QUARANTINE BLOG # 515

August 27, 2021

Maurice “Rocket” Richard was a Canadian professional ice hockey player – and hero of Canada – who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.  He was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, accomplishing the feat in 50 games in 1944-45, and the first to reach 500 career goals.

Richard retired in 1960 as the league’s all-time leader in goals with 544.  He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in 1947, played in 13 All-Star Games and was named to 14 post-season NHL All-Star Teams, eight on the First-Team.  In 2017 Richard was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.  Richard was a member of eight Stanley Cup championship teams, including a league record five straight between 1956 and 1960; he was the team’s captain for the last four.  The Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period for eligibility and inducted Richard in 1961.

The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy is presented annually to the leading goal scorer in the NHL.

When this great hockey player died in 2000 at the age of 78, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien remarked that he “defined and transcended the game of hockey.”  The statue – called “Never Give Up!” because of his personal motto – was created in 2001.

Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist.  In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east to west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 3,339 miles, and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy.  The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over $800 million has been raised in his name as of April 2020.

His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer), though he continued to run using an artificial leg.  He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.  

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research.  He began with little fanfare from St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon – 26.2 miles – every day.   Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money.  He was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay when the cancer had spread to his lungs.  His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his run ended when he died nine months later.

Terry Fox’s path across eastern Canada. He began at St. John's on the east coast and ran west.

In addition to being the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada, Fox won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top sportsman and was named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981.  Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, statues, roads, and parks named in his honor across the country.

The statue of Terry Fox, which stands across from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, portrays the courage of this true national hero.

Memorial erected outside Thunder Bay on the Trans-Canada Highway near the spot where Fox was forced to end his marathon.

Because of space, the story of the Famous Five will be in Monday’s blog.

👉  Concluding thoughts on aging and other stuff:

• Some people are like clouds, once they disappear it’s a beautiful day.

• Some people you’re glad to see coming; some people you’re glad to see going.

• Common sense is not a gift.  It’s a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.

• PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.  Nothing to do with virus.  I’m just a grouch.

• I came.  I saw.  I forgot what I was doing.  Retraced my steps.  Got lost on the way back.  Now I have no idea what’s going on.

👉  Some signs for the times:

👉  We haven’t done a hymn story in a while, so for our close today, here is “Sweet By and By.”  The video is performed by The Mennonite Singers.

In 1868, a pharmacist named Sanford Fillmore Bennett was filling prescriptions and handling sales at his apothecary in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  His friend Joseph Webster entered the store.  Joseph was a local musician, vocalist, violinist, and amateur composer who suffered from periods of depression.  The two men had occasionally collaborated on hymns and songs, Sanford writing the words and Joseph the music.

On this particular day, Joseph was unusually blue and his face was long.  Looking up, Sanford asked, “What is the matter?”

“It’s no matter,” Joseph replied, “it will be all right by and by.”

An idea for a hymn hit Sanford like a flash of sunlight.  Sitting at his desk, he began writing as fast as he could.  The words came almost instantly.  Two customers entered the drugstore, but no attempt was made to assist them – Sanford was too absorbed in his poem – so they visited with Joseph.  Finally, Sanford rose and joined them, handing a sheet of paper to his friend.

“Here is your prescription, Joe,” he said.  “I hope it works.”  Webster read the words aloud:

        There’s a land that is fairer than day,

        And by faith we can see it afar;

        For the Father waits over the way,

        To prepare us a dwelling place there.

        In the sweet by and by,

        We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

        In the sweet by and by,

        We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

Instantly a tune suggested itself, and Joseph jotted down some notes.  Picking up his fiddle, he played his melody over a time or two, then said to the others, “We four make a good male quartet.  Let’s try the new song and see how it sounds.”

As “Sweet By and By” was being sung for the first time, another customer, R. R. Crosby, entered the store.  “Gentlemen,” he said, “I never heard that song before but it is immortal.”

He was right.  For more than a hundred years, we’ve been singing an immortal hymn that was written in a drugstore in less than half an hour.

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