Gordie Howe knew my mother. My mother knew Gordie Howe. Gordie Howe was born in a small Saskatchewan town and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at an early age. My mother was born in a small Saskatchewan town and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at an early age. Gordie Howe came from a family of nine siblings. My mother came from a family of nine siblings. Gordie Howe had five sisters. My mother was one of four sisters. You got us there, Gordie.
The similarities trail off. Gordie Howe was a professional hockey player and played most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. My mother wasn’t a professional hockey player and never played hockey in any league anywhere. She could skate though.
One of Gordie Howe’s five sisters, I wish I knew which one, was a friend of my mother’s when Gordie Howe’s sister and my mother were young girls in Saskatoon. Gordie Howe took his sister and my mother for a ride in his new convertible and he gave my mother the above snapshot from his rookie season in Detroit. And when she died it came to me. I can’t help it if I’m lucky. My mother was twelve years old in Gordie Howe’s rookie season. I do know that those primitive, scuffed skates he’s wearing wouldn’t be sported today by the lowest talent thrashing peewee hockey player, girl or boy. Different era. Gordie Howe was six years older than my mother.
In my infancy I saw Gordie Howe play once. I also saw him close up. He looked just like he did on TV. It was not hockey season and Gordie Howe and his Detroit Red Wings teammates were playing an exhibition game in Peterborough, Ontario against the adult amateur hockey team of the time. The Wings played with their sticks upside down, just the end of the blade on the ice, to give the locals a chance, but it was still a wipe out. Great fun and I was given the autographs of Gordie Howe and two of his teamates, Alex Delvecchio and Terry Sawchuck, hockey players much better known then than now. The trio came along the boards after the game to sign autographs. My mother was there for them.
It’s a nice looking bridge. Modern. Clean. Impressive engineering feat. It should stay closed. Keep traffic off it. There’s too much traffic around there anyway. Trade and traffic need to be cut right back. Just keep the thing for Mr. Hockey, his memory. The grand old man. The image is from the “International Gordie Howe Bridge” site. It proudly states the bridge is to open “Fall 2025.” That should be grand.
Something happened. Never heard of the bridge before it did. Don’t live anywhere around there these days. The American President should make a so-called state visit to Canada soon. See if it can fire Mark up. Show the love. Go for a walk on the bridge. Prove it works wonderfully as a pedestrian bridge. If the president needs a wheelchair the prime minister can push it along. Great story.
International Gordie Howe Bridge opens soon probably, but who know’s with this guy? He needs a good spanking and will get it because history says so. But when? Doesn’t matter. Corrupts absolutely like rotting fruit. Rabbits turn away.
samoyeddogs 