On the evening of January 11, 2003 I was celebrating my 60th birthday at home - alone - for a few hours. Sue-On was tied up downtown for some of the evening helping out at the lunch bar connected to our family-owned laundromat. I was preparing to drive down to pick her up when she called and said we were invited to a friend's house for coffee -- suggesting that I change into more appropriate apparel. I grabbed a clean T-shirt: "PUK University" a gift from my Pukatwagan class that I had taught in a Brandon University northern satellite classroom. 

When I arrived at the Laundry/Diner I noticed that Sue-On had closed the site early and had turned off the lights. I walked in and was hit with a cacophany of shouts, song and lights - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY."  Stunned, I looked around to see the grinning faces of all our former bandmates, longtime friends, and our kids: Ja-On, Robin, and China-li (all three are also talented musicians who now regularly accompany us on stage). Obviously, Sue-On had been planning this for some time, since many of the guys had quite a distance to travel to be here. She also had made arrangements with our friend Jim Andre and a few other SOO's Saturday night jam buddies to set up a PA, drums and amps.

What followed was an incredible gathering in which we partied into the wee hours swapping old road tales and playing the old songs.

This was very much a "Third Man" reunion. Through most of our busy performing years across North America and England we had worked as a trio: Sue-On and I . . . and a third buddy: Barry Forman, Jake Kroeger, Kevin Pahl, Kerry Morris, and Robin Hillman. The gathering was made even more special when Russ Gurr walked in with his trusty Martin guitar. Russ also brought great memories of our many Federal Grain Train and Treflan tours across Western Canada back in the '60s and '70s. What a joy it was to have us all together . . . for what turned out to be for the last time. Sue-On brought them all together and made this birthday and reunion one of the most memorable events we have ever experienced. 

The original Western Union line-up featured Sue-On (drums) and myself (guitar), along with Barry Forman (bass and fiddle) and Jake Kroeger (rhythm guitar). This line-up played a zillion one nighters and TV shows. It was with this band that Sue-On and I played the Brandon pub circuit from 1967-71. Some of these years coincided with our university stint. . . we would play the bars from 9-1 -- an added duty was to provide background music for regular intermission appearances of exotic dancers / strippers who were quite popular at the time. Then it was home to prepare for each morning's 8:30 am classes at the university. A bit of a tough grind but it was all part of "workin' our way through college."

From 1966 through 1973 the band spent summers touring Western Canada as RUSS GURR'S FEDERAL GRAIN TRAIN troupe. We were joined by John Skinner on drums (deceased) and later by Kerry Morris of Strathclair took over the drum chores. The grain company provided a large portable stage and motor home and set up an itinerary that took us to every town - large and small - that was served by one of their grain elevators. Our performances coincided with the fairs, rodeos, and exhibitions in those respective towns and cities. Following the merging of Federal Grain with the Pool Elevator chain we were hired by Eli Lill7 / Treflan company to perform for thousands of farmers who were bussed in to demonstration grain fields across the West.

Our final year under the Western Union name, 1974, took us on a tour of Grandstand shows, performing at State and County fairs across the US Northwest. We were hired by Bardine Productions as Sue-On and the Western Union.  Barry Forman, Sue-On and I worked as a trio and often hired a local drummer so that Sue-On could spend part of the show up front to work the crowd. By 1975 Barry's Forman Ford dealerships had become so successful that he left the band to spend more time as a businessman. He was replaced by another former student of mine from Strathclair - the amazingly versatile Kevin Pahl on keyboards. Kevin joined us on our two-month tour of England in 1976 where we toured as THE HILLMANS FROM CANADA.