Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

RICK:Yesterday, Nov 9. It was 40 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald loaded out of "some mill in Wisconsin", to begin her ill-fated voyage to destiny. Gord & Mrs. Lightfoot and I made a pilgrimage to Whitefish Point for an informal gathering at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

November 10, 1975 was a day full of momentous and, except for the Australian one mostly disastrous events. And many Aussies would beg to differ.

Of the November 10, 1975 events that I know without Googling here are some highlights:

1) Edmund Fitzgerald sunk (link);
2) U.N. passes Zionism is Racism Resolution (link); and
3) Australia's PM Gough Whitlam fired by Governor-General (link);

The first event was memorialized by the immortal "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. A freighter full of iron ore and sailors sank in a wild, La Niña fueled storm on Lake Superior.

The U.N. resolution, passed by a newly automatic majority of Muslim and Communist governments, declared Zionism to be a form of racism and racial discrimination. It was repealed in 1991 but the odious automatic majority remains.

Finally, in Australia, the Governor-General, on his own, fired Gough Whitlam. Technically when a "money" or "supply" bill fails to pass the lower house in a Westminster-based system the government falls and the Queen or Governor General must allow the opposition to form a new government or call elections. In Australia it was the Senate, the equivalent of the House of Lords that blocked supply legislation. The PM urged that only the Senate be dissolved and subject to election. Instead the GG dissolved both houses and appointed the opposition leader as caretaker pending snap elections. Unheard of but in my opinion necessary.

Overall a day to leave your head spinning.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

WELL MAY WE SAY GOD SAVE THE QUEEN... BECAUSE WILL SAVE THE GOVERNOR GENERAL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkT78bEDuBI

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

Quote was "WELL MAY WE SAY GOD SAVE THE QUEEN... BECAUSE NOTHING WILL SAVE THE GOVERNOR GENERAL!" Whitlam, in a later interview, described Kerr as a weak and deceptive man.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

The dismissal of Gough Whitlam's Labor government in Australia occurred on 11 (not 10) November 1975.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

ON THIS DATE: In 1976, Gordon Lightfoot's single, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. The ship had gone down in Lake Superior a year earlier.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

Toledo paper- Nov.9,1976 - article can be enlarged at link: - https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...C6314872&hl=en

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

JULY 1975 - The Fitz rescues a family: http://london.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=748256

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...don_light.html

By Tom Feran, The Plain Dealer
Email the author
on November 13, 2015 at 4:13 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For almost half her life, Ruth Hudson of North Olmsted said she thought every day of her son, Bruce, who was just 22 years old when he died aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Her own death came Tuesday, one day before the 40th anniversary of the ore carrier's sinking in Lake Superior. She was 90.

"It was the first year she missed the memorial service in Whitefish Point, Michigan," said her niece Pam Woodman-Wittig. "I went in her place.

"She told me she'd be watching with Bruce from heaven."

Only hours before her death, Hudson spoke on the phone with Gordon Lightfoot, whose 1976 hit song chronicled and immortalized the shipwreck. The two knew each other for years, and he went early to Whitefish Point for the service.

"That was really what she was all about," Woodman-Wittig said, noting her aunt was active in successful efforts to have the Fitzgerald officially declared a gravesite and to have its bell retrieved.

She told me she'd be watching with Bruce from heaven
"It was what she lived for. She was always the survivor. She was a caretaker."

Bruce Hudson was working as a crew member to make money to return to Ohio State University when the "Mighty Fitz" sank with all hands in 530 feet of water on Nov. 10, 1975. Of the 29 men who died, 14 were from Ohio, seven from Northeast Ohio.

"That time before he shipped out with the Fitzgerald we talked about many things," Hudson told a reporter 10 years ago. "Somehow, we ended up talking about the danger of his motorcycle riding. I remember he said he would never die on the motorcycle. He said when he died, it would be in a way that the whole world would know it.

"I guess he was right."

A native of West Virginia who was widowed 18 years ago, Hudson moved last spring to South Carolina to be near her niece, who survives her along with a granddaughter and four great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Sunset Chapel, 6245 Columbia Road, North Olmsted, after a one-hour visitation. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Park. Dostal Borkas Funeral Services is handling arrangements.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

this is a wonderful article. thank you for posting it.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

this is a really good article about the daughter of the cook. thank you for posting this.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

http://www.9and10news.com/story/3055...und-fitzgerald

During the ceremony to recognize the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, there was one familiar face missing.

One woman who took the reins after losing her son, bringing people together, and helping salvage a key artifact from the wreck.

Corey Adkins captured some very special moments about one very special lady.

He brings us today's Sightseeing in Northern Michigan.

Forty year ago, Lake Superior silenced the lives of 29 men when a violent storm took down the Edmund Fitzgerald. One of those lives was Bruce Hudson, Ruth Hudson's only son. In this interview conducted in 2005 while talking about his hobbies, she said he liked riding motorcycles.

“I had very much concern about him riding the motorcycle and he said, ‘Mom I'm not going to be killed on the motorcycle. When I go, the whole world will know’,” said Ruth.

The whole world would know. Partly because of a song by Gordon Lightfoot.

On November 9, Lightfoot made a special trip to Whitefish Point to visit with the families. Ruth's niece Pam had a paddle that belonged to Bruce when he was a Boy Scout that she wanted him to sign.

Gordon, Ruth Hudson and Cheryl Rozman, whose father, Ransom Cundy, went down on the Fitzgerald, have become friends over the years.

"She only has hours left.”

They decided to make a phone call.

“So she called her and I talked to her and she couldn't talk. She had that rattle in her throat and I said my good byes to a wonderful lady and a dear friend,” said Cheryl.

Then it was Gordon's turn.

“And Gordon talked to her for five minutes. He went off into his little corner talking to her,” said Cheryl.

Even though Ruth couldn't answer Gordon said his goodbyes.

“And Pam left the room and came back down two hours later, and you could tell something had happened, and she came down and said that Ruth was gone, and it just took away the whole temper of the day to hear that, and I could see how sad Gordon felt also,” explained Cheryl.

Ruth Hudson was instrumental in raising the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

She told her family she wanted to watch the 40th memorial from heaven.

“I'm so happy that she’s with her son again, because she mourned him from the day he died until the day she died,” said Cheryl.

But maybe it's what she did for the families that was more important. She helped bring the sadness and loneliness of 29 tragedies and form one big family.

“I gained a real good friend. I lost my Dad, but I gained a real good friend, and I also gained a lot of other real good friends by you people,” said Cheryl.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

43 years...

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

44 years - https://www.mlive.com/news/2018/11/e...DbnambkfLeVHeM

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

Wow. And only Gord ould memorialize that so well.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

Very sad thinking about this even after 44 years. The memory will always remain. Hopefully family members are able to find comfort by visiting this site. Extended condolences.

Re: The Fitz - 40th anniversary
 

I still remember so well hearing ‘The Wreck...’ here in England in the 1970s. I’d only recently discovered GL a few years earlier, by hearing the ‘Summer Side of Life’ LP.
It was such a moving song, and it wasn’t until I visited Canada in 2008 that the vastness of the Great Lakes hit me.
Later hearing Gordon singing the ‘Fitzgerald’ at the Massey Hall really brought it home.
One of my very early girlfriends surname was Fitzgerald.
The song always brings back happy memories...