Today is the 10th anniversary of the last time I saw my father Lawrence Wilson. Our family got together 10 years ago today to celebrate Dad’s 80th birthday and as I left to head back to Toronto we hugged and said, “I love you.” Dad passed away from a heart attack a few days later and it turns out those were the last words we said to one another. For that I am thankful.
Dad was born in McNamee, New Brunswick on March 12, 1920 and he earned his teaching degree at the University of New Brunswick. He married my mother Esma Grady, who was from Blackville just downriver from Doaktown, and moved to Fredericton where Dad taught english. After a few years there they moved to Northern Quebec and then to North Bay, Ontario where he became a high school vice principal and mom raised our family.
The Wilson’s
Laurence, Louise, Jim, Murray, Bill, Francis, Tom, Marie,
Willard, Sade
The above picture is of Dad (on the left) with my uncles, aunts and grandparents and we think the photo was taken in 1937 in the front yard of the Wilson homestead. Dad was born on the second floor of the homestead which still sits on the banks of the Miramichi River. Until recently the homestead housed Wilson’s Sporting Camps which is now run by my second cousin Keith and his wife Bonnie. There is now a new lodge that carries on the family tradition and it is one of – if not the longest – continuously operating fishing Lodges in North America. I am proud of this tradition and believe that a fly fisher’s resume is not complete until you have caught an Atlantic Salmon on the Miramichi River and the new Wilson’s Camp that Keith and Bonnie have built is a wonderful place to accomplish that feat.
Fly fishing has a sense of tradition that few if any other sports have and I am fortunate that my family is a part of that tradition. While I was born in northern Ontario I have always felt a strong pull to the Miramichi and believe that the valley is very much in my blood. I encourage every fly fisher to book a trip to Wilson’s Camps to see for themselves what brings me back there every year.
Happy Birthday Dad… love you.
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