May 25, 2010. Western Head, N.S. Heritage.

Fred Creighton has spent his retirement years delving into the heritage of The Salvation Army. Sunday morning, meeting him for the first time since I was sixteen and he was 22, brought back to me a whole host of facts and feelings. Meeting him was worth the trip to Toronto. Carol had spotted him at church and suggested that we go and speak to him, but I had not seen him for so long that I refused, so Carol went over alone. Soon she brought him over to say hello, so we chatted for a minute and soon realized that he is someone we would like to talk to again, so right after the service Ken and I sought him out for a longer conversation.

The Creighton family and the Buckley family have a long association. My father Norman Buckley was a good friend of Will Creighton, Fred's father and the two couples were good friends. His grandparents were Salvation Army officers and were on the ship 'The Empress of Ireland" when it struck an iceberg in the St. Lawrence River and sank with a large contingent of officers on their was to England for an International Congress. The staff band was on the ship along with most of the officials of the organization in Canada so it was a huge tragedy. For many years, no officials in Canada was allowed to travel together and it took until late in the twentieth century for another staff band to be formed. It was a big deal to the organization and especially to the Creighton family, which is perhaps why Fred was so interested with Salvation Army history.

After Fred retired from IBM he began to delve into his family history. They arrived from Ireland, arriving in Nova Scotia and settling in New Germany, eventually forming the community of Creighton where Fred installed a pillar in their honor. Toronto became their family home and have been ever since. His brother David still lives there too. The twinkle in Fred's eyes reminded me so much of his father that even though they don't look much alike I could clearly see his father in his eyes.

Every day he toils away at the Heritage Center and just completed the task of scanning and entering all the War Cry issues back to 1928. Now we should be able to track our parents lives via the War Cry. Hats off to Fred Creighton, my family friend from many years ago, but now newly connected via the Internet.