I was so honoured to have met and worked with a Lovely Senior Gentleman in 2023. He was 91 years old and was managing…with help from Family and my driving services for seniors. I love to hear people’s stories and his went like this…
He was born and raised in London, England (1932) and became a Steam Engineer on large ships. Every year he would study and move up a level in his career by completing the tests and working on these ships as there had to be a certain amount of practical experience.
He soon left England as a young man of 23 to come to Canada. He landed on the East Coast…Toronto to be exact and started his career here again as a Steam Engineer. He met his wife at a dance…they fell in love…and moved to the coast of British Columbia where they had 2 sons.
They all moved to Prince Rupert, BC where he became the Captain of the Weather Ship the Alexander Mackenzie. And when the opportunity came they all moved back to West Vancouver as he took a position at the Port of Vancouver as the Chief Steam Inspector.
He was quite a gentleman who had grace and a charming personality. A lovely person to be around as he was polite to everyone…even the person holding the door for him and his walker. “Thank you pet”..”Thank you dear”. He was a thinker….a tinkerer…an inventor in his spare time.
He had some major complications with his health, and used the MAID services….(Medically Assisted in Dying), to leave this earth.
I have never met someone like him. He was a gem.
Here is the poem he wrote that I will cherish all my days.
PEOPLE
PEOPLE FROM A WORLD OF PLACES,
PEOPLE OF ALL DIFFERENT RACES,
WITH COMPLECTIONS OF EVERY HUE,
AND FEATURES THAT ARE DIFFERNT TOO,
BUT ALL IN ALL THIS AMOUNTS TO NOUGHT,
AS THE ESSENCE OF OUR BEING IS NOT OUR ASPECT BUT OUR THOUGHT,
WE ARE BUT WHAT WE NEED TO BE,
WHEN WEIGHED AND MEASURED PHYSICALLY,
EACH FEATURE IS A HARMONY TO MATCH AND OUTSIDE FORCE,
AND EACH WITHIN A PORTRAIT,
OF WHAT OUR LIFE HAS WROUGHT,
WE COME IN PEACE, LET US GO IN GRACE,
PEOPLE OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Blessings Everyone,
Nancy
