Auntie Ruby can move back!

Auntie Ruby can move back to the Colonel Belcher Veteran's Hospital! Here are some of the details taken from an email sent by Leonard Saunders:

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you will have a joyous New Year! We had a Christmas miracle ourselves. I received word today from Ruth Cox that a bed was now available for Ruby on the Veteran's side of the Colonel Belcher Care Center. She will be able to move on January 3, 2007. Arrangements are now being made made to facilitate her transfer. Ruth has also notified Hazel and Valerie about the upcoming move. She will be located on the second floor in Vimy. Isn't that awesome as her dad was a Vimy Ridge veteran. Maybe he is her guardian angel and was looking out for her. She will be in room 11.

Ruth was very pleased that Ruby will now have a place at the Veteran's Hospital. (She advocated to have Ruby stay at the beginning of this.) Thanks to all of you for your active support on Ruby's behalf. On Wednesday, December 27, Ruby was asked where she would be happiest and she said she was a Veteran and preferred to be at the Colonel Belcher Veteran's Hospital, so she now has her wish. She also had told me this before so her wish hadn't changed.

Thanks again to all of you that took the time to write, phone, and arrange appointments to visit your MLA's. You are great political activists. Congratulations on your fine work!

My hope is that Veteran's Affairs and the Alberta Health Region will rethink some of their policies to make them more compassionate. The elderly are just as deserving of compassionate treatement and medical care as any other segment of the population. Maybe this will happen as a result of MP's and MLA's being more aware of their policies and their effects upon Veteran's as well as how the Regional Health Policies are affecting the citizens of this province.

Thanks again for all that you have done and all the best to you in the New Year!

Len

Auntie Ruby's certificate for her service with the Canadian Armed Forces (click on it to see a larger version)

Auntie Ruby's Biography, written by Leonard Saunders

Ruby Wilson

Ruby Wilson was born into the Jackson Family in Didsbury, Alberta. Her father was Frank and her mother was Ellen. She had a twin sister Pearl, an older sister Irene, and two younger sisters Hazel and Doris.

She lived on a farm. She attended the Melvin School, which was a small country school, providing education from grade one to eight. One of her jobs was to unharness the horses and put them in the barn at the school.

Ruby had pneumonia when she was young. Her father, Frank Jackson, felt that she was not strong enough to do outside chores so Ruby was delegated to take on many of the inside housekeeping, cooking, and baking chores.

Ruby attended Didsbury High School for grades 9 to 12. She then attended the Henderson Secretarial School which was a 9 month course where she learned typing, shorthand, and book keeping.

In 1941, at 19 years of age she joined the Air Force and went to Ottawa where she joined the “Air Force Public Relations Department.” She sent out news releases for the newspapers and radio to keep the public informed about what was happening on the war front.

Ruby met Harold Wilson when he returned from overseas. The government had put him in an office without any furniture and he asked Ruby if she could help him find a desk and a chair. He asked for a date about one week later. Harold took her to a hockey game. Ruby said the game wasn’t really to her liking as it was too rough and she didn’t like to see people getting hurt. But she did like Harold so they decided to get married. They married in 1946 in their service uniforms.

They went to the Montreal Forum to see a hockey game on their three day honeymoon. Throughout their married life they were able to talk things out and patch things over when they had their differences and carried on in such a fashion for 60 years. Ruby always said her marriage was better than most.

Ruby and Harold were transferred from Ottawa to Dawson City which was the capital of the Yukon Territories at this time. The Whitehorse population grew and it then became the capital of this region and Harold and Ruby then went to work in Whitehorse. It was here that Ruby and Harold began to develop an avid interest in curling which they both enjoyed for many years. They also bought a cabin on Tagish Lake and learned to fish for lake trout. Ruby was the fisherman and Harold was the boat driver.

After spending several years in Whitehorse they went back to Ottawa. However; the lure of the North took them back to Yellowknife in the North West Territories. Aunt Ruby was interviewed to see if she had the skills to live in this country. She convinced them that she was a country girl from Alberta and could bake bread in a wood stove. As a farm girl she had developed many of these skills that she would need. She could tell how hot the oven was by opening the door and feeling the heat to know if it was the right temperature.

