We met Harve and his wife Julie shortly after they moved to Creston about a decade ago. They'd stopped in at the Legion, which we habituated at the time, and introduced themselves. The staff there, noting they shared a surname with me, called us to come and meet the new arrivals. We learned Harve was from Carbonear, and figured we might somehow be related if we rolled back the generations far enough. From then we met them frequently at the Legion, and occasionally in other places.
We learned Harve had been involved in the financial industry following his Air Force career, and they had lived in Wardner, BC for a while before moving to Creston, where they built a house just outside town, in North Canyon. We'd visited a number of times, and moved rocks from our yard to fill their foundation, amongst other things.
As time passed, we spent less time at the Legion, but still met and caught up on things when our paths crossed. From these short, but infrequent encounters, we learned of Harve's cancer and its recurrence, and of Julie's slide towards dementia. My retirement party in January was one of the recent times Pat & I had a chance to sit and talk with them, and given their travails, they seemed to be doing well.
Fast forward nine months, and a mutual friend told Pat that Harve was now in Swan Valley Lodge, the local care facility. Visiting Harve, I found him bed-ridden, and coping with the final stages of a further recurrence of his cancer. Julie's dementia was such, that she was now being cared for by her children, in another community. Harve & I had daily conversations, the early ones about past times, vacation trips, history, camping, fishing, and many other topics. As the days went by, we filled our time together watching the Blue Jays win their first post season match against Texas, then lose in the American League finals to Cincinnati. It was during this time that we met Harve's daughter Jackie, who had been travelling between Calgary & Creston to provide support. The past few days were spent speaking with Jackie, and visiting Harve, as he further declined.
My friend Harve went to his final resting place on Sunday morning. Rest In Peace.