Don R,,
Once again you have come through for me in a big way. What a great job on the pattern. I cant wait to make this plaque and see my father-in-laws face when the chief and I present it to him in front of a huge crowd of people. He thinks that he has already had his retirement send-off, but little does he know, ever since he announced that he was going to retire, we have been planning something that even for our town is probably the biggest event for a special occasion to ever take place here. There will even be a parade in his honor.
All firefighters past & current, city officials & workers, provincial police, EMS, district RCMP representatives,town & hospital workers, most living people that he saved, including parents, children and even grandchildren. Friends, Family, active & retired journalists and people from far outside of our little town will be there. Many of these people Mr. Todd has never even met before, but they have all heard of him and his somewhat legendary feats of bravery on countless occasions in order to save so many peoples lives. They all wish to attend, to pay hommage and help us all to give our heartfelt thanks as we honor our local hero & friend one last time. Many of the people attending are coming from towns well outside of our region, from nieghbouring provinces, and yes even from some from the Eastern US States that we share our border with.
So many from all around this town and far and wide in every direction are aware of the countless occasions upon which he fearlessly acted to pull helpless infants, people and even animals from the ensueing flames, sometimes going back in as many as 7 or 8 times to save as many lives as he could. He has been burnt, fallen through collapsed sections of floors & roofing, been trapped in the fires himself, and on at least 2 occasions that I know of, been revived and hospitalized from massive smoke inhalation.
Its almost inconceivable that after all of the close calls he has had, that he is still with us today, having continued time after time to risk his life the way he did. I guess only he could truly understand why, and if you were to ask him he would answer the same as always; that he only did what anyone in his place would have done, thats all.
We have changed the location of the gathering already 3 times due to the huge outpouring of people that wish to attend, although he is undeniably incredulous and completely unaware of the meaning and the impact that his selfless actions have had on the hundreds of lives and multitude of families that were given a second chance and spared tragedy through his heroism.
This is an important day to all of us, even more in a way than it will be for Mr. Todd, as I am sure that we will all here him say before the days end that it was all too much, and no thanks were ever neccessary. He was just glad that he could help. You see, that is this simple & kind mans way and after all, I guess that is what all true heros say.
My thanks again for all of your help, and I consider myself blessed to be married to this mans daughter and to have him as my father-in-law. I am also truly honored to be able to give him something that I have hand-made with your help. It will be given from all of us and I know that it will be cherished and appreciated by him more than anything else on this day. He is the type of man that truly loves, admires & appreciates what goes into all things hand made.
I will definately post photos of all the finished products for which you have made patterns for and I jhope that for my part, I have done your work justice.
PS Don, I have been away on a large construction project and returned last night. I could not wait to see if anybody was able to help. I also was wondering as I had not had any e-mail notifications from this site, my fault. I did not turn the notifications on. I am still getting used to this website and forum. Once again, all of the patterns are amazing and I tip my hat to you sir. I appreciate your help more than you know. Great Job Don!
Regards,
Diamond