An Unfortunate Series Of Events

When I comb through old newspapers, you never know what sort of stories you will find. There may be fires that decimate a community, or there may be a robbery that makes nationwide news. Sometimes it is just stories of bonspiels and baseball tournaments, and sometimes you find a very unique and funny story.

This isn’t a very long story, so the column is shorter than usual, but I couldn’t help but share it.

It was in October 1955 when a young man named David Kather, who was 20-years-old, had bought a new motorcycle and was in the process of driving home from Edmonton.

While he was driving home, he suddenly crashed into a ditch and was thrown from the motorcycle. In the crash, he would suffer a broken jaw and a separated shoulder. Not a great set of injuries but thankfully not life-threatening.

As he was recovering in the hospital, he was just about to be released when it was suddenly discovered that he had to have his appendix removed immediately. An emergency surgery was performed and his appendix was removed.

Once again, Kather was recovering in the hospital.

Finally, after a motorcycle crash and a sudden appendix surgery, he was released from the hospital and returned back home to Vermilion.

After being away from his motorcycle for a few weeks, he decided that it was time to get back on the bike and take it for a ride.

As he was riding the motorcycle just to the west of Vermilion, it suddenly left the road, throwing him from it once more.

This time, he suffered a fractured collar bone and was dealing with shock.

All this happened in the space over only about three weeks.

Needless to say, it was a tough October 1955 for David Kather.

Contact Craig at craig@canadaehx.com

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Listen to his podcasts Canadian History Ehx, Canada’s Great War, From John to Justin, Pucks and Cups and Canada: A Yearly Journey on all podcast platforms.