Its never too late
Its never too late to say your goodbyes...
On Sunday the 5th of September 2010, Cathy Farr, from Guelph, a small city an hour west of Toronto, Canada visited Old Weston to honour her uncle, Don Lindsey, who was laid to rest in our village churchyard after his plane crashed during World War 2.
Her visit here was part of a 12 day trip that also incorporated a stay in London and a trip through Wales. We were delighted to meet her in The Swan at noon, where she kindly bought us lunch. Pictured below, from right to left are Roger Leather, Carol Leather, Cathy Farr, Derek Langley, Judi Kelly, Terry Foley, Gaynor Foley, and Pam Watson.
Cathy's Family History
Cathy told us some of her family history. Her grandparents, met up and were married just after the end of the First World War. Her Grandfather was born in Toronto, and her Grandmother, an army nurse, was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA.They set up home in Toronto, and had three children: Robert (known as Ted, after his mother's first boyfriend), Donald and Mary, Cathy's mother. The marriage was not a happy one, and eventually in 1938 Fanny moved back to Battle Creek, taking the 3 children with her.
Donald attended High School in Battle Creek for one year, and then he left and returned to Toronto where he enlisted in the Canadian Airforce.
After signing up, he was not allowed to cross back into the United States, so his mother came to Canada to visit him in 1940. She noted that the whole of the City of Windsor was draped in black due to Dunkirk.
That would have been the last time she saw her son, as he died in March 1942.
Cathy's Quest
In 2003 Cathy was searching on the Internet when she found an image from the Books of Remembrance for 1942, which mentions her Uncle Don, and the other 3 airmen who were tragically killed in the plane crash.
She also found, at that time, a photograph of Donald's grave. She decided that it was never too late to try to find its whereabouts.
She found among the family possessions a cutting from a newspaper that gave his final resting place, incorrectly, as Mount Ellsworth, Near Huntingdon, England.
It wasn't until November 2009, that Cathy discovered this site and learned where he was actually buried. In December 2009 she decided that she must visit the area and booked her trip for the following year. She had another connection with Cambridgeshire, as her paternal grandmother was born in St. Ives.
Cathy's visit
Cathy used the contact form on this site to write in and offer some photographs of her Uncle Don and some of his possessions. Putting a face to a name, and learning more about Donald was an opportunity not to be missed, and duly a page was added to the site in tribute to Donald Lindsey.Cathy arrived in the village mid-morning and visited her Uncle's grave alone. She then met up with us outside The Swan, where we sat and chatted. She was presented with a memento, a framed photograph of the church, taken by Carol Leather.
She told her story and then we had a traditional English Sunday Lunch of Roast Beef followed by a dessert.
Part way through the meal we were joined by Sarah Fussell, the secretary to the Parish Council.
After our meal we walked up to the church, and took some photos by the four Canadian airmen's graves.
We also took Cathy inside the church to show her the remaining fragments of medieval wall paintings.
After a lovely visit, her hire car returned at 3pm to pick Cathy up. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for lunch, and she thanked everyone for taking care of her Uncle for the past 68 years.
For Cathy, it was never too late to say goodbye and thank you.
Enjoy the rest of your trip, Cathy.
