Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Dear Lucy, Robyn, Heather and Tim,
As a mother, my mind is flooded with memories of Dale. There are so many wonderful happenings.he was born at the General hospital, where a nurse
commented that he was a champion sleeper. Everytime that the nurses visited him or when family dropped by, he was asleep.
The nurses also commented that he had quite the appetite. Dale's father Clarence and his brother Dean, were very picky eaters and it seemed like I was running a restaurant. Then I brought Dale home from the hospital. Dale ate just about anything I put in front of him.
Dale's Grandmother (Gamber) would come over each evening to give the boy's a bath. Dale soon learned to move his arms about and splash as much water as he could. Consistently,
he would aim this water at his Grandmother!
When the family acquired a miniature dachshund, the dog immediately figured out that when camping, Dale slept the longest, did not move when he was in his sleeping bag and was a source of warmth. Pitou and Dale soon became bunk buddies.
While growing up Dale learnt to play the guitar quite well. At Christmas, he would accompany me in playing on the guitar many Christmas songs. He joined the folk group at St, Alphonsus Catholic Church and later joined the folk group at St. Matthew's Catholic Church.
As Dale grew up, Clarence soon realized that he had a fishing buddy. There was nothing that would stand in the way of them finding that elusive fishing hole. They would walk, ride motorbikes, fly in helicopters, take plane rides, canoe, float in rubber rafts, and ford rivers in the jeep.
These trips were not without incident. While floating on the upper Red Deer River in our rubber raft, they encountered a "chute" on the river, where all the water was funneled through a narrow channel. The raft flipped, throwing the boys and their father into the deep, swift, glacial fed
waters. The boys knew how to swim expertly and soon had their father up on shore, stripped of his cold, wet clothing. It is interesting to note that this is when a tour bus passed on the nearby road. What scenery!
While in the Yukon, these fishermen went on a fly-in fishing expedition.
The plane departed with arrangements to return in two days. However, storm clouds rolled in, preventing the plane from returning the next evening. Food was packed for only two days, but the excursion needed to be extended to five days. The fishermen thought that the fish that they would catch would satisfy their hunger pains. But there were no fish to be caught on that trip.
As you can imagine, there are many adventures that I can tell you about
my son that I can recall.
I pray that Dale and his father will have located a wonderful river, where there
are many fishing holes containing fish
to be caught.
It is also my hope that Dale's guardian angels will surround him to keep him company on his way to eternal life.
My wish for you is for you to keep Dale's memory alive with all the wonderful memories you have of shared times with him.
As you know, you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Lovingly,
Stella Gamber
