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| Bruce Morton, enjoying morning tea |
I am not a biographer by trade, but I will try my best to
write about the person that inspires us. His initial is BRM – Bruce Ralph
Morton, but we simply just call him “Bruce”. He is 97 years young; he was born
in Roblin, Manitoba, Canada on July 30th, 1917. Way back then it was
a very small town of a few blocks where everybody knows anybody. Presently, he
lives in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, British Columbia by himself.
Bruce is pretty much very independent, he still drives to
Victoria occasionally and of course around town, he prepares his own breakfast,
lunch which he calls dinner and dinner which he calls supper. It is confusing
for us, but we get used to it after spending two full nights with him. Bruce
does not have a big lunch, usually a muffin and a cup of tea. Of course, he has
to put cream on his tea; this is of course the big British influence when he
grew up.
Bruce still goes to the market for groceries and does his
chores around town; I almost forgot to mention that his supper is between 4:30
PM to 6:30 PM. no later than that. In the morning, he drives to the beach and
walks for about 30 minutes; he told us that walking is good for you. On the
rainy days, Bruce pedals his stationary bike, where he placed it very conveniently
close to his big living room window while watching any activities outside.
That day, Bruce took us to the Englishman River waterfall
and we walked some more that afternoon. At night he walked through his backyard
with Pokie, I was beat so I stayed behind. You see, the energy is like an
advertising of Eveready battery, keep going and going and going.
Bruce Morton left home when he was eighteen years old; he
went to Regina, Saskatchewan, looking for a job, any job. Back then you are
lucky to make $1.50 per day. A loaf of bread is 5 cents, a dozen of eggs were
15 cents and chicken livers were given away for free. Bruce told me, he was
very lucky to have two bucks in his pocket at any one time. Bruce has two
brothers and one sister, they are all passed away, Bruce is the only who is
still living, he even lost his only son at the age of 42 due to stomach cancer.
At this age he is considered very healthy, he does not have
high blood sugar level, nor has high blood pressure, his cholesterol level is
pretty much in check.
Hockey is his favorite game, in his earlier day he went to Vancouver but did
not make the team. He did however made the hockey team in Lethbridge, Alberta
for two years. His team was Lethbridge – Maple Leaf.
Enter the World War II; he immediately joined the Army for
just six months but that he was not satisfied, so he quickly joined the Navy
for three years in Calgary. His job in
the Navy was a supply ship, a convoy of 68, he also in charge of unloading the
anti U-Boat (German submarine) depth charge during the Battle of Atlantic. He
was shipped to Halifax to pick up the ship.
Bruce also worked at a control tower in High River, Alberta
for one year; he worked as an employee number 159 at the High River Flying
School. Back then radar was almost to a non-existence, he told me by looking at
the cloud formation, and he could predict the condition. It’s amazing to think
about it.
He then worked for Imperial Oil in Calgary, Alberta making a mere $3.50 a day.
At one time he also applied to be a Canadian police – RCMP (Royal Canadian
Mounted Police), but at the end he declined as he was requested to have his
tonsils removed. It was indeed a strange requirement back then.
Now, enter his love life. Bruce first saw Celia (CC as we
know her) when she was 16 years old in 1938, this is I believe his first love.
CC was born on August 8th, 1922 and passed away on May 14th,
2012 some two years ago. CC was five years younger than Bruce.
The war was a terrible thing, for some reasons Bruce and CC
got separated. Bruce married Betty in Calgary in 1944 and they were married for
50 years, having one son and one daughter.
Betty passed away in 1993 due to lung cancer. Bruce was alone again. Oh,
at the beginning his in laws did not approve of him because he was in the Navy.
In the meantime CC (Bruce first love) married another person
by the name of Earl which passed away in 2001. Luck would have it that CC’s
niece phoned Bruce, letting him know and CC’s husband just passed away. Bruce
gathered his strength and called CC at that time.
Three weeks has gone by, Bruce got a call from CC, guess what, she was just
less than an hour away from where he lives, she landed in Comox Airport to the
north, she said, “Pick me up”. This was
the first time in 63 years that Bruce met CC, the last time being in 1938, he
told me that maybe CC had put a lot of weight, but to Bruce delight CC was just
still the same, still cheerful and full of smiles.
This was another beginning of another love affair, a
continuation of their first love separated by World War II. They went together again for the next eleven
years until CC passed away in 2012. Bruce remained in Qualicum Beach and CC
lived in Lethbridge, Alberta. When they
were not together physically, Bruce phoned CC almost on a daily basis at night.
Thank you Bruce for being such an inspiration to us, you are
more than a family in our hearts. His motto is “Every day is a good day”. We look forward to see you again next year.
http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/olympic/bruce
