Where there is love there is life.

Mahatma Gandhi

I count myself privileged to have been invited, along with about a dozen other RRC veterans, to Nancy and Paul Wheatley’s bittersweet 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Held yesterday evening at the Leaf in Assiniboine Park, “moving” only begins to express its effect on the assembled family and friends.

Those lucky enough to have known Nancy, who only last October became our HG Committee Chair, would surely count her as one of the most capable, caring and genuinely warm individuals among us. In early 2023 she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour that could take her within a year. Her 50th on the horizon, she threw herself with her characteristic determination into organizing a fitting celebration, resolved to make it to that milestone.

Sadly, her tumour proved more aggressive than we all would have hoped. The event, whose every detail Nancy had so lovingly arranged, had to be broadcast to her hospital bed in Intensive Care. And what we witnessed was very much the celebration of not only a loving marriage, but of a life exceedingly well lived. Most importantly, it was a touching tribute to a life punctuated with so much love, both given and received.

Nancy, thank you for your love and inspiration.