Articles
General · 5th January 2009
Lorna
We are very surprised, and saddened by the passing of Lindsay Bickford on March 2, 2004. We understand that it was peaceful, Lindsay simply falling asleep.
Lindsay has been part of the fibre of what made up Health Action Network Society from the beginning. My first memory – the first time I met Lindsay. We were standing on the street outside of Norma Myers’s house about 29 years ago, in Vancouver. Don’t even remember why we were there, just that we were. We shared this long conversation about spirituality, and with his special way of explaining things – soft, kind words with a huge punch - Lindsay wanted me to read a book which dealt with the possibility that Christ had been a vegetarian, and that fasting was the thing to do, and also Lindsay and I shared other important things like how to keep the bowels clean and how that precipitated good health.
What really struck me from that conversation was not how unusual it was for essentially strangers to share such conversation, just that here was a man with uncommon passion. His eyes were focused on me and I felt like I couldn’t move from the spot, I don’t think I even blinked. Like I’d better pay attention because here it was. Here was that rich moment of incredible wisdom which was going to stay with me the rest of my life.
What stayed with me wasn’t necessarily the words, even though they were great words – what stayed with me was THIS MAN, with such incredible kindness, great, great passion, and dedication I could truly admire.
What will ALWAYS stay with me is seeing Lindsay standing in our office, with his runners and shorts on, carrying his gadget bag over his shoulders, and legs a good mile long ending straight up to under his chin, handing us the last audio tapes from Croft’s Healthy Living Show. Now, here’s a man that has selflessly volunteered, not even allowing himself a day off, and we’re constantly amazed that he’s even doing it, and he’s saying ‘I’m sorry I was a little late getting these to you today’.
Then he’d say, ‘How ARE you today?’. How ARE you, really? Are you ok? Is Pauline ok? Is Cathrine ok? Is HANS ok? We just need to make this work. We just have to – we can’t let this precious resource get into trouble. What a genuinely SWEET man.
Lindsay, we miss you already, but I KNOW you’re in good hands.
Some words from my sister Jane Shaak, in the Okanagan -
"What I appreciate about Lindsay is his dedication to getting the word out. He worked selflessly at preserving and sharing valuable audio and video clips of wellness advocates, whenever possible. He had a vision of being able to share these clips on a web site so that people could tune in and hear about topics and points of interest. He loves HANS and its people, as HANS loves Lindsay. "
Lindsay has been part of the fibre of what made up Health Action Network Society from the beginning. My first memory – the first time I met Lindsay. We were standing on the street outside of Norma Myers’s house about 29 years ago, in Vancouver. Don’t even remember why we were there, just that we were. We shared this long conversation about spirituality, and with his special way of explaining things – soft, kind words with a huge punch - Lindsay wanted me to read a book which dealt with the possibility that Christ had been a vegetarian, and that fasting was the thing to do, and also Lindsay and I shared other important things like how to keep the bowels clean and how that precipitated good health.
What really struck me from that conversation was not how unusual it was for essentially strangers to share such conversation, just that here was a man with uncommon passion. His eyes were focused on me and I felt like I couldn’t move from the spot, I don’t think I even blinked. Like I’d better pay attention because here it was. Here was that rich moment of incredible wisdom which was going to stay with me the rest of my life.
What stayed with me wasn’t necessarily the words, even though they were great words – what stayed with me was THIS MAN, with such incredible kindness, great, great passion, and dedication I could truly admire.
What will ALWAYS stay with me is seeing Lindsay standing in our office, with his runners and shorts on, carrying his gadget bag over his shoulders, and legs a good mile long ending straight up to under his chin, handing us the last audio tapes from Croft’s Healthy Living Show. Now, here’s a man that has selflessly volunteered, not even allowing himself a day off, and we’re constantly amazed that he’s even doing it, and he’s saying ‘I’m sorry I was a little late getting these to you today’.
Then he’d say, ‘How ARE you today?’. How ARE you, really? Are you ok? Is Pauline ok? Is Cathrine ok? Is HANS ok? We just need to make this work. We just have to – we can’t let this precious resource get into trouble. What a genuinely SWEET man.
Lindsay, we miss you already, but I KNOW you’re in good hands.
Some words from my sister Jane Shaak, in the Okanagan -
"What I appreciate about Lindsay is his dedication to getting the word out. He worked selflessly at preserving and sharing valuable audio and video clips of wellness advocates, whenever possible. He had a vision of being able to share these clips on a web site so that people could tune in and hear about topics and points of interest. He loves HANS and its people, as HANS loves Lindsay. "
Lindsay with his good buddy, Cathrine Gabriel
Lorna with Lindsay at one of many meetings.
