On May 31, 2011, I was walking my dog in Shear Park, where there’s a memorial to those who died in the 1985 Barrie tornado, near the corner of Innisfil Street and Baldwin Lane. A man walked down from St. John Vianney Church, slowly making his way to the memorial, just before 5 p.m., carrying a bouquet of flowers. Nicely dressed, if not formally, he laid the flowers right in front of the memorial. He didn’t linger, and I didn’t interrupt him. Some things are private. I didn’t visit the memorial last Saturday, which marked 40 years. But when I had a look Sunday there were two small bundles of flowers at the base of the tornado memorial. Red roses and white/purple petalled flowers. Some things just cannot be forgotten.
On May 31, 2011, I was walking my dog in Shear Park, where there’s a memorial to those who died in the 1985 Barrie tornado, near the corner of Innisfil Street and Baldwin Lane. A man walked down from St. John Vianney Church, slowly making his way to the memorial, just before 5 p.m., carrying a bouquet of flowers. Nicely dressed, if not formally, he laid the flowers right in front of the memorial. He didn’t linger, and I didn’t interrupt him. Some things are private. I didn’t visit the memorial last Saturday, which marked 40 years. But when I had a look Sunday there were two small bundles of flowers at the base of the tornado memorial. Red roses and white/purple petalled flowers. Some things just cannot be forgotten.