playing
hockey and found a spot with the Ottawa Senators of the Quebec
league. Over the next four seasons, he was one of the Senator's
best point getters. In 1947-48, his best year, Mr.
SMART scored
28 goals and 66 points in 47 games.
Besides his eight games in the National Hockey League, the highlight
of Mr. SMART's hockey career occurred in the spring of 1949 when
the Senators beat the Regina Caps to win the Allan Cup as the
best senior amateur club in Canada. They had lost to the Edmonton
Flyers the preceding year.
The Senators, all of whom had full-time jobs, were a powerhouse
right after the war. The roster included such names as George
GREENE, Emile
DAGENAIS, Jack
McLEAN, Stu
SMITH, Legs
FRASER,
Ray TRAINOR and
Ab RENAUD, who, as a member of the Royal Canadian
Air Force Flyers, had won a gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics.
After he retired as a player, Mr.
SMART coached at the local
level in Ottawa. He also scouted for the Los Angeles Kings for
25 years.
Alexander SMART was born on May 29, 1918, in Brandon, Manitoba
He died of heart disease on April 18, 2005, in Ottawa. He was
86. He leaves his wife, Freda, and daughter Susan. He was predeceased
by his daughter Donna Jean.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-22 published
Frank LACE,
Soldier And
Investment
Expert: 1911-2005
Artillery officer who reached the rank of acting brigadier at
33 was decorated for providing Canadian infantrymen in the Netherlands
with devastating fire support
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, June
22, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Commanding artillery in battle, whether a battery of
four guns or a regiment boasting dozens of guns, takes an enormous
amount of professional knowledge plus the ability to calculate
complex fire plans under extreme pressure. A lot of luck comes
in handy, too. By all accounts, Frank
LACE of Toronto displayed
all those qualities during the Second World War, building a reputation
as one of the most experienced and decorated officers in the
Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery.
Mr. LACE received his first important decoration on June 8, 1944,
just two days after D-Day, when he was made an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire. In October of 1945, he was mentioned
in dispatches for "gallant and distinguished services in the
field" before receiving the Distinguished Service Order for his
leadership on the battlefields of northwest Europe, where he
showed "at all times great devotion to duty without regard to
himself, visiting forward observation posts or making use of
small aircraft to get the first-hand picture of enemy dispositions
and strong points."
On top of that, he achieved the rank of acting brigadier in late
1944 when only 33 and commanded two artillery regiments.
During the battle of Savojaards Plaat, fought during the Scheldt
Estuary campaign in the Netherlands in October of 1944, Mr.
LACE
displayed tactical innovation as the commanding officer of 13
Canadian Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. He was directly
responsible for the co-ordination and control of the artillery
support required by the three brigades of 3 Canadian Infantry
Division.
Although Operation Switchback initially called for the division
to turn back to Dunkirk after stopping at Watou, the Germans
blocked the approach to the strategically important port of Antwerp
through the West Scheldt, so a change in plan was required.
Because of stiff resistance, Canadian infantrymen were ordered
across the Plaat, a muddy bay opening off the West Scheldt, to
extend their bridgehead, so artillery could follow.
"The ground was ideal for defence, being flat, almost at sea
level, and intersected by countless dikes and drainage ditches,"
wrote regimental historian Lieutenant W.
BARRETT.
Then Mr. LACE had an idea. Why not fire at the Germans from behind,
even though it meant shooting toward advancing Canadians? The
tactic left the enemy without the protection of the dikes and
demoralized their defence.
Mr. LACE's contribution earned him the Distinguished Service
Order. "In spite of extreme difficulties and transportation,
LACE, by his tireless effort, although without sleep for several
days at a time, succeeded in preparing and executing the complex
fire plan and ensuring that the absolute maximum support was
given to the infantry throughout that difficult week," the citation
read.
Week after week, the soft-spoken Mr.
LACE lived under tremendous
emotional and physical strain. The constant pressure never let
up, since he was directly responsible for the lives of his gunners,
and for providing the infantry with desperately needed firepower.
Mr. LACE, after matriculating at Upper Canada College, graduated
from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1932, during an
era when it was pretty much a finishing school for the upper
classes. During the Depression, he worked in Toronto as an investment
salesman and soldiered part-time with 7 (Toronto) Regiment, Royal
Canadian Artillery, of the Non-Permanent Active Militia.
Two days after Canada declared war, Mr.
LACE married his sweetheart,
Barbara CALDWELL, before shipping out to Britain in January of
1940. A few months later, he was a major. Mr.
LACE later commanded
15 Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, before becoming
a staff officer at 1st Canadian Army headquarters.
Late in the war, Mr.
LACE was given command of Royal Canadian
Artillery for the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. During the
assault into Germany, he was responsible for organizing fire
support for a series of tough operations in February and March
of 1945.
"The success of these operations was in no small measure due
to the fire support provided by units commanded by this officer,"
said his citation.
After the war, Mr.
LACE returned to the investment business,
finishing as chairman of Matthews and Co. Ltd. from 1972 to 1975.
His other great passion was golf, said his son, Roger.
"He treated the investment business as a military campaign replete
with strategies and skirmishes. He took the same approach to
golf, which he studied and practised intensively, rain or shine.
His relentless persistence resulted in a hole-in-one in his 91st
year, all the more remarkable as he was legally blind."
Francis Dwyer
LACE was born on November 20, 1911, in Qu'Appelle,
Saskatchewan. He died on April 29, 2005, in Toronto. He was 93.
He leaves his wife, Barbara, son Roger and daughter Cathy. He
was predeceased by his sister Marion.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-24 published
John KEYSTON,
Physicist And
Nato
Scientist: 1908-2005
British-born boffin was courted by two countries for his vital
work in undersea warfare -- and chose Canada
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Friday, June
24, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- As a backroom Canadian Cold Warrior, he was "one of
the greatest brains in North Atlantic Treaty Organization." Yet,
for English-born John
KEYSTON, it almost didn't happen. As a
physicist whose brilliance gained the attention of Albert Einstein,
the Royal Navy considered him such a prize that the British were
reluctant to let him go.
For all that, Dr.
KEYSTON was determined to turn his back on
Britain. He arrived in Canada after taking a roundabout route
with intermediate stopovers in Rhodesia and India. It all started
when he was offered a job in the United States after he had played
a vital part in scientific research during the Second World War.
The Americans, it seemed, knew his wartime worth. In 1947, they
recognized his highly classified work in anti-submarine warfare
by awarding him the U.S. Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm. He
had performed "very meritorious service in the field of scientific
development," the citation said. "Dr.
KEYSTON promoted and effectively
implemented an Anglo-American interchange of scientific and engineering
information concerning new weapons and devices of warfare and
collaborated closely himself with American research groups, contributing
substantially to the Allied war effort."
It was then that they tempted him with a plum job. Dr.
KEYSTON,
then deputy director of the Royal Navy's Research Programs and
Planning Department, was offered a spot as director of the British
Commonwealth Scientific Office, which would have required him
moving to Washington. By all accounts, he was eager to accept,
but, as it turned out, the British would have none of it. At
the time, Britain still saw itself as the senior member of a
scientific and intelligence partnership with the United States
and regarded such approaches as poaching. The Admiralty, the
headquarters of the Royal Navy, considered his departure as harmful
to its scientific interests.
"Insofar as the Admiralty is concerned, I have to point out that
I regard Dr.
KEYSTON as one of the really key men in the Admiralty
Scientific Organization," wrote F. Brundrett of the Admiralty
on February 19, 1947. "The very fact that he has been appointed
to [his] rank at so early an age [38] is an indication of the
value that we place upon him."
And, as if to put a stamp of ownership of him, the British government
saw to it that he was named an officer of the Order of the British
Empire in King George VI's New Year's honours list of 1946.
For all that, or possibly because he was denied the job in the
United
States,
Dr.
KEYSTON still felt compelled to emigrate.
Later in 1947, he made a back-door exit to become research director
of the Central African Council in what was then Southern Rhodesia.
After that, he spent part of 1949 as scientific adviser to the
newly formed Indian Navy, then moved his family to Canada to
become chief superintendent of the Naval Research Establishment,
now Defence Research Establishment, in Dartmouth, N.S.
It was an exciting time for a researcher in the Royal Canadian
Navy. The formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in
1948, coupled with the Cold War and the Korean War, saw the federal
government spend enormous sums -- almost $2-billion in 1952-53
alone -- to build up the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force
and Royal Canadian Navy. By 1952, about 40 cents of every tax
dollar was being spent on defence.
Although the Royal Canadian Navy had only 7,000 sailors and 12
ships when Dr.
KEYSTON arrived in Halifax, the fleet saw a dramatic
expansion in just a few years. "Eight years later, the Royal
Canadian Navy had some 50 warships in commission with a personal
strength of nearly 20,000. By 1958, the navy was big, bold, and
brash," wrote Marc Milner in Canada's Navy: The First Century
(1999). "Its fleet, its weapons, equipment and scientific innovations
were all cutting edge."
Anti-submarine warfare was to be the Royal Canadian Navy's main
role, and Dr.
KEYSTON, who soon signalled his intention of accepting
his new home by taking out Canadian citizenship, was at the centre
of it, supervising research and development. Richard
BLAKE, who
worked for him as the head of Naval Research Establishment's
engineering section, said the design and building of H.M.C.S.
Bras d'Or, Canada's first hydrofoil, was foremost among projects
undertaken during Dr.
KEYSTON's time at Dartmouth. Also high
on the list was research into variable-depth sonar and cathodic
protection of ships.
Dr. KEYSTON began his rise from his lower-middle-class roots
his father kept the books at a local cement works -- by winning
a scholarship to King Edward VII grammar school in Melton Mowbray,
Leicestershire, at 9. Eventually, after completing a degree in
physics at Nottingham's University College, he conducted research
in Potsdam, Germany, on the hyperfine structure of spectral lines.
In 1930, his work on the electrical properties of gases won the
praise of Albert Einstein during the legendary physicist's visit
to Nottingham. In 1933, Dr.