Lindsay at 75 - still had a twinkle...
Lindsay and the entire family!
Words at Lindsay's Memorial - 4
Comment by Lorna on 29th January 2009
§ He also did volunteer work for the Health Action Network Society (“HANS”).
· Notably, he faithfully recorded almost all of Croft Woodruff’s “Healthy Living” radio shows and delivered the tapes to HANS to help build their audio library
§ In 2001, Lindsay and friends from the Humane Society, Earth Save, and the Animal Defense and Anti-Vivisection Society got together to produce an Animal Rights show on Co-op radio called “Animal Voices’.
§ Lindsay eagerly put his technical skills to work and was the producer and technician for the show, as well as one of its driving forces.
§ Animal Voices has now been on the air weekly for over three years
§ Through this undertaking, Lindsay also became friends with John Pranger, from A.D.A.V., and John went on to become Lindsay’s room-mate and close personal friend
§ Lindsay’s mid life was one that involved considerable struggle and disillusionment with the world
§ But eventually Lindsay overcame this, was reborn, and went on to find his true calling in life, which was to gather and share information that he hoped would make people’s lives, and the world in general, a better place.
§ And through finding his place in life, he also found much happiness and peace.
§ And through this happiness and peace, although they continued to live independently, he also regained the love, respect and admiration of his wife Margaret.
§ He loved his family dearly and was for the last 15 years of his life, once again, a regular fixture at all the family functions
§ And he loved nothing better than spending time with his grandsons, of which he was blessed with six.
§ Although the world today is not at all as Lindsay wanted it to be, he found purpose and satisfaction in being part of the struggle to change it.
§ Lindsay’s life was an inspiration to his family and many of those who knew him.
§ He gave his time freely to the causes he believed in, and he fought hard to make the world a better place for both people and animals.
§ Although he does not leave his family with a treasure of wealth, he does leave them with a treasure of knowledge and love, and that, in the final analysis, is what really matters.
§ Lindsay was dearly loved and he will be dearly missed
§ He also did volunteer work for the Health Action Network Society (“HANS”).
· Notably, he faithfully recorded almost all of Croft Woodruff’s “Healthy Living” radio shows and delivered the tapes to HANS to help build their audio library
§ In 2001, Lindsay and friends from the Humane Society, Earth Save, and the Animal Defense and Anti-Vivisection Society got together to produce an Animal Rights show on Co-op radio called “Animal Voices’.
§ Lindsay eagerly put his technical skills to work and was the producer and technician for the show, as well as one of its driving forces.
§ Animal Voices has now been on the air weekly for over three years
§ Through this undertaking, Lindsay also became friends with John Pranger, from A.D.A.V., and John went on to become Lindsay’s room-mate and close personal friend
§ Lindsay’s mid life was one that involved considerable struggle and disillusionment with the world
§ But eventually Lindsay overcame this, was reborn, and went on to find his true calling in life, which was to gather and share information that he hoped would make people’s lives, and the world in general, a better place.
§ And through finding his place in life, he also found much happiness and peace.
§ And through this happiness and peace, although they continued to live independently, he also regained the love, respect and admiration of his wife Margaret.
§ He loved his family dearly and was for the last 15 years of his life, once again, a regular fixture at all the family functions
§ And he loved nothing better than spending time with his grandsons, of which he was blessed with six.
§ Although the world today is not at all as Lindsay wanted it to be, he found purpose and satisfaction in being part of the struggle to change it.
§ Lindsay’s life was an inspiration to his family and many of those who knew him.
§ He gave his time freely to the causes he believed in, and he fought hard to make the world a better place for both people and animals.
§ Although he does not leave his family with a treasure of wealth, he does leave them with a treasure of knowledge and love, and that, in the final analysis, is what really matters.
§ Lindsay was dearly loved and he will be dearly missed
Words at Lindsay's Memorial - 3
Comment by Lorna on 29th January 2009
.
§ Many young Americans fleeing the US involvement in the Vietnam War were coming to Vancouver and Lindsay liked to give hitch-hike rides and talk to such men about their experiences.
§ One such individual that Lindsay befriended ended up living with the family in Coquitlam for a few years, and became a lifelong family friend
§ Slowly but surely Lindsay’s focus was being drawn away from his engineering career and toward social causes such as the anti-war movement, the need for political and social change, and the environmental movement.
