Skip to content

Langley seniors centre hosts indoor Remembrance service

About 70 people attended a ceremony tailored to those unable to stand for long periods.

The Langley Seniors Resource Centre, with help from the Royal Canadian Legion Aldergrove Branch 265, allowed members and other seniors in the community to mark Remembrance Day on Friday morning.

The centre wanted to offer an indoor service for those who can’t stand for long periods of time at outdoor services due to infirmity or the weather.

“We wanted to make sure that those who couldn’t make it to there that we did honour our veterans with a full service,” said Lee Douglas, a seniors centre board member.

She honoured the her recently deceased husband who served in the air force and her late mother-in-law who was also in the air force.

[Story continues below video]

Fernridge resident Melvin Anderson spoke of his friend who had a stroke recently and then developed pneumonia. Anderson went to visit him in the hospital in Abbotsford. The stroke left the man’s right side incapacitated so, from his hospital bed, the friend saluted Anderson with his left hand.

“Boy, that shook me up. When I think of it, he was saying goodbye,” Anderson told the crowd.

The friend, whom Anderson has known for six decades and served with in Korea, died two days later.

Anderson was with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and at the age of 20, spent year fighting in Korea.

Now 87, he speaks at schools and other places around Remembrance Day, grateful for the freedoms enjoyed by Canadians.

“There’s a lot of countries where kids that are not happy, don’t go to school, don’t have a school and are suffering,” Anderson noted. “And that’s the thing about the war in Korea that hurt me the most, is the suffering.”

14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_2
Lee Douglas, with the Langley Seniors Resource Centre, gave wooden poppies made by Jim Rowly, a member of the centre’s woodworking club, to the Aldergrove Legion to helping with the centre’s Remembrance Day service. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_1
The Langley Seniors Resource Centre held a Remembrance Day service on Friday, Nov. 9 for those unable to stand at local outdoor ceremonies on Nov. 11. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_4
Melvin Anderson served during Korea War in the 1950s. A photo of him is in a history book about the conflict. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_5
The Langley Seniors Resource Centre held a Remembrance Day service on Friday, Nov. 9 for those unable to stand at local outdoor ceremonies on Nov. 11. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_6
The Langley Seniors Resource Centre held a Remembrance Day service on Friday, Nov. 9 for those unable to stand at local outdoor ceremonies on Nov. 11. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_7
The Silver Belles and Beaux performed at a Remembrance Day service at the Langley Seniors Resource Centre on Friday morning. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_8
With help from Aldergrove Legion members, the Langley Seniors Resource Centre hosted a Remembrance Day service on Friday morning. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_9
At a special Remembrance Day service on Friday, Nov. 9, retired RCMP member Doug Wells placed his poppy on the Langley Seniors Resource Centre wreath that would be placed at the cenotaph at the Nov. 11 ceremony. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)
14341255_web1_181109-LAD-LSRCremembranceDay_10
The Langley Seniors Resource Centre held a Remembrance Day service on Friday, Nov. 9 for those unable to stand at local outdoor ceremonies on Nov. 11. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press)


Heather Colpitts

About the Author: Heather Colpitts

Since starting in the news industry in 1992, my passion for sharing stories has taken me around Western Canada.
Read more