cold day in Trenton

At about 4:52 of this CTV news clip you'll see George's family approach the hearse. Anna is carrying 2 roses in her right hand to place on the casket. For several years I worked odd hours with the IT group of the U of Alberta School of Business and was often found in the grad students computer lab on the 3rd floor of the Business building. Anna worked for the U of A non-academic staff and was a regular guest of ours (or more likely we were guests of hers!) as she came into the lab to keep the place tidy. There were typically few students on campus that late in the evening and she loved talking with us. I can still recall her opinions on variety of topics as she always had one! She really was a delightful babushka type and this part of the clip is pretty heartbreaking. If you look closely at the cap being worn by George's father you'll see the Hungarian coat of arms.

At 5:41 you can see a closeup of my house mate Greg (the tall one) standing next to another 41 CER guy (Mike Orgill) who accompanied George's body back from Afghanistan and is accordingly still in desert fatigues. In front of them is Kristi Anderson, who owns the Mo House along with her husband Neil Fritz. Neil, a long time acquaintance of mine, has been a senior NCO in the unit for years and years and is currently very busy organizing what will be a full dress military funeral. What you don't see on camera is Anna collapsing and Greg leaving to see if he could get something to assist.

8 Field was an Edmonton unit but 41 CER is province-wide and a number of guys from what was Lethbridge-based 6 Field have indicated that they will be coming up here for the funeral. Fortunately I can help make room for them here at the Mo House by heading back to my parents' place for a while as my folks will be leaving for Florida on Wednesday. I haven't really had a fixed address anyway for the last couple of years although I've been looking for a condo of my own in the city's southwest.

In this other CTV clip you can see a photo of George with fellow 41 CER boys Robbie Farhat and Ricky Hurley at 1:28, hear one of the unit's officers, Lt Michael Kunce, talk about George at 1:40, and listen to another former Mo House resident, a beard-sporting Nathan Goisnard, at 2:01.

I don't know the guy who made this mini-poster of Gorgeous George, but I'll post it here because it's so upbeat.