Good day Alan, Sean and Bob!

Our personal story of ‘Fortune’s Favour’!

The 2008 part of your tour is coming to an end, and so at this time I would like to share some stories with you. As a true follower of GBS since the early 90's it is important to share that my first time experience seeing and hearing your music live was at a small gig at Nectars in Burlington Vermont in the spring of 1995. On that day I had two options, the first one was to stay with my brother Mike as we were adventuring into a new partnership with Petro Canada in the USA. We were hosting "The Presidents Tour" for Jim Stanford the president of Petro Canada that day at our newly built proto type Gas Convenient store in up state New York.  So there you have it my choice was either meeting the team from Petro Canada or to take the ferry to Burlington.  Guess which one I chose?  The reason I'm explaining this to you is that myself, my wife, in fact my entire family are great “die heart” fans of GBS! I am certain we have attended most every concert in Montreal and Burlington as well as attending concerts in Quebec City and Gananoque.

Your last concert on Halloween in Burlington was a special day for all of us.  Learning that the mayor of Burlington was dedicating that day GBS day was a great thrill and honor for you but as well to me. That day GBS made a special connection with my family.  Through my brother Mike's contacts his good friend and associate Dan Donovan got a message to you to see if you could meet a special person in our life.  This person was my sister Mary who was in Burlington staying at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge a home for cancers patients and families.  Mary was fighting for her life, she had leukemia. It was very understandable that it was an impossibility to meet Mary in person that day but you, Alan, did something very special for her when you dedicated a song which you sang live on the local radio station 105 fm at roughly 3 o'clock that afternoon.  It is a song we share and have enjoyed many times at our kitchen parties!

‘Ordinary Day’ is a song that kept Mary in a positive state of mind and gave her strength in her battle against her cancer.  I truly believe that it was the last song she ever heard – ‘Ordinary Day’.  The following morning Saturday November 1st Mary was rushed back to Fletcher Allen Hospital and then transferred to Boston, Dana Farber where she passed away on November 23rd.

To conclude my story about this special moment and the special connection you gave Mary is a story about her memorial service. We concluded the service by singing ‘Ordinary Day’ led by Mary's niece Laura, her nephews Ryan, Sean, and Brendan, my wife Tamara and of course  with our friend John on accordion and our three Labradors in the Catholic church!  A wonderful tribute and send off!

Thank you for being part of her life and we will continue our kitchen parties in Mary's honor and everyone else that has moved on.
Until we meet again,
God Bless

"Slainte"

Pat Tobin

Pat@Tobin.ca

www.climbthemountainmary.org
www.Tobin.ca