KEYSTON obtained a doctorate in physics
from Magdalen College, Oxford.
During the Second World War, he established his expertise in
waging war below the waves. His daughter, Judith
KEYSTON, of
Lewes, England, knew her father was engaged in top-secret work
during the war, but was unaware of its nature. She learned some
details decades later.
"[He worked] in particular on the effects of underwater explosions,
such as depth charges and torpedoes. It was a difficult area
because explosions underwater behave differently. For example,
if you develop a depth charge, you need to know where and how
it will impact," she said. "Submarine warfare was of the utmost
strategic importance in Britain's defence and the Allied war
effort."
From 1957 to 1964, Dr.
KEYSTON worked in Ottawa as vice-chairman
of the Defence Research Board before being appointed director
of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization technical centre in the
Netherlands as part of Supreme Headquarters Allied Command Europe.
Better known as
SHAPE, it had come into existence in 1951 as
part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization effort to establish
an integrated and effective military force that could counter
Moscow at a moment's notice.
In 1967, Dr.
KEYSTON reached the top of North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's scientific world when he was appointed director
of armaments and defence research, a post he held for six years.
The Cold War, then in its third decade, was still very hot, with
dozens of Soviet and Eastern bloc divisions seemingly poised
to hurl themselves across Western Europe to the English Channel.
When Dr. KEYSTON retired in 1973, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization
admiral called him one of the alliance's most "competent, authoritative
and decisive figures. When we had a difficult problem, we came
to seek your advice [and] have all been impressed by your intuition
and quick reactions indicating the best solution. From the scientific
and military points of view, we all consider you one of the greatest
brains in North Atlantic Treaty Organization," said Vice-Admiral
E. Cioppa on June 20, 1973.
To his peers, he was an accommodating and understanding colleague.
"He was a splendid man to work for, an outstanding administrator,"
said Mr. BLAKE, who is now retired and lives in Guelph, Ontario
"He was much respected and his personality blended very well
with the rest of us. His calibre was such that he would have
earned a knighthood [in Britain]."
John Edgar
KEYSTON was born on July 7, 1908, in Nottingham, England.
He died of natural causes on April 8, 2005, in Ottawa. He was
96. He leaves his son John and daughter Judith. He was predeceased
by his wife, Irene.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-07-30 published
Peter BACHENSKIE,
Cobbler: 1914-2005
For 65 years, he operated a shoemaker's shop in an Ottawa neighbourhood
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Saturday, July
30, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Peter
BACHENSKIE wasn't much interested in making a
lot of money over the eight decades he practised his craft as
a shoemaker in Ottawa. Sure, it came in handy for supporting
his family, but he had more important things on his mind.
Day after day, for 65 years in all, Mr.
BACHENSKIE opened his
shop bright and early at 8 a.m. in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood.
He didn't have to travel far to go to work, since his workbench
was in the front of his tiny, two-storey house.
Ten hours later, around 6 p.m., he called it a day and went for
supper. Of course, if you needed a quick repair job, you could
always knock on the door and hope for the best -- and get it,
too.
Starting in 1936, through the tail end of the Depression, the
Second World War and the postwar boom, the people of working-class
Hintonburg could look in the Wellington Street window of P. Bachenskie
Shoe Repair and see the proprietor bent over his bench.
Richard RACINE first went there in 1955. People wore leather
shoes back then, he said, and paid good money to get them repaired.
He kept going back for the next 46 years. "I bought a leather
belt [once] and he charged me $7. The buckle probably cost him
$3.50. You couldn't get that quality for under $25 now."
That was the thing about Peter
BACHENSKIE.
For the past 20 years
or so, he charged ridiculously low prices -- Depression-era prices,
really. Five minutes of stitching a pair of shoes or a purse
would cost you all of 25 cents. After years of argument from
his family, Mr.
BACHENSKIE finally gave in during the 1980s and
doubled his price to 50 cents.
"I told him, 'It's ridiculous, Dad, you're working for nothing,'
said his son, Richard
BACHENSKIE. "He was losing money at the
end. For the last five years, he used his old-age pension to
support the business."
Mr. BACHENSKIE could fix just about anything, from shoes to saddles
to police gun holsters. His craftsmanship so impressed Armstrong
and Richardson, a big shoe chain, that it filmed Mr.
BACHENSKIE
in 1964 for a television commercial. It aired for a year, to
the delight of Hintonburg.
Mr. BACHENSKIE was also a good teacher, eager to pass on his
knowledge. Vassili
NETCHAEV first went to the shop in 1996 to
get some stitching done. Twice a week, for more than a year,
the master taught Mr.
NETCHAEV how to use the big stitcher, which
attaches an outsole to a shoe.
"He was a very good teacher, very patient, a very open-hearted
person," said Mr.
NETCHAEV. "He treated everyone as a friend,
no matter if you were a customer or subcontractor. Even if you
made a mistake, he wouldn't yell at you or make you feel bad.
He'd say, 'Let me show you again.' "
Mr. BACHENSKIE, who left school after the third grade, worked
briefly as a lumberjack after growing up on the family farm near
Otter Lake, Quebec After serving a short apprenticeship, he set
up on his own and never looked back. Business was good during
the Second World War, despite a shortage of thread. In 1943,
Mr. BACHENSKIE married his sweetheart, Loraine, and bought $5,000
in war bonds. After war-time restrictions were lifted, business
boomed despite that fact that the shop had five competitors within
a three-block radius.
When each of his children turned 4, he would allow them into
his shop. That was the age when he thought they could be relied
on not to stick their fingers in the machines. "I remember the
noise of the finisher, the bustle of Wellington, the good smell
of leather," said his son.
People also dropped by to shoot the breeze, although Mr.
BACHENSKIE
himself never said much. All the same, you could count on him
when you were in trouble.
"Peter had a soft spot for a certain kind of downtrodden individual.
He would regularly let [them] stay in his shop to sober up, get
out of the summer heat, or warm up in winter. There were three
in particular: Skippy, Victor and Joe."
Mr. BACHENSKIE also fed them, clothed them and gave them money.
"The only condition he gave them is that they don't get drunk
again. They got drunk again and the cycle was repeated. He even
tried to apprentice them into the business. He kept trying to
help them."
During the 1970s, the shoemaking business started to decline,
partly because of the growing popularity of running shoes and
because of throwaway consumerism. "People wanted new and shiny
versus old and repaired. [Also] new synthetic materials did not
lend themselves to be repaired easily," said his son.
In 1989, when he was 75, Mr.
BACHENSKIE decided that he needed
to retool and bought several new machines. That cost him $50,000,
despite his shrinking client base. He kept doing what he did
best, even after suffering two mild strokes, and finally retired
on January 13, 2001.
Peter Paul
BACHENSKIE was born on June 13, 1914, in Otter Lake,
Quebec He died of liver failure on May 16, 2005, in Ottawa. He
was 90. He is survived by son Richard and daughters Dianne, Carol
and Rose-Mary. He was predeceased by his wife, Loraine.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-02 published
James KENNY, Royal Air Force Pilot and Businessman 1922-2005
Flying Typhoon ground-attack aircraft, he was shot down over
Normandy but not before he brought home the beer
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, August
2, 2005, Page S7
Ottawa -- Fighting a war is thirsty business, so when the pilots
of the Royal Air Force's 181 Squadron decided they'd been without
beer for long enough, they sent Canadian James
KENNY back to
England to do something about it.
Taking off from Coulomb, France, in his Hawker Typhoon IB fighter-bomber
on July 4, 1944, Mr.
KENNY viewed his assignment with pleasure.
Not only would the mission entail a brief break from fighting
the Germans over Normandy, he'd also enjoy a night out in London.
Where to store the beer was a problem, though, since the powerful
single-engine Typhoon, which was the Royal Air Force's most important
tactical air-support aircraft of the Second World War, was built
to fight, not carry bottles of beer. "Finally, a solution was
found... Take out two cannons to make room for beer and leave
two cannons to defend the valuable freight," Mr.
KENNY wrote
in 1998.
After landing at Oatlands Hill in England, he stored as much
beer as he could in his aircraft's wings, behind the cockpit
and anywhere else he could find. In all, he managed to hide away
eight dozen pints.
His next stop was Redhill air base near London but while approaching
the airfield in the dusk, he noticed a small aircraft to starboard.
"[It was] a buzz bomb, a V-1, and the first I had ever seen."
A series of conflicting emotions tore through him. What should
he do, attack the V-1 or ignore it and so preserve his precious
cargo? "Must shoot it down?" he later wrote. "No, it will break
all the bottles. Duty says I must... The Squadron will hate me."
Suddenly, the V-1 engine cut out, solving his dilemma. The pilot-less
rocket fell to earth, letting Mr.
KENNY and his beer off the
hook. After a night in London, he returned to a hero's welcome.
James KENNY had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force from McGill
University in Montreal in 1941. After pilot training at bases
all over the country, he was awarded his wings by prime minister
Mackenzie KING on October 23, 1942. Mr.
KENNY's brother, Robert,
also received his wings then.
Arriving in Britain in early 1943, Mr.
KENNY, who had acquired
the nickname Slim because of his six-feet-four-inch height, spent
some time flying Spitfires and Hurricanes before being posted
to No. 181 Squadron in November. In fact, he was assigned to
a Typhoon squadron because he was too tall to fit comfortably
in a Spitfire.
The "Tiffie" was a formidable aircraft. It first flew in 1940
as an interceptor before the Royal Air Force realized its 700
km/h speed and ability to carry a powerful armament made it perfect
for attacking ground targets such as bridges, tanks, trains and
rail junctions. By D-Day on June 6, 1944, the Royal Air Force
boasted 26 Typhoon squadrons. Required to fly low, the Typhoons
suffered fierce anti-aircraft fire and many were shot down.
Over the seven months he spent in action, Slim
KENNY successfully
flew dozens of dangerous sorties until, in late July of 1944,
his luck finally ran out. With three other pilots, he attacked
a German convoy and ran into heavy return fire. Despite suffering
serious damage to his aircraft, he sprayed the targets with rockets
and cannon fire.