In Yellowknife she worked in the Department of Vital Statistics keeping track of marriages, deaths, and helping the residents, some of whom didn’t have very much education, fill out driver’s licenses applications.

After they retired, Ruby and Harold became snow birds traveling south in the winter and back north in the summer to fish at their cabin.

Uncle Harold's Biography, written by Leonard Saunders

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson was born August 23, 1914 (A First World War baby). Harold was born in Berwick, Ontario about 35 kilometers from Ottawa. When his father went to serve in the armed force overseas, Harold and his mom moved to Ottawa.

War Years
Harold joined the armed forces and received his inoculations and in less than two weeks was on the high seas. He joined the Army Service Core. Their responsibility was to provide the armed forces with rations and coal. They took the rations to the regiments.

He worked in demolitions in London after the Blitz pulling people from the wreckages in East London. The service core became the core of Petrol Park giving gas to the regiments. Harold worked for the Service Core until 1942 at which time he was posted to the Black Watch.

Harold was posted to Army Public Relations where he was responsible for all releases pertaining to the armed forces, which were published in the Canadian Press. The paper published what was happening in Canada and what was happening anywhere the Canadian Forces were involved. The men needed to know how the war was going.

He went into France D plus 21 (twenty-one days after D-day). D-day marked the beginning of the Allied offensive. Harold’s tour carried him through France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany.

After serving overseas for five years three and ½ months Harold was sent back to Canada on rotational leave. He was posted to Army Public Relations. Records were kept of those who had been wounded or had died and releases to notify next of kin were issued.

At this time he met Ruby Jackson who was a corporal and later a flight sergeant. Harold was also a corporal but on his return to Canada became a sergeant.

Harold Wilson and Ruby Jackson were married January 18, 1946 before being discharged from the service. Ruby at this time was a registered member of the Royal Canadian Air force Women’s Division and was stationed in Ottawa.
See Ruby’s biography for the rest of the story.

Wedding Aniversary Photo

This is a picture of Auntie Ruby and Uncle Harold celebrating their 60th wedding aniversary.

Auntie Ruby's Wedding Picture

This is a picture of Auntie Ruby and Uncle Harold's wedding. They were both married in their military uniforms.

Auntie Ruby

My aunt, Ruby Wilson, lived at the Residential side of the Colonel Belcher Veteran's Hospital for the last six years. Actually, she only slept at the residential side, because she spent all of her waking hours at the hospital. The hospital is a special hospital in that it is primarily intended to be a facility for war veterans. At the hospital, my Auntie Ruby spent her days caring for her husband, Harold Wilson, as well as other vets. Auntie Ruby spent her entire life in service of others, and has continued to do so as she's aged.

Recently, it was decided that she needed more care than what was available in the Colonel Belcher residential area, and at the beginning of December, she was moved into a different facility.

Those who know my aunt believe very strongly it would have been much, much better for her if she'd been allowed to move into the veteran’s side of this facility. The reason we feel this so strongly is that, having spent her days there for the past six years, she knows this facility inside out. For her, this facility is home. She is hurt to the core at having been booted out.

My understanding of the reason she was unable to move into the hospital area is that, despite her being a veteran who served as a flight sergeant during WWII, she didn't serve overseas.

I also understand that if her husband Harold Wilson, who resided in the Colonel Belcher Veteran's Hospital, had lived longer, my aunt would have been admitted to the hospital on compassionate grounds. It seems that compassion normally only applies to people with living relatives in a facility. In this case, the rules are being followed to the letter for my aunt, but their intent is not.

It is extremely sad to see my aunt moved at this time in her life because she is loosing her short-term memory. This makes it is especially difficult for her to fit into a new facility. My aunt cannot understand why she is being moved and is the angriest and most upset I've ever seen her. No one is able to dispute her reasoning, at this point, all we can do is feel sorry for her.