The Memorial

To finish the story, Art had a cross made and shortly after, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. went out and erected a cross where Reggie was found.  Art and I had cut a road in with the power saw and Bob, Jean and family cut the weeds and did a fine trim. It is a very nice and serene spot now even though it is in the middle of a swamp.  Helen and I go out there quite often; it gives us piece of mind.

I started thinking his area is ripe to be clear-cut like the rest of the island so I decided to see who owned it and if I could buy a small piece of it especially where Reggie was found.  It would be a shock if to land out there someday and everything would be cut out clean.  A few days later I arrived out to the site and on the road into the field where the car was found, they were clear-cutting a wedge piece of property that the government did not own.

I contacted the Government land office and was directed to Don McAskill, he was great ad the land was not for sale, but they should be able to do something and political help would be helpful.  I contacted Andy Mooney and he contacted the Minister, Hon. Jim Ballem.  He said, “ Do whatever s necessary to secure the sight”. 

It is now called the “Reggie MacDonald Memorial Site” on the forestry maps, it will never be cut and will be maintained by the Department of Forestry and they will plant trees out there. 

Our Island emblem, the rare “Lady Slipper” grows there. 

We are very thankful to the government

Family Support through the Ordeal

Mike and Art were a great help through this whole ordeal.  Mike was shifting jobs in May in California and I asked him if he could come here for a few days, as it was getting very hectic here.  He flew overnight to Toronto, then to Halifax airport at 10 am on Monday May 26.

He called me from the Halifax Airport to see if the Wood Islands boat had started, it was the first day and he could get the 6 pm boat and that would put him in Souris around 8 pm.  He first went into Halifax and then he started for Caribou, he buckled up driving a new Ford Taurus rental and tired from flying all night and had set the cruise control at 120K.  He was in the left lane and fell asleep and when he woke up, he was after cruising further left and into the median grassy area between the divided highways.  At quite an angle, something told him, “don’t hit the brakes” and he worked the car back up on the road. 

This is a prime example of it could always be worse.  He stayed for a few days and the next time he came was just after Reggie’s car was found.  .  Helen and I took Mike and Lisa to Moncton airport for an early flight; we left here at 2:30 am.  Helen and I were planning on staying over but I guess we were restless and came back home. 

We arrived home shortly after five,  and had a message from a RCMP member.   He came here and told us that a positive ID had been made through dental records and it was Reggie.  We at first thought it would take about a week, finally we had closure.   The next time he came and went through Charlottetown.  Three trips across the continent in less than two months is quite a feat.

Winter at the Memorial Site

Reggie's nephew, Alexander, pictured below at the site.

Alexander, now a teenager, was the artist of the Reggie's Missing drawing.