In 2017, Con O’Neill posted a lovely picture to Instagram: “A friend just sent this to me. Blood Brothers with the late great Robert Locke. Happy times x”. Robert Locke, known for Blood Brothers and the original London cast of Snoopy! The Musical, died in 1992, aged 35.
In Shirley Render's book 'No Place for a Lady: The Story of Canadian Women Pilots 1928-1992', she investigates the lives and careers of the female pioneers in Canadian aviation, including the first 100 women to get their private pilot licences. I've researched some of the women she couldn’t find back then.
Vancouver’s first all-female flying club, formed in 1936 by Margaret Fane, Betsy Flaherty, Alma Gaudreau, Elianne Roberge, Tosca Trasolini, Rolie Moore, and Jean Pike. I thought it was kind of sad that the lives of these amazing women get shortened to a handful of highlights, so now I’m trying to fill in the blanks.
For my second year of #100DaysProjectScotland, I decided to make an illustrated family tree. I’ve been dabbling in genealogy for years, but scrapped everything and started from scratch again at the beginning of 2021. I now have seven almost complete generations with pretty solid sources and wanted to use the 100 days to pull everything together into one place.
"In loving memory of my fiance, J.T. Wesley Smith, 1930 - 1972, Plane crash at sea, Our love is forever, A loving son & father". A plaque seen on the Iona Beach Jetty led to research into two American pilots.
"These trees were planted in memory of Alison Gourdie who loved this place and the outdoor life." A memorial stone found at a remote Scottish cottage intrigued me, so I did a bit of research and discovered a remarkable woman, whose life was dramatically cut short.
One of my non-drawing hobbies is genealogy – with the aim of building up a family tree for my daughter. I’ve also done some research about other people – mainly when I find a plaque or sign that intrigues me, but isn’t easily found on Google.
In order to help anyone else who may be looking, I’ve added this wee section to my website.