§ Lindsay became involved in the Society for Pollution and Environmental Controls (“SPEC”) and shortly became the president of the Coquitlam chapter.
§ He also ran for Coquitlam municipal council in the early 70’s, unfortunately finishing 4th in a race where only the top three got seats.
§ Out of work, Lindsay went back to University, the University of Victoria this time, to obtain a teaching certificate
§ Following completion of this program he took a job in Dawson Creek in northern B.C. where he taught high school
§ But Lindsay was not happy being this far away from his family and after several months he gave this up and returned to Coquitlam
§ Financial and other pressures led to marital problems and in 1975 Lindsay moved to New Westminster
§ At this point in his life, in his late 40’s, unemployed, separated from his wife and family he was quite thoroughly depressed
§ He had some rough years then, although he always kept in close contact with and was a big part of the lives of his three children
§ The time away from work gave Lindsay time to read, and he read voraciously
§ Lindsay had a personal interest in health matters, as his parents were growing older and beginning to suffer various health problems.
§ He was disillusioned with modern allopathic medicine’s lack of focus on prevention, so he read much about alternative medical approaches and tried hard to share what he learned with his family
§ He also read about political and social issues and came to believe that the world was more or less controlled by big business, for big business, and that the common man was simply “cannon fodder for the rich man’s guns”.
§ Lindsay became a vegetarian during these years
§ As he read and learned, he felt a great need to share this information and he was well-known for talking to pretty much every person he met
§ He also felt the need to put his convictions to work, and in the 1990’s, his sixties, he worked tirelessly, on a volunteer basis, to do much of the electrical work for the Circling Dawn Organic Food Store on Commercial Drive. To Lindsay, this was the type of business that he wanted to see survive, and he was willing to devote all of his energies to that end
.
§ Many young Americans fleeing the US involvement in the Vietnam War were coming to Vancouver and Lindsay liked to give hitch-hike rides and talk to such men about their experiences.
§ One such individual that Lindsay befriended ended up living with the family in Coquitlam for a few years, and became a lifelong family friend
§ Slowly but surely Lindsay’s focus was being drawn away from his engineering career and toward social causes such as the anti-war movement, the need for political and social change, and the environmental movement.
§ Lindsay became involved in the Society for Pollution and Environmental Controls (“SPEC”) and shortly became the president of the Coquitlam chapter.
§ He also ran for Coquitlam municipal council in the early 70’s, unfortunately finishing 4th in a race where only the top three got seats.
§ Out of work, Lindsay went back to University, the University of Victoria this time, to obtain a teaching certificate
§ Following completion of this program he took a job in Dawson Creek in northern B.C. where he taught high school
§ But Lindsay was not happy being this far away from his family and after several months he gave this up and returned to Coquitlam
§ Financial and other pressures led to marital problems and in 1975 Lindsay moved to New Westminster
§ At this point in his life, in his late 40’s, unemployed, separated from his wife and family he was quite thoroughly depressed
§ He had some rough years then, although he always kept in close contact with and was a big part of the lives of his three children
§ The time away from work gave Lindsay time to read, and he read voraciously
§ Lindsay had a personal interest in health matters, as his parents were growing older and beginning to suffer various health problems.
§ He was disillusioned with modern allopathic medicine’s lack of focus on prevention, so he read much about alternative medical approaches and tried hard to share what he learned with his family
§ He also read about political and social issues and came to believe that the world was more or less controlled by big business, for big business, and that the common man was simply “cannon fodder for the rich man’s guns”.
§ Lindsay became a vegetarian during these years
§ As he read and learned, he felt a great need to share this information and he was well-known for talking to pretty much every person he met
§ He also felt the need to put his convictions to work, and in the 1990’s, his sixties, he worked tirelessly, on a volunteer basis, to do much of the electrical work for the Circling Dawn Organic Food Store on Commercial Drive. To Lindsay, this was the type of business that he wanted to see survive, and he was willing to devote all of his energies to that end
Words at Lindsay's Memorial - 2
Comment by Lorna on 29th January 2009
§ Lindsay’s University years were unique because many of his classmates were the men just back from the war. These “returned men” were older and “war hardened”, whereas Lindsay was by comparison still young and green.