"Flak very bad," he later wrote in his log book. "Hit behind
cockpit before attack - hit on starboard wing on way in - large
hole in gas tank - on fire - several pieces of flak in legs -
hit in engine after attack - engine on fire - aileron jammed
- aircraft rolling to starboard - Bailed Out."
Floating through the air under his parachute, Mr.
KENNY was relieved
he was alive. "My second thought, 'My gosh, I'm at tree top level,
about 30 or 40 feet, better prepare for landing, and my third
thought, there are soldiers behind every tree, are they American?"
he wrote.
Unfortunately, they were German. Once on the ground, he realized
that he was "hurting several places, one of which was where I
kept the family jewels. I got to my feet and unbuckled [my] parachute,
undid my belt, unbuttoned my fly, took down my underwear and
had a look.
"The Germans watched this performance with some surprise and
surrounded me with a lot less hostility. I believe that the crucial
moment when one might shoot [me] was dissipated by the circumstances.
After all, at that moment I hardly appeared to be a threat."
After liberation from a PoW camp in March of 1945, he returned
home and made a career in the textile business and bought a large
company in Hull called Hanson Mills Ltd. In 1994, he went back
to France to attend the unveiling of a memorial, at Noyers-Bocage,
to the 151 Typhoon pilots who died during the Normandy campaign.
James
Henry
Frederick
KENNY was born on January 3, 1922, in Buckingham,
Quebec He died of cancer on June 13, 2005, in Ottawa. He was
83. He leaves sons Michael, Matthew and Wallace, and daughters
Lamar and Ann. He was predeceased by his wife Lamar.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-30 published
Krystyna SZNUK-
SPARKS,
Resistance
Fighter (1922-2005)
A member of the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw uprising of
1944, she cared for the wounded and survived by her wits until
sent to Ravensbruck and Buchenwald
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, August
30, 2005, Page S11
Ottawa -- A loud pounding at the door meant only one thing for
people living in occupied Poland during the Second World War:
The Germans had come for you.
Krystyna SZNUK watched in horror as the door opened. The Warsaw
uprising had erupted two weeks earlier, on August 1, 1944, and
as a member of the Polish Home Army, she was on the run.
"Two Vlasov men walked in. They looked us over. No, they were
not interested in males, they wanted a female. Jazdia was holding
her child in her arms, so I was the obvious choice," she wrote
50 years later in an unpublished memoir. The soldiers, members
of General Andrei Vlasov's so-called Russian Liberation Army,
Soviet soldiers who had switched sides to fight with the Germans,
ordered her to come with them. She knew they wanted her for sex.
Just 22 at the time, she refused.
"They both had hand grenades and indicated that if I didn't go,
they would throw [them] at us. They promptly began to remove
the pins. There was no choice so I went, my mind racing with
plans of escape," she said.
Fortunately, the soldiers started to argue about "who would go
first." She bolted up a flight of stairs, knocked desperately
on a door and was admitted to an apartment where someone whisked
her across to a window. "[I went] through the open window where
a helping hand was outstretched to me. A minute or so later we
heard a pounding at the door and noises of a search."
After that, she took to disguising her looks by smearing coal
ash on her face and hair. Later, she came upon more of Vlasov's
men in an abandoned factory. "[They] were checking for jewellery.
One of them noticed a diamond and blue-enamel ring on my finger,
which I had inherited from my grandmother. He almost tore my
finger off trying to get [it] so I took it off and gave it to
him. Being dirty and smeared with ashes seemed to repulse them
and I was left alone," she said.
During the uprising, during which almost 50,000 members of the
Polish Home Army attacked the German garrison, she helped care
for the wounded. When the Poles surrendered two months later,
about 18,000 Polish fighters had been killed, along with 150,000
civilians.
The Nazis destroyed 90 per cent of the colourful and cosmopolitan
capital she had known as a child. Her family was upper-middle
class, with connections throughout Polish society. "[They] lived
in very comfortable circumstances," said daughter Mariea
SPARKS.
"They lived in a large, comfortable apartment filled with art
and employed a cook and a maid."
Major-General Stefan
SZNUK was a pioneer Polish aviator who fought
in the First World War for Imperial Russia and later, after the
Russian revolution, with the counterrevolutionary White Russians.
For his daughter Krystyna, who studied at the exclusive Plater-Zyberk
School, life as a teenager during the 1930s centred on school
and family.
Dr. Danuta
PODKOMORSKA, now living in retirement in Winnipeg,
first met her when they were both eight years old. "We went to
prep school and then to high school together, where we sat at
the same desk. My mother died when I was very young so her mother
mothered me as well."
It was "carefree and naive," said Dr.
PODKOMORSKA. "We were sheltered
from the world through school and family." In May of 1939, young
Krystyna graduated from high school. "I was bursting with life
and joy. The world was open to me, first the holidays, then entrance
exams to university, and maybe an occasional meeting with my
boyfriend. Those were my plans."
It all came to an end on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded
Poland. Over the next six years, she and her mother, Stanislawa,
survived a brutal and oppressive occupation in a "grey and sad"
Warsaw. Food was short and fear was endemic. One day, two Gestapo
agents barged into their apartment and interrogated her on the
whereabouts of her father, who had escaped to Britain, where
he became an aide to General Wladyslaw
SIKORSKI, head of the
Polish government-in-exile.
"Of course we did not know, and what little we suspected we would
not divulge." Her mother was arrested the following day. Weeks
later, her uncle was shot.
Desperate to get her mother out of jail, she borrowed money,
which she gave to a lawyer to bribe the Gestapo. It worked, and
her mother arrived home a few days later.
"I opened the door and my heart sank with pity, a feeling stronger
than the joy of seeing mother free. I could not believe it was
the same person. She was so thin, poor soul, and her hair had
gone completely white. Four months of prison took its toll, but
she was free, free, free and we were together."
She herself was not free for long. For the last eight months
of the war, she was a slave labourer at the infamous Ravensbruck
and Buchenwald death camps. Risking their lives, she and her
Friends "deliberately sabotaged the shells they produced," said
daughter Nina
SPARKS. "
She knew that if the Germans caught them,
they'd be killed."
After the war, Krystyna
SZNUK decided to emigrate to Canada,
where her parents had already settled. They were reunited in
Ottawa and in 1948 she married Roderick
SPARKS, scion of a prominent
local family.
Krystyna SZNUK-
SPARKS was born on January 2, 1922, in Warsaw.
She died of an aneurism on June 11 in Ottawa. She was 83. She
leaves her daughters Nina, Mariea and Anna, and son Robert. She
was predeceased by her husband, Roderick
SPARKS.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-09-26 published
Ewart REID,
Economist (1910-2005)
Ottawa economist and idealist was Canada's presence at a United
Nations agency founded to help feed the world's poorest people
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, September
26, 2005, Page S8
Ottawa -- Ewart
REID never forgot the misery of the Depression,
when millions of Canadians struggled to survive amid horrendous
unemployment and general despair. Dubbed the "Dirty Thirties,"
the decade profoundly marked Mr.
REID for the rest of his life.
It made him a life-long socialist, as well as developing a strong
sense of social justice for the less fortunate that later took
him around the world.
Mr. REID was one of many who were attracted to socialism during
the 1930s, keenly interested in finding solutions to the world's
overwhelming economic and social problems. Some thought the liberal
democratic countries, such as the United States and Britain,
were doing a poor job so new ideas should be given a chance.
Rejecting capitalism, many idealists were seduced by Communism
and became apologists for the crimes of Stalin's Soviet Union.
Studying economics at Montreal's McGill University from 1928-32,
Mr. REID didn't become a communist, as some of his peers did.
Instead, he became involved in the Student Christian Movement.
It was an exciting time for Mr.
REID.
Besides working as the
sports editor of the McGill Daily, he took an economics course
taught by Stephen
LEACOCK (who was better known as a humorist.)
That was interesting, he told his son Malcolm decades later,
but Mr. LEACOCK's students had to keep on their toes. "His remarks
in class could sometimes slash pretty hard at us."
Mr. REID also got to know J.S.
WOODSWORTH, the Methodist minister
who became the first president of the Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation. He was influenced, too, by the McGill teacher Carl
DAWSON, who encouraged a social conscience in his students. During
the summer of 1932, Mr.
REID performed field research in various
Doukhobor communities for Prof.
DAWSON's 1936 book, Group Settlement,
Ethnic Communities in Western Canada. Often criticized for their
pacifism and rejection of secular government, the 7,400 Doukhobor
settlers developed one of North America's largest and most complex
undertakings in communal living. Among the communities Mr.
REID
visited were the Yorkton colony near Great Spirit Lake, and the
Blaine Lake colony, both in Saskatchewan. He reported that the
Doukhobors had not discarded the original communistic principles
which they had elected to follow in Canada, but had supplemented
them with farming and business practices learned since their
arrival.
Mr. REID, who came from a comfortable middle-class background,
also spent time in Montreal getting to know the "kings of the
road," or hobos. That included nights in the Old Brewery Mission,
a shelter for the homeless. It was an eye-opener, he told Malcolm
REID. "
They put the soap right on our heads when we went into
the shower. It flowed down on us. It had to wash us."
He learned to respect the views of the footloose unemployed.
"Once, I was sitting in the port of Montreal with grain elevators
[nearby]. A guy came over and said, 'See those elevators? There's
no food for us, but in those elevators there's enough food to
feed everybody.' He was a hobo... or a hobo politician, I guess
you could say."
After obtaining his master's degree in economics in 1938, Mr.
REID was hired by the federal Department of Agriculture.
"He [became] an expert on the transportation of crops to market.
He knew all about grain rates on the Canadian National Railway
and the Canadian Pacific Railway. He testified at royal commissions
on the rail system," said Malcolm
REID. "He loved trains. My
last trip with him was on a train."
After 27 years at the Department of Agriculture, Mr.
REID went
to work for the United Nations' World Food Program in 1965. The
program, overseen by the United Nations's Food and Agriculture
Organization, was founded in 1963 to organize the distribution
of food to Third World countries (19 years earlier, in 1946,
Mr. REID had been a member of the Canadian delegation when the
Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in Quebec City,
just a year after the birth of the United Nations in San Francisco).
