Welcome to Plate Cove West, a small town in Newfoundland where World War II veteran Charlie Comley created his hometown. why. As Melissa Tobin writes, it's an old love story.
Charlie Comley knows that his story is unusual, and one might think he's lost his senses.
But Comrie, For a 96-year-old WWII veteran, it all made sense when he sold his home in Clinton, Ontario. I am. Last December, , I moved 3,000 kilometers east to a rural town on Newfoundland.
Comley currently lives in Platecove West, a village of about 800 people, and welcomes him and his best friend Nova Scotia retriever Shiro with open arms. ..
But you may be wondering why old people travel such distances to live along the harsh coasts of the Atlantic coast.
And the answer is simple.
Love.
Although Comley was the first year to live in Plate Cove West, he and his wife Anna fell in love with Newfoundland and Labrador during the first of many visits that began in 2000. I did. Comley has been on a state tour for 15 years.
Anna died in 2019 after living for 19 years with dementia. Comley misses her yet. After her 70 years of marriage, being in a place she loved so much helps.
"Now you may understand that I'm approaching Anna. That's true," he said.
After all, Anna's wish was to force him to make such a bold move. This is a change he has accepted several times in his life.
Fateful visit
Some of Charlie and Anna's nostalgic memories are Round Dabain owners Chris and Karen Ricketts, 16 beds & Breakfast was on the Plate Cove West arterial road on the west side of the Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland.
They remember well that the couple first visited Plate Cove West in 2015.
"When I first met Charlie and Anna, it was clear that Anna had dementia, but that was something about Charlie's personality, his care," Chris Ricketts said. Says.
They came to call them thenotebookcouple after the novel of Nicholas Sparks of the same name. I did.
"She needed to be taken care of. And he is her man and he wants to take her where she needs it and go all over Canada. They are all over Canada. I traveled, " Karen Ricketts said.
The couple first came to Newfoundland in the year of Anna's diagnosis. After that, they came back every year to explore both the island and the Labrador, but made real connections with people every time they came to Plate Cove West.
The last time the couple visited the inn in September 2019, they met a group of singers who had a huge impact on them all. Mary Jane Maloney and her hairdresser quartet, Close Quarters, were visiting at the same time as Anna and Charlie. Chris talked to her about the couple and suggested that they sing some songs.
"When they finish their lunch, we get up from the table, stand in front of them and sing a few Vera Lynn songs. It was really moving, " Maloney recalls.
'My man. Where are you going today?
Anna's health deteriorated that fall. She was admitted to the hospital and later to a long-term care facility. Charlie and Shiro visited daily, and Charlie helped with food and other needs.
But for weeks she couldn't communicate with anyone, even her husband.
Comley said , but he will never forget what happened next.
"Two days before she died, they moved her in a wheelchair in the morning, and she told me,'my man' — She was at that point I didn't know my name. "My man. Where are you going today?"
"And those were the first words she said to me in three weeks." Where are you going today? " He said.
Listen | Listen to Charlie Comley's full story in a powerful documentary on CBC Radio Weekend AM: Local for love The story of Melissa Tobin of Charlie Comley, who moved to NL
"And I said," We're trying to have breakfast here But where do you want to go? " She said," Newfoundland. " And I said, "We were there for six weeks. Yeah. You want to go back."
"She said, 'But those women are so She sang beautifully. " And that was her last word.
Many chapters of Charlie's life
After living alone when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Comley went to Newfoundland in the fall of 2021. I went back and visited.
Mary Jane Maloney was there that weekend too. She arranged an online phone call to sing again for Comley.
It was this gesture that solidified his decision to move to a rural town in Newfoundland, in addition to other kind acts from the people of Plate Cove West.
So, in his 90's, Comley is starting a new chapter in his life. He is busy helping Chris and Karen's garden, baking pies and helping to turn the hut into a "bunky" for extra sleep.
Change is only part of his life and he has done so many times.
He grew up in Toronto. At the age of 15, Comley joined and trained the militia, and later he was able to become a member of the Canadian Army. At the age of 19 in 1945, he made a week-long voyage from Halifax to England to serve in World War II. He served as a police officer in the Netherlands after fighting as a soldier in battle.
He returned to North America with the US military. He was supposed to be stationed in Georgia. However, when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, Comley was sent back to Canada.
After retiring from the Army, he started working in a grocery store. He married Anna on September 24, 1949, the same year. The couple has four children, three girls and one boy. They lived in southern Ontario and moved from time to time, including 13 years on the farm.
At the age of 59, after working in the grocery business for over 30 years, the company was sold and Comrie was fired.
He was too young to retire, so he found a new career where turned home. He will buy a house, repair it, sell it, then move on, and do it again. Then there were seven homes and two cottages, and after Anna was diagnosed with dementia, he gave up on becoming a full-time caretaker.
Then the couple started traveling. Comrie said that is easier if you don't have to worry about eating while you're on the go.
They had good memories and knew he could trust her in the car, even when she didn't want to go shopping with him.
"She loved cars," he said.
Always thinking about Anna
Now that I'm a widow, Comley isn't thinking about Anna There are no days. But his new friends make it easy.
Along with Chris and Karen, he gets a lot of help from the rest of the community. There is always delivery of freshly baked homemade bread, with the help of snow removal, and even riding St. John's for medical appointments. One of his new friends is Kim Furlong. She works at Round Dabay Inn and lives just off Comley.
She is helping with his housework and refurbishing a small backyard structure .
She wasn't the only one who fell in love with Comley. The whole family, including her teenage boy, loves their new neighbors.
"My sons, they love him, especially older people. [Tyson] loves his story, and Charlie has a lot of stories.
Tyson invited Comley to a high school graduation ceremony.
Inspired by Anna's last words, Charlie Comley feels lucky to find this place and its people. And even at the age of 96, he said he wasn't going to slow down .
"I think it's important to have something to get up. I really do," he said.
He wants his family to visit him in Newfoundland soon. Meanwhile, he is busy in the yard, repairing the house, and a loyal child, Shiro , chases his immediate vicinity.
Looking around the geography of the Bonavista Peninsula, you can see that Anna is pleased to be here.
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