§ Upon graduating university with his civil engineering degree in 1954 Lindsay began his engineering career, working for a time in California on irrigation and electrical generation dams
§ He did some traveling in the south-western United States during this period and was especially awe struck by the Grand Canyon. He often spoke of wanting to return to the Grand Canyon again in recent years
§ In the early 1950’s Lindsay was introduced to a young nurse by the name of Margaret English
§ The two kept in touch for several years and were eventually married in Langley BC on August 8th, 1959
§ The young couple lived in Winnipeg where Lindsay worked for Manitoba Hydro.
§ It wasn’t long before children began to appear with Edward being born in July 1960, Howard in March 1962, and Margie in January 1964.
§ By the time Margie was born the family had moved to Quebec where Lindsay was involved with the construction of a stainless steel plant
§ Once that project was complete the family decided to move to San Francisco as Lindsay had fond memories of his previous work in California
§ However, in 1965 when he made a pre-move trip to San Francisco to job-hunt, the only jobs he could find were ones related to military projects, and his social conscious would not allow him to accept any of these.
§ Furthermore, while in San Francisco, he took a walk through the Hate-Ashbury district and decided that this was no place to raise a young family.
§ So, having ruled out California, and as wife Margaret was longing to return to her native British Columbia, in November 1965 the family moved to Coquitlam.
§ It took a while for Lindsay to get used to life on the West Coast. He liked to joke about how during that first winter it had rained for 40 days and 40 nights straight, without stopping.
§ Lindsay worked for BC Hydro and a variety of engineering firms in Vancouver throughout the latter half of the 60’s.
§ However, in his design work on projects such as particleboard plants and transmission lines, Lindsay was uncompromising in his commitment to the safety of the construction workers who would build the project and the workers who would subsequently operate it, and he was by this time growing used to butting heads with cost-conscious management over this issue.
§ And as he worked for first one and then another firm, not staying too long at any one, it became increasing difficult for him to find new engineering work.
§ This was also the era of the Vietnam War, and between his career challenges and the mood of the times, Lindsay was beginning to see the world in a decidedly different light.
§ Lindsay’s University years were unique because many of his classmates were the men just back from the war. These “returned men” were older and “war hardened”, whereas Lindsay was by comparison still young and green.
§ Upon graduating university with his civil engineering degree in 1954 Lindsay began his engineering career, working for a time in California on irrigation and electrical generation dams
§ He did some traveling in the south-western United States during this period and was especially awe struck by the Grand Canyon. He often spoke of wanting to return to the Grand Canyon again in recent years
§ In the early 1950’s Lindsay was introduced to a young nurse by the name of Margaret English
§ The two kept in touch for several years and were eventually married in Langley BC on August 8th, 1959
§ The young couple lived in Winnipeg where Lindsay worked for Manitoba Hydro.
§ It wasn’t long before children began to appear with Edward being born in July 1960, Howard in March 1962, and Margie in January 1964.
§ By the time Margie was born the family had moved to Quebec where Lindsay was involved with the construction of a stainless steel plant
§ Once that project was complete the family decided to move to San Francisco as Lindsay had fond memories of his previous work in California
§ However, in 1965 when he made a pre-move trip to San Francisco to job-hunt, the only jobs he could find were ones related to military projects, and his social conscious would not allow him to accept any of these.
§ Furthermore, while in San Francisco, he took a walk through the Hate-Ashbury district and decided that this was no place to raise a young family.
§ So, having ruled out California, and as wife Margaret was longing to return to her native British Columbia, in November 1965 the family moved to Coquitlam.
§ It took a while for Lindsay to get used to life on the West Coast. He liked to joke about how during that first winter it had rained for 40 days and 40 nights straight, without stopping.
§ Lindsay worked for BC Hydro and a variety of engineering firms in Vancouver throughout the latter half of the 60’s.
§ However, in his design work on projects such as particleboard plants and transmission lines, Lindsay was uncompromising in his commitment to the safety of the construction workers who would build the project and the workers who would subsequently operate it, and he was by this time growing used to butting heads with cost-conscious management over this issue.
§ And as he worked for first one and then another firm, not staying too long at any one, it became increasing difficult for him to find new engineering work.
§ This was also the era of the Vietnam War, and between his career challenges and the mood of the times, Lindsay was beginning to see the world in a decidedly different light.