Over the next 11 years, Mr.
REID worked in Rome, New Delhi and
Ankara. His job was to ensure that shiploads of wheat, beans,
powdered milk and other foodstuffs arrived to feed workers building
dams, roads, bridges and health centres. He also organized emergency
food deliveries after natural disasters such as floods and mud
slides.
Convincing wealthy countries to contribute wasn't easy at the
beginning, Mr.
REID said later. "We always (had) to fight to
get them to pledge." By 1966, amounts on the order of $275-million
were being pledged.
Co-ordinating the delivery and distribution of thousands of tons
of food over the years was an enormous logistical task. "Whole
ships were sometimes leased, and third-world fleets of ships
were often used," said Malcolm
REID.
Ewart REID, who believed strongly in international co-operation,
liked to make that point from time to time to his sons: "It's
one world, you know."
Ewart Percival
REID was born on July 6, 1910, in Regina, Saskatchewan.
He died on June 15 in Ottawa. He was 94. He leaves his sons,
Ian and Malcolm, and his third wife, Seval
UNAN of Turkey. He
was predeceased by his brother, Howard, and his sisters Margaret
and Eleanor.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-10-24 published
Hugh TAILOR/TAYLOR,
Sailor (1920-2005)
Chief petty officer served in the Royal Canadian Navy through
three periods in its development. In 1940, he was among the skeleton
crew that saved a battle-damaged H.M.C.S. Saguenay
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, October
24, 2005, Page S8
Ottawa -- Leading Seaman Hugh
TAILOR/TAYLOR had just awakened from a
nap in the upper mess deck of H.M.C.S. Saguenay when a torpedo
fired by the Italian submarine Argo slammed into her port side
at 3: 55 a.m. on December 1, 1940.
The explosion, which blew a large hole in Saguenay's hull three
metres from the bow on the port side, killed 21 of Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR's
shipmates and started a fire in the fore lower mess deck. Eighteen
others, some severely burned, were wounded.
It was the start of a desperate, five-day odyssey that quickly
became a naval legend that endures to this day, and Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR
was right in the middle of it. He remembered that night for the
rest of his life. "It was a helluva crash," he said in 1993.
"The ship seemed to go up in the air and come down and just for
a minute everything went silent. Then everything was on fire."
Within seconds, the crew of Saguenay, who had been escorting
a convoy of 30 merchantmen from Gibraltar to Britain along with
ships of the Royal Navy, ran to action stations. Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR,
his three years of training in the Royal Canadian Navy kicking
in, rushed to join his shipmates but slipped and fell ingloriously
to the deck. That fall probably saved him from the burns suffered
by those who ran over him in their haste to escape the blaze.
He crawled instead. "All the flames were up high and I was laying
on the floor. Actually, I think tripping was a godsend."
Miraculously, Saguenay, which had been steaming 300 nautical
miles west of Ireland, was still afloat and moving at 12 knots.
Damage, however, was severe. The stokers' and seamens' messes
were gone and the bridge and wheelhouse had to be abandoned.
Yet the destruction failed to extinguish Saguenay's fighting
spirit. Minutes later, the officer of the watch, Lieutenant Ralph
WARWICK, spotted a submarine 800 metres off the port bow. Within
seconds, a deck gun fired two 4.7-inch shells -- one short and
one over the target -- before the submarine dived. At the time,
no one knew that the sights on the turret had been knocked out
of alignment by the explosion, making accurate fire impossible.
At dawn, H.M.S. Highlander arrived and removed 87 officers and
ratings. Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR, who known as Buck, remained on board as
one of the few nominated to take Saguenay to safety. It wasn't
an easy assignment. Making a pitiful four knots with a fire still
raging, Saguenay was forced to steam backward because of excessive
vibrations. "Next day, she was relieved of the dead weight of
a large section of her hull when it fell away, and she was able
to increase speed to six knots," Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR wrote.
He also wondered if they'd ever make it. There were small fires
to put out, the engine room was flooded and seawater had seeping
into the oil tanks, contaminating the fuel. The temporary repairs
to the hole in the hull also had to be monitored, which was one
of the worst parts, said daughter Geraldine
TAILOR/TAYLOR. "
All his
dead shipmates were there [inside] so he had to see them. It
made him sick to his stomach."
Somehow, Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR and his shipmates worked miracles and kept
their ship alive. "By December 4th, it was apparent that, barring
an act of God or the enemy, Saguenay would be able to reach either
Belfast or the Clyde."
One more ordeal remained for Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR and Saguenay, which was
commissioned on May 22, 1931, in Portsmouth, England, as the
first river-class destroyer built for the Royal Canadian Navy.
Early on December 4, a mine exploded underneath the ship but
did little damage. Saguenay arrived in Barrow-in-Furness, in
northwest England, the following day.
A naval board of enquiry concluded that bringing the ship back
to port "represents a very considerable feat of seamanship and
endurance, and is one that reflects great credit on her captain,
officers and ship's company." Saguenay's captain, Commander Gus
MILES, was awarded the Order of the British Empire.
Thirteen months later, at the beginning of January, 1942, Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR lived though another dramatic episode when a week-long
storm battered Saguenay as she escorted a convoy to Canada. About
400 nautical miles east of Newfoundland, "the wind rose rapidly
to full hurricane force creating seas so violently confused that
it was impossible to heave through in the normal manner," he
wrote. "Hour after hour, in the log, the entries read, 'wind,
12; sea, 99,' which are the highest possible under any scale."
After two days of merciless pounding, Saguenay was "a bit of
a mess." The storm had knocked out the main steering gear and
Mr. TAILOR/TAYLOR and two other men were sent to the "Tilley flats"
at the stern, where emergency apparatus allowed the ship to be
steered by hand.
First, though, the men had to get there, which meant inching
along about 30 metres of sea-swept deck. Waves as high as 25
metres towered over them. "It was very dangerous. They could
have been washed overboard," recalled fellow crewman George
BORGAL
of Halifax. Seventeen hours later, after displaying "remarkable
stamina and endurance," Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR and his men were relieved.
Saguenay's punishment continued after Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR left the ship.
In November of 1942, a collision on a foggy night off Newfoundland
detonated racks of depth charges and blew off the stern. Saguenay
once again made port but never returned to convoy duty. After
that, the stern was sealed off and the ship became a training
vessel.
By then, Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR was serving on H.M.C.S. St. Catherines. He
was on duty on March 6, 1944, when the ship helped capture German
submarine U-744. In an exhausting ordeal that lasted 32 hours,
seven ships dropped 291 depth charges until finally U-744 surfaced,
its guns blazing.
Buck TAILOR/TAYLOR was a Maritimer born with salt air in his lungs.
Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his Nova Scotia grandmother.
At 15, he ran away to sea and joined the merchant marine, only
to have his adventure meet an ignoble end when his ship ran aground
in Bedford Basin at the north end of Halifax Harbour. It took
him two days to walk home.
Two years later, on September 13, 1937, Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR joined the
navy. Over the next 25 years, he served on 10 ships and cruised
all over the world before retiring in 1962 as a chief petty officer.
During the Korean War, he served on H.M.C.S. Haida. His career
spanned three distinct eras, starting with a tiny prewar navy
of 1,800 men and 13 ships that mobilized on September 10, 1939,
and evolved into a huge wartime force of 100,000 sailors and
400 fighting ships. During the 1950s, the navy expanded to 20,000
men and 50 modern ships. It was the navy's golden era and Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR helped build it.
Despite a career filled with drama, Mr.
TAILOR/TAYLOR never boasted
of his exploits, Geraldine
TAILOR/TAYLOR said. "He was one of the unsung
heroes of the Royal Canadian Navy because he never talked much
about his experiences. He just did his job."
Hugh Edward
TAILOR/TAYLOR was born on August 19, 1920, in Parrsboro,
Nova Scotia He died of cancer on July 22 in Kemptville, Ontario
He was 84. He leaves his wife, Patricia, his daughters Geraldine,
June and Kathryn, and his son James.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-08 published
Week of Remembrance: Evelyn
FLEMING/FLEMMING,
Army
Nurse (1918-2005)
Caring for injured servicemen, she wrote letters for those who
had lost their eyesight and fed the men without hands
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Tuesday, November
8, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Evelyn
FLEMING/FLEMMING stared at the cards displaying colourful,
swirling designs with mounting dismay. Fighting panic, she tried
again to identify the reds, greens, blues and other colours right
in front of her face. It was no use. She realized for the first
time in her life that she was colour blind and there was absolutely
nothing she could do about it.
Waves of disappointment washed over her. It was February of 1944,
and Ms. FLEMING/FLEMMING, a registered nurse, wanted nothing more than
to join the Canadian Army and do her bit for king and country,
as millions of Canadians had been doing since 1939, either in
the military or on the home front.
There was one very tiny, albeit illegal and irregular, chance
left. The medical technician supervising Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING's examination
at Ottawa's Lansdowne Park had been her schoolmate years ago.
Seeing her extreme disappointment, he decided to take an enormous
personal risk and help her.
" 'How badly do you want to go?' he asked her. She said, 'I want
to go.' She failed the test, but this school friend falsified
[the result] because she really wanted to go and so she got in
the army," said Brenda
KENNEY, one of Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING's daughters.
Soon after, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING took the oath of allegiance to King George
VI and was formally sworn in to the Royal Canadian Army Medical
Corps as a second lieutenant.
After four months training in the hospitals at Kingston and Camp
Debert,
Nova
Scotia, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING shipped out to Britain with
her two best Friends, Brenda
WILSON and Hazel
PERRIN.
The three
nurses had become fast Friends and decided to stick together
no matter what. In fact, they were known far and wide as the
"Three Ottawas."
A week after boarding their ship in Halifax, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING and
her Friends landed in a Britain reeling from five years of total
war. Although the Luftwaffe's blitz had ended years earlier,
British service men and women were still fighting and dying all
over the world.
