Wednesday, December 13, 2006

A heartbreaking Story

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories you'll ever come aross -especially if you are a parent. Last week a 25 year-old woman on a sailing ship was washed overboard off Cape Cod and lost at sea. She turned out to be the daughter of Bob Gainey, the General Manager of the Montreal Canadians hockey team and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. As a player Gainey had a stellar career and went on to coaching and management after his retirement. In a sport that is often dominated by hotheads and hucksters. Gainey, who lost his wife to cancer 10 yers ago, is generally regarded asone of the more thoughful, well respected people in the game, the "strong, silent type" who shows little emotion.

Bob's father, Tom Gainey, served with the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment and was a close friend of my dad. This photo was taken in Harleem, Holland, May 28, 1945. My dad is on the far left in the picture. The man on the right may be Tom Gainey, but I'm not sure.

3 Comments:

Blogger ritsonvaljos said...

Very tragic. May they rest in peace.

Wednesday, 13 December, 2006  
Blogger Tomcann said...

Ronmac -
you are quite right in saying that this is a heartbreaking story as many Canadians followed this event all over last week end even before we were informed of the relationship with Bob.
Thing was she was alone in the dark with no means of flotation in an angry ocean, that has to be extremely terrifying for anyone.
The fact that both the American and Canadian rescue services worked long after the potential deadline had passed speaks volumes for their integrity.
We can only extend our condolences to Bob and the rest of his family and trust that he can move on with life.
Bob was a member of the "Hasty Pees" 1st Brigade of the Cdn 1st Inf Div both in Italy and MW Europe
and had seen many tragedies before the loss of both his wife and daughter.

Friday, 15 December, 2006  
Blogger Tomcann said...

Correction -
My last paragraph on the comment on Bob Gainey's tragedy should have read that "Bob's Father had served in the Hasty pees both in Italy and NW Europe with 2st Bde of 1st Div and trust that he was spared these tragedies which befell his son Bob.

Friday, 15 December, 2006  

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