Words at LIndsay's Memorial - 1
Comment by Lorna on 29th January 2009
Eulogy for Lindsay Bickford
November 26, 1927 to March 2, 2004
§ Lindsay was born in 1927 in Montreal, the second child of Howard Bickford and Helen Clossey
§ Lindsay’s father Howard came from a family of Maple Syrup farmers in the eastern townships of Quebec, and first ran a barber shop and later was an officer at a financial trust company in Montreal
§ Helen was from an Irish Catholic background and was a school teacher
§ Helen, having suffered through an Irish Catholic convent schooling, was determined that her children should be spared this “hell fire and brimstone” experience
§ So the family, with the help and generosity of one of Helen’s uncles, was able to acquire a home in the Westmount area of Montreal, which at that time was the only protestant school district in the province of Quebec.
§ Lindsay grew up and went to school in Westmount
§ It seems he had a more or less idyllic childhood.
· He had two extremely loving and caring parents
· He had an older sister (Evelyn) 7 years older
· He did however remember the hard times of the depression when his father was operating the barber-shop.
§ It seems that Lindsay rarely got into trouble in school, although he did like to recall the time in grade-school when he and a friend escaped from school by jumping out of an open classroom window in order to see a newly released movie at the local theatre
· Unfortunately they were seen by the school principal
§ World war two started in 1939 when Lindsay was just 11 years old
§ His sister, Evelyn, was 19 at the time and Lindsay remembered that several of her boy friends and acquaintances, eager to demonstrate their bravery, signed up and shipped overseas, many never to return.
§ Fortunately Lindsay was too young to go and when the war ended in 1945 Lindsay was just turning 18 and graduating from high school.
§ As a teenager, Lindsay worked part time at a radio station playing music in the evenings. This was the beginning of his life-long interest in radio broadcasting.
§ During the depression, Lindsay’s parents worked extremely hard in order to support the family. This included taking borders into their home, sometimes as many as four at a time.
§ Helen worked all day teaching school, then came home to cook and do the clothes washing for all
§ One of Lindsay’s formative childhood experiences was when an electric washing machine was acquired for the family home in Montreal. He was tremendously impressed by the magical power of the electricity that powered the new machine, and the way it made that aspect of his mother’s life so much easier
§ So upon graduating high school, this fascination with electricity and its ability to help make people’s lives easier led Lindsay into the faculty of engineering at nearby McGill University to study first electrical and then civil engineering.
Eulogy for Lindsay Bickford
November 26, 1927 to March 2, 2004
§ Lindsay was born in 1927 in Montreal, the second child of Howard Bickford and Helen Clossey
§ Lindsay’s father Howard came from a family of Maple Syrup farmers in the eastern townships of Quebec, and first ran a barber shop and later was an officer at a financial trust company in Montreal
§ Helen was from an Irish Catholic background and was a school teacher
§ Helen, having suffered through an Irish Catholic convent schooling, was determined that her children should be spared this “hell fire and brimstone” experience
§ So the family, with the help and generosity of one of Helen’s uncles, was able to acquire a home in the Westmount area of Montreal, which at that time was the only protestant school district in the province of Quebec.
§ Lindsay grew up and went to school in Westmount
§ It seems he had a more or less idyllic childhood.
· He had two extremely loving and caring parents
· He had an older sister (Evelyn) 7 years older
· He did however remember the hard times of the depression when his father was operating the barber-shop.
§ It seems that Lindsay rarely got into trouble in school, although he did like to recall the time in grade-school when he and a friend escaped from school by jumping out of an open classroom window in order to see a newly released movie at the local theatre
· Unfortunately they were seen by the school principal
§ World war two started in 1939 when Lindsay was just 11 years old
§ His sister, Evelyn, was 19 at the time and Lindsay remembered that several of her boy friends and acquaintances, eager to demonstrate their bravery, signed up and shipped overseas, many never to return.
§ Fortunately Lindsay was too young to go and when the war ended in 1945 Lindsay was just turning 18 and graduating from high school.
§ As a teenager, Lindsay worked part time at a radio station playing music in the evenings. This was the beginning of his life-long interest in radio broadcasting.
§ During the depression, Lindsay’s parents worked extremely hard in order to support the family. This included taking borders into their home, sometimes as many as four at a time.
§ Helen worked all day teaching school, then came home to cook and do the clothes washing for all
§ One of Lindsay’s formative childhood experiences was when an electric washing machine was acquired for the family home in Montreal. He was tremendously impressed by the magical power of the electricity that powered the new machine, and the way it made that aspect of his mother’s life so much easier
§ So upon graduating high school, this fascination with electricity and its ability to help make people’s lives easier led Lindsay into the faculty of engineering at nearby McGill University to study first electrical and then civil engineering.