Assigned to No. 18 Canadian General Hospital, in Cherry Tree,
Colchester, just after the Allies invaded Europe on June 6, 1944,
Ms. FLEMING/FLEMMING quickly adapted to the routine of an Royal Canadian
Army Medical Corps hospital at war. Supervised by a formidable
matron, she assisted at operations and treated patients in the
wards.
It was a hectic and busy time for Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING and the other nurses,
doctors and orderlies of No. 18, with wounded pouring in every
hour of the day and night in their hundreds, fresh from the fighting
in Normandy just over the English Channel. Units of the 1st Canadian
Army were pushing inland from the beachhead, making good progress
but taking their share of casualties.
"By the end of June, nearly 20,000 casualties from the British-Canadian
sector had been evacuated to the United Kingdom, almost 3,000
of them Canadian," wrote Colonel G.W.L.
NICHOLSON in Seventy
Years of Service, a history of the Royal Canadian Army Medical
Corps.
Col. NICHOLSON described the routine of a typical Canadian hospital,
in this case No. 4 Canadian General Hospital four days after
D-Day: "A steady flow of patients to and from operating theatres
continued all day and into the evening. Nursing sisters toiling
in the wards for 18 hours on end lost all sense of self and often
had to be reminded to eat. Except for a few difficult cases requiring
assistance by a medical officer, sisters were starting all blood,
plasma and saline infusions, taking blood pressure, and giving
all serum and penicillin injections."
Treating men who were badly disfigured from facial burns particularly
affected Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING,
Ms.
KENNEY said. "They lost their noses
and ears. She said that if ever they could see, they couldn't
even wear glasses. She called them 'my boys' [and] became very
attached to them."
In the evening, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING escorted "her boys" to the local
pub for a drink. She wrote letters for those who had lost their
eyesight, and fed the men without hands. It was hard for her,
but she was glad to help, Ms.
KENNEY said. "A lot of them didn't
want to go home, wanted to die because they were so disfigured.
Their mental anguish really affected her, [but] she was modest
about what she did."
Paradoxically, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING and her two Friends enjoyed a very
active social life -- years later, she told her daughter her
dance card was never empty -- at a time when people were determined
to grab whatever pleasure they could.
One night, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING and her two sidekicks suffered a narrow
escape when they returned home from a pub in the blackout. "It
was really foggy, pitch black, they couldn't see their hands
in front of their faces and they were walking their bikes when
they heard a rifle bolt being cocked," said Ms.
KENNEY.
Ms. FLEMING/FLEMMING and her Friends had walked into a nervous Home Guard
patrol. "We were really lucky not to have been killed. It was
the most frightening night of my time there," she told her daughter
years later.
After the Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING was
assigned to an army hospital in Bramshott, Hampshire. In March
of 1946, she transferred to another in occupied Germany. For
the next two months, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING saw at first hand a devastated
Germany and attended a whirlwind round of going-home parties.
After obtaining a certificate in public-health nursing at the
University of Toronto in 1948, Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING enlisted in the peacetime
army on January 13, 1950. Posted to the big supply depot in Montreal's
Longue Pointe, Evelyn
MORIN -- as Ms.
FLEMING/FLEMMING was known then
met her future husband, Lieutenant Stephen
FLEMING/FLEMMING of the
Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
A year later, on April 4, 1951, they were married in Fort Lewis,
Washington. Mr.
FLEMING/FLEMMING was on his way to the Korean War and
he was in a hurry to marry his sweetheart. After a 10-day honeymoon,
he shipped out and she returned to Montreal. They didn't see
each other for a year.
Evelyn Inez
FLEMING/FLEMMING (née
MORIN) was born on December 17, 1918,
in Cumberland, Ontario She died of a stroke on July 13 in Ottawa.
She was 86. She leaves her husband, Stephen, her daughters Brenda,
Joanne, Debbie, Lori, son Stephen, and her sisters Margaret and
Cairine.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-10 published
Week Of Remembrance: Henryk
JEDWAB,
Commando (1918-2005)
Intrepid Polish Canadian fought the Germans all the way from
his native land to the slopes of Monte Cassino
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Thursday, November
10, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Henryk
JEDWAB and his machine-gun crew looked through
the mist at the killing ground beyond their defensive position.
It was 4: 45 a.m. on September 1, 1939, and
62 German divisions
one million soldiers -- were poised to attack an apprehensive
yet defiant Poland.
Suddenly, Mr.
JEDWAB, an officer cadet with the 84th Polesie
Rifles, saw enemy soldiers running toward him. He and his men
were dug in on the River Warta, near Wielen, in southwestern
Poland.
"Here [came] the mighty Germans in a moment that will be long
in my memory as Henryk
JEDWAB, looking at the enemy, forgot he
had a tongue in his mouth. [My soldiers] looked at me and finally,
almost [at] the last moment, I got one word out: Fire!" wrote
Mr. JEDWAB 60 years later.
"I think the most surprised were the Germans, but it was too
late for them. My machine gun fired and did a very good job.
Ammunition was not wasted. When I met with my commanding officer
[later] and was highly [praised] for 'coolness under fire,' I
answered only, 'Sir, to the glory of the country.' It was the
biggest lie of my life. Could I tell him I was so scared that
I was speechless? Never again in my life [was] I so scared. Once
you start the killing, you realize that it's either you or him
so you decide to be fast and shoot first -- that is the secret
of survival."
After his dramatic baptism of fire, things went rapidly from
bad to worse for Mr.
JEDWAB and the Polish army. The Germans
were vastly superior in both numbers and firepower -- the Poles
had only 40 divisions, including 100 antiquated tanks -- but
Mr. JEDWAB and his regiment kept fighting, suffering heavy losses
during the 30-day war.
To support Poland, France and Britain declared war on Germany
on September 3, but, by September 9, Mr.
JEDWAB and the 30th
Division was finished. Ten days later, he arrived at the Romanian
border and made for France with little or no food, papers or
money. On May 10, 1940, he found himself fighting the German
army a second time. After shooting down a Stuka dive-bomber and
winning a Croix de Guerre with two stars, Mr.
JEDWAB was in Paris
when the Germans entered it on June 13, "they as conquerors and
me again as a 'Polish tourist,' trying my luck somewhere else
and wondering when the tide will turn, how long you may run and
where to."
Mr. JEDWAB made his way over the Pyrenees to Spain, where he
was beaten by police; he then returned to France. He and some
Friends tried again. Their goal was to reach Britain and continue
to fight. "This time, we decided to ride to Madrid by train,
but hiding underneath it on the axles. Not very comfortable,
but free and safe, with the exception of the inconvenience that
over the axles are the toilets and they are used, and unpaying
passengers have no right to complain."
After arriving in Britain, Mr.
JEDWAB spent a few months drilling
on the parade square and languished in an army prison for hitting
a superior officer. He then volunteered for the Special Operations
Executive, which was parachuting agents into German-occupied
France to create havoc. For a year, he worked behind enemy lines
and then escaped back to England and joined a commando force
in early 1942.
Arek BANDZIERZ of Ottawa trained for almost a year with Mr.
JEDWAB.
"You couldn't miss him; he was boisterous, quite self-assured.
You notice people like that. He was a good soldier, people looked
up to him. He was bursting with all kinds of knowledge, but he
couldn't talk about his exploits with Special Operations Executive."
Despite his overwhelming love for his country, Mr.
JEDWAB often
thought he was fighting not just the Germans, but Polish anti-Semitism
as well. As a Polish citizen who happened to be Jewish -- his
well-to-do family had lived in Poland for 200 years -- he suffered
insults and fights on a regular basis.
After intensive training, his commando unit, which was completely
Polish, was sent to Italy to join the British 8th Army in December
of 1943. On January 17-18, 1944, they attacked across the Garigliano
River. A few hours later, during a German counterattack, Mr.
JEDWAB displayed characteristic leadership and valour when he
grabbed a Bren gun and drove off the enemy, "managing to kill
all the attacking Germans, including their sergeant, who, however,
prior to dying, [threw] a grenade, which wounded me. My head
wound is not too deep but caused a lot of bleeding."
For that action, Mr.
JEDWAB received Poland's Cross of Valour.
On May 17, 1944, Mr.
JEDWAB and his commandos, now part of the
2nd Polish Corps, were thrown into a five-month battle for Monte
Cassino, a mountainous stronghold that dominated Highway 6 to
Rome. The Poles were ordered to attack the adjacent Colle San
Angelo, which had to be taken before the Allies could assault
Monte Cassino itself.
Climbing up and down rocky ridges under fierce artillery and
mortar fire, Mr.
JEDWAB took command after his section suffered
four casualties. The Germans counterattacked and regained the
Colle, but the Poles took it back, except the summit. Two days
later, the Germans finally withdrew.
Mr. JEDWAB never forgot Monte Cassino, one of the fiercest campaigns
of the war. "[Bodies] were entangled in a deadly embrace everywhere.
The air was full of the stench of rotting bodies. That was Monte
Cassino, where today visitors have not the slightest idea of
the feelings or thoughts or terror of those who lived through
it."
During the Italian campaign, his troop lost 18 killed and 70
wounded, an 80-per-cent casualty rate. For their heroism, its
soldiers were awarded 114 Polish decorations. Over all, nearly
200,000 Poles fought in the Polish armed forces in the West.
But their enormous contribution to the war effort did not spare
them from a cruel snub: No Polish representatives were invited
to the victory parade held in London after the war in Europe
ended.
In June of 1945, Mr.
JEDWAB met his first wife, Irena, in Italy,
where she was a Polish officer in the 317th Transport Company.
They were married five months later after a "stormy" courtship.
"Somehow, a bond developed instantly. I found that I am happy
to be in her company. We lived... as the most happy couple,"
Mr. JEDWAB said. Irena died on August 9, 1978.
After earning a degree in textile engineering, Mr.
JEDWAB brought
his family to Canada from Britain in 1950. Over the next five
decades, he became a prominent executive in the textile industry.
Henryk JEDWAB was born on April 15, 1918, in Kalisz, Poland.
