Sad news Captains,
Here is the email verbatim from Captain Osborne to myself and a few others:
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Gentleman,
It is with Deep Sadness I have to inform you of my best friend Norman Wasson's passing. As you all may remember he had been suffering for a number of years from lung problems and recently had a spell which landed him in hospital. His heart was not able to deal with the increased stress and high co2 levels and he suffered a heart attack, but although he managed to recover and was sitting up in bed he suddenly slumped over and passed on.
I cannot express to you how much Norm meant to me, he was like a father figure for me especially in these last few months. I would spend hours talking to him on the phone or in person before he moved to Ontario to live with his daughter Christine. It was meant to be that our two paths should cross, he had had such similar experiences to mine that he always was able to give me the perfect advice in almost any given circumstance. Now whether I took that advice or tried to find my own way through a mess... either way he was usually right on!
I lost my father on July 7th this year, and Norm was a HUGE help to me, his kind words, rememberances and once again advice helped me get through a terrible time. My father and he were friends, but once my Dad introduced Norm to me we became instant life-long friends and I was to him closer than I am to any other friend. I was talking to him just a few days ago, I thought he was doing well, so did he. He had finially got his train layout started, and was a member of historical railway club in Kingston. He had met some great people in the hobby up there and was getting help from a couple fellows in his N-Guage railway construction. The HMS Barham which I built for him was a large centerpiece amoungst his collection. He researched it to death, and I went overboard doing my best to build it the way it should be built. I know Norm is in a better place, where his lungs don't strain to catch a breath, but I can't help but miss him so much and wish he were here with us still. I was counting on him to be there in the coming months and years for more of his encouragement.
Norm was born in 1937 in Truro Nova Scotia, but called Saint John his home from a very early age. His father died young and his mother died when he was only 19. He attended Argicultural College in Nova Scotia and for a few years tried his hand at farming his own farm. He worked for the Saint John Iron Works and then for Frank Fales / L.E Whittaker Co. After his retirement he lived at the Loch Lomund Villa Apartments before moving to Ontario to live with his daughter Christine in Kingston. Norm was a member of the ADANAC Association to which my father John Sullivan also belonged, he was a member of the Saint John Marine Modelers Association, the Saint John Society of Model Railroaders, and the North Atlantic Battle Squadron. He was involved with the Saint John Fire Association and was a long time volunteer with the Salvage Corps. in Saint John.
Norm was predeceased by his wife and he is survived by a daughter Christine of Kingston, Ontario, a son William of Saint John, Daughter Shelly also of Saint John and a third daughter somewhere in Asia. He was overjoyed that there were two recent additions to the family tree, his daughter Shelly had given birth to two boys both healthy and strong. They look like their grandfather!
Norm had a love of nature, especially liked bird watching, but I think his greatest pass-times were his love of history and politics and expecially his collection of models. He would talk for hours to me about models and miniature figures, and the history of the real artifact that they were modeled after.
I'll always remember you Norm, you've made impacted my life in so many ways that I can't describe, thanks for the memories my friend.
I'll have to leave it at that I'm "out of oumph kiddo!" to put it like Norm would.
Regretfully,
Christopher Osborne
God Bless
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Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Norm's respective families.
Craig Nash