The following letter was submitted to the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula as part of their Lion’s Head Lighthouse legacies project.
Hi Ryan and Staff,
Thanks for setting up this site for stories about the meaning of the Lion’s Head Light. I have already made a donation to help with the cost of construction, and have spoken with Doug Hill to volunteer my time with any phase of the rebuilding and placement of the new structure. My brother, who is a Coast Guard Captain, also had a suggestion to protect the new lighthouse with a cement wave deflector barrier, which has been very effective on the West coast. I’d be glad to explain this deflector to you or Doug or Brian when the time comes!
So here is my story of just what that lighthouse meant to my wife Cathy and I.
Just before Christmas in 2018, Cathy was diagnosed with a recurrence of her cancer, and chemotherapy was being considered. Needless to say, that Christmas was difficult, and sad. Then, in the second week of January 2019 (a year ago), she became very ill, and had to be admitted to hospital in London after our appointment for a discussion about chemotherapy. We were then told that the chemotherapy would be of no help, and that surgery and radiation were not possible either. In other words, she would need palliative care, as there was no curative treatment available. She was tired, sad, and devastated… and so was I.
She wanted above all else to be back here in Lion’s Head. Transfer arrangements were made with the staff at Lion’s Head Hospital, and on a snowy Friday in mid-January we drove back here from London. Cathy slept most of the way. It was snowing and blowing hard and the village streets were deserted when we arrived early in the evening. Dr. Thomas and Nurse Dana wheeled Cathy to her room while I went to register her at the front desk. I walked down the hall to her room a few minutes later. She was tucked in bed in a cozy, quiet room, and for the first time in many days, she was smiling and relaxed.
Her room in London had been small, noisy, and had a view out through a tiny window into a parking lot. She said, “you have to come and see this!” I thought she wanted to show me something in the room, which was largely empty, as we had just arrived. “No,”, she said, “come over here and look!” She was peering out the window into the snowy night, and we could see the lights of the houses around the harbor twinkling in the snow. And through the snow came the faithful, familiar, reassuring flash of the lighthouse. She said, “Now I know I’m home in my village. Even if you can’t get me back to our own home, I know I will be comfortable here with my view of the harbor and the lighthouse. It is good to be back.”
Eventually, we were able to bring Cathy home, but I will never forget that night….the two of us gazing out into the winter night, watching the comforting, welcoming flash from the lighthouse. We were home.
So, the Lion’s Head Lighthouse is truly a landmark for me. It is a symbol of being home and safe. I will never forget that night as long as I live. And…it was a year after Cathy arrived at the hospital that the lighthouse was destroyed in the storm. It must be rebuilt in its proper place.
Thank you all for providing a place to tell this story…….
Brian Taylor,
Lion’s Head
If you have a story about the Lion’s Head Lighthouse that you would like to share please email lighthouselegacies@northernbruce.ca