He died of a heart attack on September 14, 2005, in Ottawa. He
was 87. He leaves his daughter Elizabeth and his second wife,
Bozena. He was predeceased by his first wife, Irena, and his
brother Jakob.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-11 published
Week Of Remembrance: George
OFFLEY, Fleet Air Arm Pilot (1922-2005)
Flier was part of a group that attacked the Bismarck in antiquated
biplanes
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, November
11, 2005, Page S7
Ottawa -- George
OFFLEY climbed into his Fairey Swordfish torpedo
bomber, strapped himself in and started his engine. Nearby, on
the heaving deck of the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Victorious, eight
other Swordfish crews from 825 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm
were preparing to launch their aircraft in pitch darkness.
Their mission? To find and sink the Bismarck, the pride of the
German navy and one of the largest capital ships afloat. Earlier
that day, on May 24, 1941, the Bismarck had sunk the battle cruiser
H.M.S. Hood, itself the pride of the Royal Navy. Watching grimly
from the Victorious, Mr.
OFFLEY, who had turned 19 five days
earlier, saw the Hood blow up. "We could see the huge fireball
in the sky, a thousand feet high," he said six decades later.
The loss of the Hood shocked the British Empire to its core.
The Bismarck, the biggest ship in the German Kriegsmarine, displaced
42,000 tons and boasted eight 15-inch guns. On May 21, she and
the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen tilted the balance of power in
the North Atlantic when they set out from Bergen, Norway, to
raid British convoys. At this time, 11 British convoys, including
a troop convoy, were at sea.
After the Hood blew up, H.M.S. Prince of Wales scored two hits
but was forced to break off the action after receiving seven
hits from both enemy ships.
The Bismarck, her speed reduced by the battle damage, turned
south and made for German-occupied France. Admiral Sir John Tovey,
the commander of the Home Fleet, ordered the Victorious's Swordfish
aircraft to attack her. The open cockpit biplane, acquired by
the Fleet Air Arm in 1936, had a top speed of 132 miles and hour.
Many thought it was obsolete for modern warfare.
At 10 p.m. on May 24, Mr.
OFFLEY pushed his throttle forward
and flew his Swordfish off the deck of the Victorious in what
became the first carrier-borne air strike against a battleship
in naval history. Ninety minutes later, at 11: 30 p.m., Mr.
OFFLEY
and the other eight crews, including their leader, Lieutenant-Commander
Eugene Esmond, found their target and dived to the attack.
"In appalling weather we sighted the Bismarck and moved in to
attack at about 200 feet above sea level, holding [our] torpedoes
till we were approximately 500 feet from the Bismarck. A little
further, with the open cockpit, we could have spit on [her],"
said Mr. OFFLEY.
Ignoring heavy fire from the Bismarck's secondary armament, Mr.
OFFLEY and his fellow pilots dropped their torpedoes. Only one
pilot managed to hit the target after going around twice to get
a better shot. His torpedo hit the Bismarck's armoured belt,
causing little damage.
Two days later, Swordfish from the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Ark
Royal caught up with the Bismarck, by now in the Bay of Biscay.
A torpedo exploded in its steering compartment, jamming its rudder
and sealing its fate. The next day, the Royal Navy sent the Bismarck
to the bottom.
George OFFLEY had joined Rolls-Royce in 1936 at the age of 14
as an apprentice mechanical engineer. On February 20, 1940, he
volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm and pilot training. A few months
later, he flew air cover during the evacuation of 338,000 British
and French troops from Dunkirk, France.
He never forgot "flying over all kinds of boats, fishing boats,
sailboats, tug boats, navy ships, all filled with the living,
the dying and the dead. I was 18 years old, trying not to look
at the complete disarray, panic and confusion below me. From
the ack-ack bursts, the aircraft and I received a number of shrapnel
hits, one of which I still carry with me in the centre of my
forehead."
After attacking the Bismarck, Mr.
OFFLEY was sent to H.M.S. Howe,
a 42,000-ton battleship assigned to escort convoys through the
Barents
Sea to the Russian port of Murmansk. Mr.
OFFLEY's job
was to fly a Walrus aircraft, which acted as the ship's eye in
the sky, searching for enemy submarines.
It wasn't an easy job because taking off by catapult was a challenge.
"The aircraft must reach flying speed while travelling across
the deck from port to starboard, or vice versa. This is the trickiest
moment, the aircraft is about to leave the trolley. Do we have
flying speed or not? If we do not, then like a stone, we drop."
After completing his mission, Mr.
OFFLEY had to land his ungainly
Walrus in the sea. The gunner climbed out on the upper wing,
opened the hatch, got out the ring and held it out at arm's length
to await a hook from the ship. With luck, the crane operator
then lifted the aircraft back on the ship. "There [was] no room
for mistakes or second attempts," Mr.
OFFLEY said.
Mr. OFFLEY met his future wife, Mary
HUDSON, a member of the
Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, at a dance in Shearwater,
Nova Scotia, near the end of the war. It didn't take long for
him to sweep her off her feet, his daughter Diane recalled. "He
came out of the blue and [informed her], 'The next dance is mine.'
She thought that he was very bold, so she went with someone else.
Then he cut in and that's all it took." They were married on
October 9, 1946. Mrs.
OFFLEY died on January 16 this year.
After emigrating to Canada with his wife in 1947, Mr.
OFFLEY
spent two years with the federal government's atomic energy facility
at Chalk River, Ontario Moving to Canadair, he was in charge
of the mobile training unit responsible for training pilots and
ground crew at various Royal Canadian Air Force stations.
Forty years after the war, the Soviet Union decorated Mr.
OFFLEY
with the Murmansk Medal and the Arctic Circle Medal for his service
on the Murmansk run. An active and vocal supporter of veterans'
rights for 60 years, Mr.
OFFLEY served on the federal government's
Veterans' Advisory Committee. He was awarded the Queen's Golden
Jubilee Medal in 2002 for his work on behalf of veterans.
George
William
Clive
OFFLEY was born on May 19, 1922, in Basford,
Nottinghamshire, England. He died on September 1 in Ottawa, as
the result of a car accident. He was 83. He leaves his daughters
Diane, Margaret, Judith-Ann and Cathrine. He was predeceased
by his wife, Mary.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-19 published
Lockhart FULTON,
Soldier And Farmer (1917-2005)
'Epitome of the citizen soldier' led his men from the beaches
of D-Day to the deadly forests of Germany without a scratch,
and then returned to his Manitoba farm
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Saturday, November
19, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Ignoring a hailstorm of bullets and shrapnel, Lockhart
FULTON hopped off the ramp of his landing craft into the English
Channel a few hundred metres from German-occupied France. It
was 7: 49 a.m. on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and Mr.
FULTON, a company
commander with the 1st Battalion, Royal Winnipeg Rifles, was
part of the first wave to go ashore.
A few minutes later, Mr.
FULTON, a major from Birtle, Manitoba,
who believed in leading the 130 men of 'D' Company from the front,
ran up the beach and got to work directing his company. All around
him, his men deployed like clockwork, assaulting heavily fortified
positions. Decades later, Mr.
FULTON remembered wading through
the water under fire. "It's funny what you think about. It looked
as if someone was skipping stones across the water, and we were
trying to step over the skipping stones."
Over the next hour, the four infantry companies of the Royal
Winnipeg Rifles, facing heavy fire from more than 15 German machine
guns nests and five concrete emplacements, eliminated those positions
one by one. By 9 a.m., Mr.
FULTON and his company, now past the
beach, headed for the town of Graye-sur-Mer. "Once you get past
fixed defences, it's over," he said decades later.
After capturing Graye, 'D' Company, reached Cruelly by 6 p.m.
and dug in for the night. It had been quite a day for Mr.
FULTON
and his riflemen. The biggest invasion force in history, including
15,000 Canadian soldiers, had established a second front. By
the end of the month, the Allies had landed more than a million
men.
After reaching the village of Putot-en-Bessin on June 7, Mr.
FULTON and his battalion, part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade
of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, faced their first really
severe test when they were attacked by a much larger German force.
"Putot was a critical point on the bridgehead. Not only was it
on the road to Carpiquet and Caen -- the pivot on which the entire
Normandy campaign was hinged -- but it could control the road
and rail lines from Caen westerly to Bayeux, on which British
troops were advancing," said Bruce Tascona and Eric Wells in
Little Black Devils: A History of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
Next morning, the notorious 12th SS Hitler Youth Panzer Division
launched a furious attack. By the end of the afternoon, after
intense hand-to-hand fighting, three of the Winnipeg Rifles'
four companies had been overrun. For his part, Mr.
FULTON and
his company grimly hung on. "Although overrun, infiltrated and
isolated, the stand by the Regiment gave the [Regina Rifle Regiment]
enough time to stop Meyer's Panzers at Bretteville. Their stand
allowed the division time to regroup. Putot became a symbol of
courage and steadfastness," said Tascona and Wells.
The Winnipeg Rifles suffered 300 casualties at Putot, more than
half its fighting strength. What happened next to 58 of their
wounded, who could not be evacuated, plus eight other Canadians,
constituted a war crime. Ignoring the Geneva Convention, the
German soldiers executed them. After the war, SS commander Maj.-Gen.
Kurt Meyer was condemned to death for the murders. He spent nine
years in prison after his sentence was commuted.
For his battlefield gallantry, displayed June 6-8 at Juno Beach
and Putot, Mr.
FULTON was presented the Distinguished Service
Order by Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery in November of
1944. "Major
FULTON's personal bravery, his complete disregard
for his own safety and his coolness and skill in leading his
command are considered to be in keeping with the highest traditions
of the service," the citation read.
Over the next 11 long and weary months, Mr.
FULTON fought in
all of his battalion's battles in Normandy and the Netherlands.
Leading a seemingly charmed life, the 6-foot 2-inch major was
a conspicuous figure on the battlefield. "He was a leader that
led," said retired Lt.-Col. Norm
DONOGH, who landed on D-Day
with the Rifles. "People depended fully on him and they felt
secure in what he planned and what he did."
On July 4, 1944, Mr.
