“Greetings one and all” – January 2009 Update
Dear Punchbowlers and significant others:
We would like to thank the many who corresponded with us over the past festive season. We enjoyed being remembered with cards, long letters or short notes. Life is certainly pretty exciting
for a lot of you. Some of the interesting communiqués came from -
o
Janet (Norm) Smith in Hawaii, Jess
& Sheila Eisler reporting on their grand tour of America – fascinating discoveries and living the life of Reily. The year’s events from Gary & Una Garnier, which included Gary having gall bladder surgery in Sept. All is well now.
o
Arn & Joan Dagenais have been back
in YVR for 2 years now. Their letter was filled with fascinating details, Arn’s health has been stable now for 18 mos.
Joan is busy teaching in YVR and life in general is very upbeat. They miss Mexico
of course, but are happy there being much closer to each other’s families.
o
Ray & Heather Lovegrove in YVR
continue to take in wee children, albeit very painful when it comes time to part. They made a trip to Alaska, had an ‘anniversary extraordinaire’ in downtown YVR and are generally
keeping well. Still busy with renovations “to accommodate Mum”. Sadly
their daughter Tricia was recently diagnosed with 2 major cancers followed by chemo and radiation. This has been very difficult
for all concerned. Please keep Tricia and the family in your prayers.
o
From Nevada - Robbie & Claudine Robinson send greetings to all. Robbie attended a wedding
of a niece in England……and
that is the last time he will be driving on the “wrong” side of the
road! Even in Vegas they can’t escape getting snow - 4 inches at the time
of writing.
o
Dave & Ginette Lennox are enjoying
being grandparents and generally keeping well.
o
From the Merrytimes: Lloyd and Mary-Lou
are “content to look after the acreage in the “Valley” with trips to Ottawa
and St. John’s to visit family.” They spent
the Holidays in Ottawa; enjoyed visits with friends in AB
& NF. “Remember – 2009 is the 100th Anniversary of the Flight of the ‘Silver Dart’
at Baddeck, N.S.” “Let’s hope we can round up a few “Lynx” for 2009.”
o
Poppy Allison went to Croatia last Spring and ended up with pneumonia; barely remembers coming home.
We just made contact with her today and she has just returned from England
where she said it was darned cold.
o
John & Francois Dardier in France gave an interesting update. The year has
been full of contact with their children who all appear to be very successful in their various careers. And they are enjoying
the company of their many grandchildren. Other than the normal age-related symptoms they are now experiencing, all is well.
They are both busy at their parish - singing and maintenance.
o
Brian & Colleen McKay are doing
fine. Brian is in total remission from his bout with lymphoma. All’s well that ends well. They are enjoying life on
the farm.
o
Andy & Vivian Hartford love the
country life and are very busy with family, splitting wood – keeps him slim and in fit condition; Andy doesn’t eat beef anymore, since he was diagnosed with a heart condition, so between family and
friends they get treated to lots of moose and deer, supplemented with domestic bison. Trips to the wilderness; fixing and
maintaining Andy’s ‘old house’ as well as helping out at church keeps them active. He adds – “one of the most memorable times of my life
was with the 416 Sqn. and I’m grateful that we are all kept in touch by these newsletters”.
o
Danny Gagnon is keeping well and we
hope to see him soon on one of his visits to family in our area. He’ll undergo cataract surgery in February. This being
a very routine procedure, we expect Dan’s vision to be better than ever.
o
Taffy Evans has had a year of age-related
afflictions, “though nothing too serious”. After a short bout in the
hospital, he is feeling better than he has in years. Good on'ya mate! He hopes
to make it to the west coast this year.
o
From Pat Ledgerwood: “After completing the colonoscopy the doctor informed me that it appeared when
he removed the malignant polyp last October he was able to remove all the cancerous growth. As the surgeon who was going to
remove part of my colon couldn’t locate where the malignant polyp was when he did a sigmoidoscopy in November, it looks
like the Lord was with me. I am to have another colonoscopy in a year. The specialist who is looking after my prostate cancer
thinks it is growing slowly enough that he is going to wait until I have another PSA in May to determine the treatment options.
As I had the prostate gland removed in 2001, I think the options are limited to radiation or hormone treatment.”
o
And from Al Wardstrom: “The docs say that the bypass (femoral) is working O.K. but I'm still unable to
walk any distance”. They are now taking more CT scans and MRIs (MRI 28 Jan) to see what other problems there may be. “Hopefully they find something correctable”. “I'm hoping to be able golf in the spring
even if I am relegated to using a cart.”
o
Lise Turcotte is recovering from recent
cancer surgery. Jacques is giving her lots of TLC and his health is fragile, but stable. Please keep them in your prayers. Lise has a tremendous spirit and positive outlook.
o
With all the health issues we are encountering,
it makes the removal of my abscessed tooth seem rather insignificant. The old ticker is doing well on meds and I’m being
well looked after by Sharleine. My investment in a snow blower in the fall of ’07 is paying off again this winter as
we have received a considerable amount of snow. We are on track for breaking
the snowfall record for this area. But still a long way to go to top Trom’s area.
Speaking of whom….he called the other day and all is well with him. He’s
on board for golfing in Comox in August.
o
This just in from Pat Ledgerwood 29
Jan: “Lloyd
Graham has been selected to be the next Honorary Colonel of 404 Squadron, which is based at Greenwood. Some of the key players at Greenwood
are away on TD so it will be a few days before the news will become general knowledge and any action taken. I know that he
has earned this honour and was pleased to congratulate him. He is a former member of 404 Squadron, is really active in the
community and I know that he will do an excellent job. I asked Lloyd if he was going to send an e-mail to the old gang advising
them of this honour and he indicated that he didn’t plan on doing so. A modest gentleman indeed, but because Lloyd is
such a supporter of all things associated with 416 Squadron, I wanted to share this news with some of his former CF-100 colleagues.” And this………..”Edna and I will be departing
Saturday morning for a holiday in Nevada and Southern California.
We plan to return to Edmonton the first week in March”
Thanks Pat - have a great vacation.
o
Congratulations
Lloyd buddy! We’re all proud of you and wish you the best in this appointment.
AWFA - I trust you all received
the e-mail from George Meldrum regarding the status of the AWFA. What with the
majority of members getting on in years, few are able or willing to participate in planned events.
Be sure to check out all the latest additions to the new 416
website @
<https://lynxsquadron.tripod.com/index.html>
- see ‘News’ for the latest revisions - contributions and maintenance aptly undertaken by Bob Eley, Bob Gillett and Dave Lennox.
Thanks to these gentlemen for keeping the spirit alive with their excellent contributions and combined expertise.
Given that over 60% of our troops did not respond to our survey re a get together, we have concluded that
there is not enough interest in a Punchbowl Reunion in the Trenton
area this fall. At this time, I am planning on joining Trom, Ed, Ron and Al in
Comox this summer for a round or two of golf. God willing, Taffy will be able to join us also.
Indeed……..it would be great to see more of you turn up. Think about it gentlemen………..we
pass this way but once. Sharleine would like to encourage the wives to join us.
All the best for your health and happiness as the year unfolds. Thanks again for all your news. Keep it coming. Keep our troops overseas in your prayers.
They need all the support they can get.
Sincerely in friendship,
Jake & Sharleine
P.S. You don't have to forward this, but you may forward it to ten people and see what happens. /jkh
