KATHLEEN BUCHANAN
Ever a faithful CABP supporter, Kathleen Buchanan accompanied her husband Robert, an applicant in our case at the European Court of Human Rights, to Strasbourg in 2009 to witness what we had all hoped would be the end of pension discrimination.
With Kathleen’s untimely passing in July, another bright light is diminished. Our sincere condolences go out to Robert and to all Kathleen’s family and friends.
GEOFF DANCER
As his membership number indicated (#215), Geoffrey Dancer was a dedicated member of the CABP for more than 30 years and as an active player in the Ottawa Chapter he participated in lobbying campaigns, demonstrations and public information meetings along with his wife Doris. He was also an applicant in our case at the European Court of Human Rights. Geoff and Doris’s personal story is featured on the ICBP website and will continue to inspire support for the cause that was so dear to his heart.
The CABP is truly grateful for his many contributions and offer deepest sympathy to his family, including Doris and daughter Judy and son Richard.
TERENCE (TERRY) EGAN, FCA
Many of CABP’s volunteers in southern Ontario were saddened to learn of the passing of former board member Terry Egan in March at the age of 80. Terry served as treasurer of the alliance for a full five-year term, steering us steadily through a period of major growth before passing the torch in 2005.We are grateful for his valuable contributions to the cause of global pension parity and we extend sincere condolences to his family.
BRIAN HAVARD
With the passing of Brian Havard in January 2012, the International Consortium of British Pensioners has lost an invaluable resource and a stalwart campaigner for justice. Brian was a founding member and the past president of consortium partner organization British Australian Pensioner Association (BAPA). In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian Government for ‘Outstanding Service’ to the
association, and by extension to ‘frozen’ pensioners everywhere.
ETHEL KENDALL
Ethel Kendall was a forever-positive and always-active supporter of CABP’s work for
almost three decades, giving spirited and engaging media interviews, volunteering in the Toronto area and going forward as an applicant to the European Court of Human Rights. We lost our good friend a few months ago in her 99th year.
Our sincere condolences to her family.
PETER MORRIS
Peter Morris, former president of our consortium partner organization, British Australian Pensioner Association (BAPA), was born in England and emigrated with his parents to Australia when he was just a child. There, he married Susan, who had a similar background, and so together they returned to live in the UK later on in their working lives.
Peter had first become involved in the frozen pensions campaign when he discovered that his father and mother were both affected by the policy. He joined BAPA and eventually became that organization’s vice-president and then its president until ill health recently forced him to revert to VP. For many years, he worked hard for pension justice and generously contributed his knowledge to any pensioner enquiring about UK taxes and similar matters.
Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife Susan and their veritable army of “foster children”, the many international exchange students Peter and Susan hosted for a year at a time in Britain.
FRANK NORMAN
I have a story to tell without a doubt regarding the injustice of British folk being denied their full old age pension. My late husband Frank joined the Royal Corps of Signals in 1938 having jacked his age up to 18 when truly he was just 16. In 1939 when war was declared, he was shipped to France where he was captured by the Germans along with many other men and marched hundreds of miles with almost no food or water, some of them being shot along the way. When they reached Stalag 8B in Poland, they were sent down a mine to dig coal for five long years, with little food and frequent beatings. Many died.
After all the suffering and hard labour, Frank was returned to England when the war ended and I met him at our street party
where everyone was introduced to him. I was 17. Within a few weeks he asked me to be his girlfriend and within the year we were married. We were married 62 years, with no regrets whatsoever. Our lovely sons adored their dad and he was so proud of them.
The last year of his life, Frank suffered from the psychological effects of his wartime trauma, at times convinced that he was being sent back down the mine, convinced he could hear the dogs barking in Stalag 8B. In hospital, he would walk along the ward trying all the doors, most of them to cupboards, in an attempt to escape. I was in tears for to me he was the love of my life. Frank had no help from the British veterans association. He died in March 2009 and I now receive a pittance of a widow’s pension from England.
RALPH TAYLOR
Our late father Ralph Taylor was one of 168 Allied airmen herded onto the last train out of Paris for Buchenwald concentration camp shortly before Paris was liberated in August 1944. They were transported in cattle cars, 90 or more men per car in the stifling summer heat, and they went on to suffer greatly in Buchenwald until it was liberated. Of course they had no business being taken there instead of to a POW camp. Their story has been told in two documentary films, Lost Airmen of Buchenwald
and the NFB’s The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald. Our father’s story – including the astounding fact that 20 years later in Saskatoon he found himself face-to-face at dinner with the German who had shot down his plane over France – was published in The Orillia Packet and Times, with the third and last episode appearing just two days after his passing this year on February 27 at the age of 91.