FULTON and his company advanced over a kilometre
across an open field as the Rifles attacked the airfield at Carpiquet,
defended by the 12th SS and 20 tanks. Meyer's Hitler Youth, many
of who were still in their teens, fought like fanatics. At one
point during the battle, Mr.
FULTON was seen standing calmly
upright, talking on his field telephone as bullets and shells
flew around him, "as if he were back in Birtle."
Decades later, he was asked how he managed to keep his cool under
enemy fire. "You just concentrate on what you have to do," he
replied. "I survived many battles. I don't know why. They missed
me, I guess."
Later that night, Mr.
FULTON and his men were withdrawn, after
capturing two airport hangars. The Rifles had suffered 132 casualties,
including 40 dead. Their "performance in this hornet's nest can
best be described as one of endurance. Few regiments could have
succeeded," wrote Tascona and Wells.
Three months later, during the battle of the Leopold Canal, Mr.
FULTON was promoted lieutenant-colonel and appointed commanding
officer of his battalion during the battle of the Leopold Canal
on the Belgian-Netherlands border. At 27, he was one of the youngest
commanding officers in the Canadian army. He had little, if any,
chance to celebrate, though, since his battalion was fighting
to clear the Scheldt estuary, a confusion of dikes, flooded fields
and islands. It cost the battalion 71 dead.
The battle of Moyland Wood, in the Rhineland the following February,
claimed another 49 deaths amid a forest spiked by booby traps,
mines, snipers and machine guns. It was there that Mr.
FULTON
displayed his characteristic style of leadership. After deciding
that flamethrowers mounted in Bren gun carriers would provide
much needed support in the forest, Mr.
FULTON found he had to
calm his nervous carrier officer, said Mr. Donogh.
"The carrier officer said, 'Sir, you can't take these tracked
carriers into heavy woods,' " recalled Mr. Donogh. "Instead of
arguing, he put his arm around him and said, 'this will work.'
The flame carriers turned the tide."
Fear never troubled Mr.
FULTON for long. "Everyone was scared,
including me, but some men seemed to recover from fear faster.
I was like that. I could get over it, quick. Some men never could,"
he said in 2004.
Lockhart 'Lockie'
FULTON grew up on the family farm in Birtle,
Manitoba, about 300 kilometres west of Winnipeg. After joining
the 12th Manitoba Dragoons as a cavalryman -- the pre-war militia
still rode horses during the 1930s -- Mr.
FULTON was transferred
to the Winnipeg Rifles.
After surviving the war without suffering a scratch, he considered
staying in the army but decided instead to return to his farm
and to his wife, Nellie. "My wife had a difficult time on her
own. The last thing she was looking for was chasing a soldier
around the country. I liked farming -- liked it a lot," he said
in 2004.
Over the next four decades, Mr.
FULTON raised wheat and barley,
helped raise six children and played a prominent part in local
affairs. Always a strong supporter of his old regiment, he returned
several times to the European battlefields of his youth to explain
what had happened to young officers. In 2004, Mr.
FULTON received
the Legion of Honour from France. He was awarded the Order of
Canada the same year.
For
Mr.
Donogh, Mr.
FULTON was the "epitome of the citizen soldier.
He was a symbol of what a soldier should be -- he was quiet and
gentle but authoritative when he needed to be. He was just a
good guy, that's all."
Lockhart Ross
FULTON was born on March 31, 1917, in Birtle, Manitoba
He died there on October 21, 2005, of cancer of the gallbladder.
He was 89. He is survived by his sons Bruce, Geoff and Peter,
and by daughters Debbie, Jennifer and Abigail. He also leaves
his brother Harvey and his sisters Eva and Margaret. He was predeceased
by his wife Nellie.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-09 published
Robert ENDICOTT,
Aviator: (1940-2005)
Fighter pilot who couldn't believe he was paid to fly 'was a
classic Cold War warrior'
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, December
9, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Bob
ENDICOTT was a stickler for procedure when he flew
his CF-104 Starfighter jet as one of the most experienced fighter
pilots of 441 Squadron, based at Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen,
in Germany. He knew there was absolutely no room for error flying
at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound.
Mission planning, cockpit drills, pre-flight briefings, weather
reports, gunnery practice -- there were a million and one vital
details to apply. You couldn't let up for a moment, since disaster
could be a split second away.
On July 11, 1978, Mr.
ENDICOTT signed out a CT-133 Silver Star
to take up a 14-year-old member of No. 800 (Black Forest) Squadron,
Royal
Canadian
Air Cadets. At the time, Mr.
ENDICOTT held the
rank of major and was the commanding officer of 800 Squadron.
As it happened, the cadet was his son, Tom. Wearing a Canadian
Forces flight suit, complete with harness and flying helmet,
he followed his commanding officer out to the ramp. "When I returned
a thumbs-up to the aircrew, I knew my dream was soon to come
true."
A few moments later, father and son accelerated down the runway
and lifted into the air. Twenty-seven years later, Tom
ENDICOTT,
now a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian army, stills remembers
the joy of flying with his father. "Once airborne, my dad [pointed]
out the countryside to me, and many of the key features he routinely
used to confirm his course -- towns, river valleys and castles."
Soon afterward, Mr.
ENDICOTT asked his son whether he would like
to take the controls and do a roll or two, demonstrating how
it was done. "[Then] it was my turn to have a go. Nose up a few
degrees, a hard jerk to the left, 360 degrees, then even out.
Awesome, and easier than expected."
Some minutes later, father and son returned to earth after an
hour in the air. "My dad was always proud of his ability to land
smoothly -- he definitely 'greased' this one. It was moments
like this during my childhood that confirmed my will to follow
in my father's footsteps, perhaps as a pilot, definitely as a
person. I sensed he was proud to have me on board with him."
Bob ENDICOTT joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1959. After
qualifying on the Avro CF-100 interceptor, he spent the next
four years in Europe with the Royal Canadian Air Force's No.
1 Air Division, starting with two years flying CF-100s with 419
Squadron in Baden.
It was a wonderful time to be a fighter jock, defending the West
from the Soviet Union and its vassal states, said his daughter,
Christine. "He was a classic Cold War warrior. He loved to fly
and he loved the lifestyle that went with it, the other pilots,
ski vacations in Austria and Switzerland, the beaches of Spain
and Italy."
He met his future wife, Ursula, who worked as a secretary for
the base chaplains, soon after he arrived in Baden in 1961. Two
months later, he asked her out. "I thought he looked pretty nice,
so I said yes," she said. They were married a year later, on
November 23, 1964. During the next 22 years, she followed her
husband all over the world, moving 19 times.
In 1986, he retired from the Canadian Forces after clocking 7,801
flying hours in 27 years. Over the next 11 years, he flew for
the airline City Express and for Execaire, a corporate charter
operator based in Montreal, and accumulated another 4,479 hours.
He often declared he couldn't believe he was being paid to fly,"
said Tom ENDICOTT. "He once told me that, regarding employment,
a person's goal should be to find a job that you would do for
free."
Robert James
ENDICOTT was born on March 29, 1940, in Lindsay,
Ontario He died of cancer on October 6, 2005, in Ottawa. He was
65. He leaves his wife, Ursula, son Tom, and daughter Christine.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-28 published
Duncan SHAW,
Air
Force
Officer: (1912-2005)
Boy Airman joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1929 to learn
a trade. He served in Bomber Command and later became a wing
commander
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Wednesday, December
28, 2005, Page S7
Ottawa -- When the Royal Canadian Air Force accepted Duncan
SHAW
for enlistment at the tender age of 16½, he knew his luck had
changed for the better. After taking the oath of allegiance in
April, 1929, he entered the Royal Canadian Air Force with the
rank of "boy airman" as part of a short-lived scheme to train
teenagers as skilled tradesmen. He thought he had it pretty good.
Three meals a day and a roof over his head was a lot more than
some people were getting at the beginning of the Depression.
Not only that, the air force was even paying him.
The
Royal
Canadian Air Force Mr.
SHAW was so proud to join had
been formed just five years earlier with 62 officers and 262
airmen scattered across Canada. For 10 years it was a federal
service that provided mercy flights, photo surveys, fire spotting,
fishery and smuggling patrols -- anything instead of prepare
for a war most thought would never come.
Life in the Royal Canadian Air Force at that time meant coping
with low pay and slow promotion. Despite the disadvantages, Mr.
SHAW enjoyed a good social life. In 1937, he and his unit, No.
2 (Army Cooperation) Squadron moved to Ottawa, along with No.
3 (Bomber) Squadron. "A group of Friends had sprung up who did
many things together, sort of like 'that old gang of mine.' [There
were] no steady girlfriends to siphon away the little money we
got," he wrote in a memoir.
In 1935, things slowly improved when Ottawa finally woke up to
the possibility that there might be a European war in the future
and gradually increased its defence budget. A few new squadrons
were formed and eventually the Royal Canadian Air Force had 4,000
men and 270 aircraft.
Everything changed when Canada declared war on Germany on September
10, 1939. Nine days earlier, Mr.
SHAW had been promoted flight
sergeant. Six months later, he was commissioned as an officer.
The Royal Canadian Air Force needed thousands of new officers
as it expanded to 215,200 men and women; as for the prospects
of those who had joined before the war, the sky was the limit.
By September 1, 1941, Mr.
SHAW was promoted to squadron leader.
The following year, he was in Britain as the senior armament
officer at Royal Canadian Air Force Overseas Headquarters before
being posted to the newly-formed No. 6 (Royal Canadian Air Force)
Group, part of the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.
Mr. SHAW was now responsible for the bewildering array of bombs
and munitions required by the 14 Lancaster and Halifax squadrons
of No. 6 Group to attack German-occupied Europe in the Royal
Air Force's intensive bombing campaign. Starting in January,
1943, No. 6 Group dropped a total of 126,122 tons of bombs on
the Reich, losing 814 aircraft and 3,500-plus aircrew.
Mr. SHAW remained in the Royal Canadian Air Force after the war.
