Chapleau Moments

by MichaelJ. Morris

contribution to the Allied (Second World) War effort." It was a program to train air crew members from the Royal Air Force, the Royal AustralianAirForceandRoyalNewZealandAir Force and RCAF in Canada. By the end of the war more than 130,000 air crew members had beentrainedandmorethan100aerodromesand landingfieldsbuiltacrossCanada.

My parents met Iven and Arlene in Hamilton, and more than 70 years later, I am in contact with their children. In a real way, I have beenabletofollowtheAmericanDreamthrough theirfamily,beginningshortlyaftertheendofthe war when Mom and I travelled by train from ChapleautoIllinoistopayourfirstvisit.

In 1955, Iven, his father-in-law and a friendcametoChapleauonafishingtrip.Iwasin GradeEightatChapleauPublicSchoolandJ.M. Shoup, the principal who had served in World WarIand WorldWarIIletmeskipclassestogo fishingwiththemoneafternoonatPoulinCreek. To his great credit, Mr. Shoup understood how importantitwasformetogofishingwithoneof myfather'sverybestfriendsfromWorldWarII

Aftermyfather,FlyingOfficerJamesE. Morris was killed while on active service in the Royal Canadian Air Force on July 16, 1943 duringWorldWar II,mymother Muriel(Hunt) Morris decided we would remain in Chapleau, butstayin touchwithsomeofmyparents'close friends made when he was a Flying Instructor with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Iven andArlene Nichol came to Canada from the United States after the war started in 1939, andIvenjoinedthe RCAF,thenbecame, likemyfather,aflyinginstructoratMountHope near Hamilton. Iven was one of hundreds of Americans who came to Canada to join our nation's armed forces before their country enteredthewarin1941.

It was on that trip that I visited Tom Sawyer's caves in Hannibal, Missouri in Mark Twain country and fell in love with marching bandswhentheytookustotheIllinoisStateFair.

As Iven moved up the corporate ladder, the ever growing family moved to Pittsburgh wherewe visitedoftenandIsawmyfirstMajor Leaguebaseballgame.

But most importantly, I still recall Iven tellingmymotherthatthenextdayhewasgoing totakemeandtheiroldestdaughterSandyforan airplanerideoverPittsburgh.Mymotherwasnot in favour, but Iven insisted that given how my fatherdied,itwassomethingthathadtobedone. IvenwonandtothisdayIamgratefultohim.

But, he wasn't done. We had arrived in Pittsburghbytrain,butIvenarrangedforustofly back to Toronto on a commercial flight which wasthefirsttimemymotherhadflown.

After my mother died in 1989, I was going through her address book and found a number for them in Florida where they had movedtoretire.Icalledandhadonelonglastchat withArlene.Ivenhaddiedafewyearsearlier. But,howdidIgetbackintouchwiththe Nichol children? Actually they found me. In 2009,IwroteastoryaboutwatchingtheStanley Cup finals between Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Redwings, mentioning that I was cheeringforPittsburghbecauseasakidIvisited Iven andArlene Nichol who had lived there. It appearedontheInternet.

Some time later there was a comment posted on it from Susan: "I am one of Iven and Arlene's daughters. They loved to entertain so I am not surprised that they showed you some Americanlife."Needlesstosay,Iwasamazed.

Then I received an email from Janet, another daughter. There were eight daughters, sevenofwhomarestillalive.

JimandMurielMorris

J.L. Granatstein, the former CEO of the Canadian War Museum and historian described the BCATP as "the major Canadian military

We visited them In Stamford, Connecticut too and my mother made regular visitsformanyyears.Ihadmyfirstsliceofpizza inStamford.

Janetexplained:"Mynephewwasasking my sister Susan if his grandfather was on the internet. Shedidasearchandyourblogcameup fromyourreportonthe2009StanleyCupwhere you reminisced about Pittsburgh and your visits withmyfamilyIvenandArleneNichol. Youcan imagine my sister’s shock and my nephew’s joy to find that small paragraph so kindly penned aboutourparents/grandparents."

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