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My Pen Pal, Glady

So saddened to learn of the loss of my pen pal Glady, but I have no doubt she was Promoted To Glory.

My father and mother, Majors Irving and Edith Hann, were stationed with Gladys at the Salvation Army Arthur Meighan Lodge on Danforth Avenue in Toronto back in the early 1980s.  I had joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1983 and was leaving for Alberta on the first of many deployments.  Glady asked Mom if John (me) would mind getting a letter from her as she was writing to missionaries.  Mom didn't think I would mind, so in April 1985 I got my first letter from Capt Gladys Osmond. 

That started a correspondence that has seen Glady and I write and later email from around the world.  Exercise Rendevous in Wainwright, Alberta four times, the floods in Winnepeg, Manitoba, the Ice Storm in Montreal, Quebec, my tour at CFS Alert near the North Pole, Haiti with the UN, two tours in Bosnia and finally, a tour in Afghanistan.  We wrote back and forth while my wife and I were stationed in the Netherlands in the mid 2000s.  Hand written letters were the norm.  Sometimes long, sometimes short, but always a kind word and a reminder that I was in her prayers.  A special letter when my Dad passed away and again a couple years later when Mom joined him in Glory.  As Glady's eyesight began to fail I spent more time on the computer writing in increasingly larger fonts so she could read the letters.  Then email was easier for both of us.

Linda and I came home to Canada in 2009 and in 2010 had the pleasure of finally getting together at Glady's home in Springdale. It was like seeing your favorite Aunt after a long time away.

Glady, you have touched the lives of so many and will be missed by us all. 

For one last time, I guess that's all for now, Glady.  Talk to you later, 

John

Posted by MWO John Hann, MMM, CD
Sunday January 25, 2015 at 6:36 pm
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