In 1957, he was posted to Metz, France, as the chief armament
officer at No. 1 Air Division headquarters. It was an exciting
time to be there, as the air division played an important part
in keeping the peace during the height of the Cold War with its
12 F-86 Sabre jet squadrons. Mr.
SHAW had overall responsibility
for the maintenance and servicing of the Sabres' weapons systems.
Retired group captain Douglas
WURTELE of Ottawa, Mr.
SHAW's boss
in Metz, recalled: "He was a very reliable officer, very calm.
You could count on him to do an excellent job. He never got excited."
During his 29-year career, Mr.
SHAW served in all three of the
Royal Canadian Air Force's eras: the pre-war period, when the
force that had trouble just surviving; the war, when the Royal
Canadian Air Force grew dramatically as the fourth-biggest Allied
air force; and the post-war years that saw it expand by 1958
to 56,000 men and women, with 41 regular and auxiliary squadrons.
After retiring in 1964 as a wing commander, Mr.
SHAW owned a
company that sold and repaired scientific instruments. But he
"loved the air force, it was his life," said his son, Douglas.
Duncan Oliver
SHAW was born on October 18, 1912, in Toronto.
He died in Ottawa on December 6, 2005, of natural causes. He
was 93. He is survived his sons Douglas and David. He was predeceased
by his wife Marjorie, his son John, his brother Archibald and
his sister Mima.
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-29 published
Ralph GORDON,
Air
Force Brigadier-General (1917-2005)
As a 28-year-old, he commanded a Second World War Royal Canadian
Air Force supply squadron under monsoon conditions in the Far
East and went on to become a high-ranking officer
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special▲ to the Globe and Mail, Thursday, December
29, 2005, Page S9
Ottawa -- Fighting the Japanese in the Far East during the Second
World was one thing but fighting monsoons at the same time was
quite another. When heavy rainfall struck in June of 1945, Ralph
GORDON, the 28-year-old commanding officer of the Royal Canadian
Air Force's 436 Squadron, knew he had a problem.
Not only did his squadron have to supply the British Army with
fuel, food, medical supplies, cargo and men in its struggle to
dislodge the Japanese from Burma, but it had to fly around the
clock in a region that experienced about as much rain in one
month as Vancouver received in a whole year.
Five months earlier, the newly-formed squadron had moved to Kangla,
in India's Imphal Valley, to support Field Marshal Sir William
Slim and his 14th Army. With Mr.
GORDON commanding hundreds of
pilots, navigators, ground crew, cooks and other tradesmen, the
squadron shared in the fall of Mandalay and Rangoon but found
the monsoon to be as daunting an enemy as the Japanese.
That June, meteorologists recorded a rainfall of 47 inches. According
to Canucks Unlimited, a history of the squadron, "only the most
limited of radio facilities were available and forecasting services
just did not exist. Each airman was on his own and could count
on little practical help."
Instead, Mr.
GORDON, then a wing commander, came up with the
idea of using one aircraft at a time, in rotation, to go into
the air and report on meteorological conditions in a kind of
informal weather network he dubbed "Watchbird." In this way,
the squadron beat the monsoon and flew 1,000 hours in the "wettest
and most difficult base in all of India and Burma." It was also
the only air force unit that made it through the monsoon without
casualties.
The heavy rain meant Mr.
GORDON and his men continually improvised.
"No one had operated under monsoon conditions before," he once
recounted. "We didn't have proper equipment for changing engines
on aircraft, or for doing laundry, or for lighting lamps, so
we had to scrounge a lot.
"The technicians cut bamboo and made tripods and chain blocks
to lift engines out of aircraft. They had no hangars and had
to work in the rain. The runways were simply made of heavy tar
paper, with steel mesh laid over them, so when it rained, the
runway floated on the water. You got water over the windshield,
and everywhere, when you took off.
"The Royal Canadian Air Force sent us stoves that burned wood
to cook with [but] there was no wood to burn because bamboo is
full of water. So we had to design stoves that burned aviation
fuel."
Mr. GORDON's methods earned the respect of former airframe mechanic
Art ADAM/ADAMS of Hamilton, Ontario "We all thought he was a tremendous
commanding officer."
Mr. ADAM/ADAMS, currently the squadron's honorary colonel, said Mr.
GORDON flouted tradition and allowed officers and men to eat
together, which, in the stuffy view of neighbouring Royal Air
Force squadrons, violated protocol.
"He said, 'If our squadron is going to work together and fly
together, then by God, we will eat together!' [That is] one of
the reasons we had such a happy and determined squadron."
Art IRWIN of Ottawa also admired his commanding officer's can-do
ability. "We had a high disability rate from dysentery and other
gastric disturbances, which had to do with a lack of hygiene.
One of the first things he did was remove the native cooks as
food handlers and have only Canadians working [in the kitchen].
His move quickly reduced our [health] problems. That was a big,
big step."
For all his success, being the boss was a lonely job, Mr.
GORDON
told his granddaughter Heather
GORDON in 1996. Commanding men
in battle meant he dealt with his responsibilities in isolation
from everyone else. "You couldn't be Friends and still be their
boss at the same time," he said. "You knew that what you did
impacted all those who served under you."
For the leadership he displayed during the nine months he commanded
436 Squadron, along with the operational missions he flew with
415 Squadron over Europe in 1944, Mr.
GORDON was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order on January 15, 1946. Three months
earlier, he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for
"showing outstanding devotion to duty and efficiency. Most of
[his] flights have been in unarmed aircraft across mountainous
jungle country within range of enemy fighters. His operational
flying has always been of the highest standard."
Mr. GORDON had also been mentioned in dispatches on June 14,
Ralph GORDON grew up in Bobcaygeon, in Ontario's Kawartha Lakes
cottage region, where his father Charles owned a boating business.
After joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1939, he was awarded
his pilot's wings in June, 1940. Two years of instructing followed
before he went to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to fly Canso maritime
patrol aircraft for No. 162 (Bomber/Reconnaissance) Squadron.
In May, 1944, he was sent to Britain to fly Wellington bombers
against enemy shipping.
After the war, Mr.
GORDON remained in the Royal Canadian Air
Force and experienced first its reduction and then its dramatic
Cold War expansion. By the end of the 1950s, the Royal Canadian
Air Force flew 2,000 aircraft and counted 55,000 men and woman
among its ranks. From 1961-65, as a group captain, he commanded
Royal Canadian Air Force Station Greenwood, Nova Scotia, a key
Maritime Air Command base. In August of 1965, he was promoted
air commodore and given command of Maritime Air Command, making
him responsible for the security of both East and West Coasts.
As it turned out, he was its last commander.
In January of 1966, Maritime Air Command was amalgamated into
the new Maritime Command as part of the integration of the army,
navy and air force, a scheme that caused enormous controversy.
When four senior admirals resigned in protest, Mr.
GORDON found
himself in temporary command, on July 19, 1966, of Maritime Command,
which included the Atlantic fleet and Royal Canadian Air Force
maritime units. His command lasted all of eight hours. The sight
of Mr. GORDON's personal Royal Canadian Air Force flag flying
at the heart of the navy's headquarters in Halifax caused one
salty chief petty officer to growl, "It's a disgrace!"
During his career, Mr.
GORDON spent more than 3,000 hours flying
about 25 different types of aircraft. After retiring as a brigadier-general
in 1968, he worked for the federal public service.
Ralph Alan
GORDON was born on November 16, 1917, in Toronto.
He died of cancer on November 8, in Ottawa. He was 87. He leaves
his sons, Larry and Bruce, and his companion, Nancy
GUTHRIE.
He was predeceased by his wife Esther.
B... Names BO... Names BOU... Names Welcome Home
BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-02-05 published
FRY,
William
(Veteran of World War 2) Passed away peacefully on February 3,
2005 at the Aurora Resthaven Nursing Home at the age of 85. Longtime
resident of Rexdale, he will be sadly missed by Beryl and their
children Patricia (Ray)
HAINES,
Bob
(Maureen)
FRY, and Nancy
BOURDON
(Nigel.)
Grandfather to Derek
HAINES, Darren (Tammy)
HAINES, Kristi (Chris)
CHANG, Carrie (Jamie)
INNES, and Beth
BOURDON.
Great-grandfather to Ella
HAINES. A retired Canadian
Pacific Railway sales representative, Bill's main passions were
sports and officiating. After being a longtime official administrator
in the Toronto Hockey League, he turned to football. Bill joined
the Canadian Football League in 1957 to man the yardsticks and
by 1977 was named the league's director of officiating, which
post he held until 1985. Family and Friends will be received
at the Ward Funeral Home, 2035 Weston Rd. (north of Lawrence
Ave.), Weston, on Monday, February 7 from 7-9 p.m. and Tuesday,
February 8 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A private family service will
be held in the Field of Honour, Montreal at a later date. In
lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer Society would be
appreciated. Condolences to the family may be sent to william.fry@wardfh.com
"We will miss you Buddy"
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BOURDON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-09-27 published
McKAY,
Catherine
(DOYLE)
Passed away at Stevenson Memorial Hospital, Alliston, Ontario
on Monday, September 26, 2005, in her 81st year. Beloved wife
of the late Bob
McKAY.
Loved mother of John and Marjorie
POTTIE
of Barrie and Brenda
SHORT of Alliston. Loving grandma of Caroline
POTTIE,
William
SHORT and his fiance Doreen
KIRKHAM, John and
Liz BOURDON,
Robert and Eile
SHORT, Jennifer and Denis
BOURDON.
Loved great-grandma of Kiera
SHORT,
Dennis and Justin
BOURDON.
Dear sister of Allan and Peggy
DOYLE of Scotland and predeceased
by her sister Joyce
DOYLE. A Memorial Service will be held at
W. John Thomas Funeral Home, 244 Victoria Street East, Alliston,
Ontario on Saturday, October 1, 2005 at 12 noon. The family will
receive Friends at the Funeral Home from 11: 00 a.m. until time
of service. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Stevenson
Memorial Hospital Foundation, 200 Fletcher Crescent, Alliston,
Ontario L9R 1W7 would be appreciated.
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