The Voice of Doom Has Moved Away

    More times than I care to remember, there would be a phone call in the still dark of the morning, and the voice on the line would say:  

    “David?  This is the Voice of Doom”.  Our water pressure is dropping.”

    It would be my neighbor Glen.  Glen and Sheilagh owned the first and highest house on our gravity fed waterline, so if the water pressure began to drop, they would be the first to notice.  Glen’s phone call meant that I would have to start getting dressed so we could hike up to our water intake on Sunbeam Falls, to see what was wrong.  This could happen any season, but it was especially brutal when it happened during a winter cold snap when the falls was covered with ice.

    Glen has always been my main partner in dealing with the waterline.  Usually the other party on the line was at, or had to go, to work.  Both Glen and I are retired so the job usually fell to us.

    Glen was the one who was with me up on Sunbeam Falls, and had to go for medical help, the day my hand got hit by a rock and I lost a finger.  He was always a dependable and generous person.

    Glen and Sheilagh have been our neighbors for the 45 or so years, we have lived in McBride, but sadly, they have just moved away to Vancouver Island.  That will be a great loss for our community.  Glen, besides being my waterline partner, had been a science teacher in the high school, and a very active participant in many important community organizations.  Most recently, the Chair of the Library Board.

    Sheilagh also has played many prominent roles in the Community.  She has long been the Chair of the Art Council, and also the Whistle Stop Gallery at the Train Station.  She organized countless art events, including “Art in the Park” which included displays  and music along the trails in the Ancient Forest, as well as many other cultural events.

    I had tried to get a photo of the two of them the last time Glen and I went up to the waterline, but they put me off until later, and now they have gone, so the only photo I have is this old one showing Glen on our waterline culvert, about to pull up the watergate to drain the culvert.

    We will certainly not be the only people in the community who will miss Glen and Sheilagh.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca