Sentimental Sunday: Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day can be bittersweet for those of us whose fathers have passed away, but it is still wonderful to look back through time and remember and celebrate dads.  I have scanned in some pictures that not everyone may have seen, and I wanted to share, so here's my pop: Gerald Gordon Baker, son of Joseph Hubert Baker and Helen Muriel Coad.  He was born on 13 Nov 1933 at Bircham, AB, and died on 30 Nov 1999 at Regina, SK.

I just wanted to share some items that you may or may not have already seen!

This first photo was marked 31 May 1971, so I'm going with that for the date of this photo.  The number of stripes on the arm indicate he is now a Corporal in the RCMP, and our family was living in Broadview, Saskatchewan by this time.  Something you may not know is that he was always putting his hand in front of his face during informal family snapshots, so I think he might have been uncomfortable with getting his picture taken - and he definitely looks a bit uncomfortable in this more formal photo setting.

Next we have a photo taken while dad was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride.  The troup toured the UK in 1957, and here's the group lined up in front of the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital in London.  I'm going to say Dad was #5 from the left on this picture, but if you have a different guess, let me know.

Another item from that tour is the poster from the troup's 1957 visit to Dundee, Scotland during the Royal Highland Show held April 18 - 21.  As per the info on the sign, the Musical Ride was performing Wednesday through Friday, the 18th - 20th of April.

After Dad's stint with the Musical Ride was over, he was posted to Melfort, Sk, where he met and married my mom, Aina.  Here they are with the traditional cutting of the cake.

I'll have to do an update some other time: to include all the grubby children!

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- All photos in the possession of the blogger's mom!