Saturday, January 9, 2021
Dear Derry and Ora, Jack Jr. and Tammy and families, Donna and I are very saddened to learn of Lois’ passing. I feel your ache and profound sadness, and I am so very sorry for your loss. Lois and I came to know each other in the Spring of 1977, when I commenced my fisheries fieldwork as a maritime anthropologist among Port Dover’s commercial fishermen. Jack and Lois (as well as Derry and Ora) reached out very early on during my 18 months stay in Port Dover, extending a welcoming friendship that I have not forgotten. I continued to keep in touch with Jack and Lois and later with Lois (following Jack’s passing) off and on through the years (in fact Lois and I talked over the phone just days before she passed). I recollect one of her very poignant narratives. Lois recounted about the occasions when as a little girl she would walk down to the dock to meet her father coming off the lake from a day of fishing and the two – father and daughter – would walk home together, with Lois checking his lunch pail to see if there were any sweets left over. Lois was a dear friend. And I will miss her very much.
John J. Van West
Brampton, Ontario
