As Karen’s mother, I too like her father thought she was indeed, something special.
It has indeed been a very difficult time since that terrible day over two weeks ago. I want to add my sincere appreciation to all who have taken the time to post notices on this site, all of which have comforted both families. I had absolutely no conception of the scope of Karen’s influence on associates she met, even briefly. All of you who managed to come to the funeral and stopped to speak with us spoke of her unfailing dedication to the country she loved and to every person she met in her life. It has been a revelation to our family to understand just how much she actually managed to cram into each day of her very busy life, and still seek out individuals she knew needed her guiding hand.
As a daughter she became my very special friend and we shared many happy times together including this Canada Day when I visited her for the celebrations. Canada Day with Karen on ‘the hill’ has to be experienced. It is a happy memory that will remain with me forever.
Thank you to all who have emailed me personally, your kind words and thoughts will be forever with me during these difficult days.
Barbara Aaron
baaron@mts.net
_____________________________________________
I have spoken to several members of my class as well as those in Col Karen Ritchie’s graduating class regarding a fitting memory for Karen. We all have many stories we can share that reflect our acquaintances / friendships with Karen over the years, but most of all but most of all we wanted something that had the potential to change the lives of other young women, the way RMC and/or Guiding did for many of us.
As you are aware, Karen lent her skills, leadership and passion to several areas of Guiding, including being a Unit Guider, working on the Planning Committee for Guiding Mosaic 2006 and serving on the Membership Recruitment Task Force. At the time of her death, Karen was also a Board Member for the organization.
After some thought, we decided that in honour of Karen’s memory and her dedication to guiding we would work with the Girl Guides of Canada to set up a “First 32” camp fund in order to help send 32 girls (the number “32” is from the first class of 32 lady cadets) to GGC’s upcoming Guiding Mosaic 2010, an event very dear to Karen’s heart and one she had been looking forward to being part of. The cost to send one girl to camp is $900.00 so the target for the fund will be $28,800.
I have worked the details out with GGC and attached is an article we worked on together to explain the fund. GGC will provide us with an update so we can report on how it is doing. The great news is that before we have even kicked this off “officially” we have two of the 28 positions sponsored!
I would appreciate it if you could include this article or a version thereof in the next edition of e-Veritas as well as Veritas. I am available at the coordinates below should you wish to discuss this further. Jacquie Doucette (RMC ’85 I think) will be notifying Karen’s family about our actions.
14481 Linda Newton (RMC ’84)
14481 Dr. Linda A Newton (RMC 1984) is an Adjunct research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa. She holds a B.Sc. (RMC), and a M.Eng., Ph.D. from (New Brunswick). She has a research interest in Infrastructure Management, Quality, and Condition Assessment Methods in the Transportation discipline. She also works at Defence Construction Canada (DCC), which provides contracting, construction contract management and related infrastructure services to the Department of National Defence (DND). She was one of the first 32 female graduates of RMC.
_____________________________________________
I circulated Veritas articles on McCain – Fifth From The Bottom (by friend 12570 Mike Kennedy) and Pakistan – Isolating the Battlespace (24079 Matt Tompkins) to some neighbours here in Sacramento and they were absolutely blown away by the detail and depth shown from another nation’s educated concern. They could not fathom any sort of comparison in demonstrating the USA’s interest in anything Canadian. Most were embarrassed by their lack of knowledge about the war in Afghanistan that the article presented in such a balanced form. We don’t get much apart from Yellow Journalism from the Hearst’s and Turner’s consortia here, as most Canadians would have expected.Thank you so much also to Peter Dawe and all the staff again for such an excellent Veritas. The moving tribute to 20052 Miles Selby by his father 5518 Roland Selby allows us a brief glimpse into the sorrow and pain all parents must feel with such a loss as so many have endured over the years.
Most appropriate with Remembrance Day approaching – ‘Lest We Forget’
Here’s that NASA top-50 photo link:
nothing on Canadian astronauts though. Many of the photos will likely appear to today’s youthful readers like our view of WWI and The Roaring 20’s, at least relative to the number of years gone by. Now that’s getting scary!
TDV
8035 Don Gates Class of ’69
_____________________________________________
I am currently posted to Ottawa working for the CAS. At the same time I have become interested in Real Estate investing and have aligned myself with a small wealth building company. I am considering transitioning to this full time.
I thought I would write you to ask if you would be able to connect me with anyone in the ex-cadet community who is involved in real estate investing. Looking to network to gather wisdom as well as strategic partnership.
Thanks for you time.
Paul
22673 Paul Finnemore
Consultant
Home Equity Investment Rewards
Direct 613 422 3733
BlackBerry 613 894 0914
Office 613 594 4881