Grace's Wish
Grace’s journey in life leads to Oprah
Monday September 22, 2003 Natalie Miller
NORWOOD ON—The tall man with fair, poker-straight hair hung out the window waving to her, as the train chugged along the Scottish countryside towards Sussex, England.

HELP MAKE GRACE'S WISH COME TRUE

Photo by Ron Craig

Grace Patterson has become somewhat of a celebrity within her community since her wish to meet Oprah was chosen through the Make-a-Wish program at Pleasant Meadow. Read More

THINGS TO DO: • How you can help • Form letter to sign • E-mail this page EDITORIAL: • To Oprah, with Grace GRACE'S WISH STORIES: • 'I think it will be a thrilling experience for mom'   • Letters to be sent to Oprah   • Grace’s Wish gaining momentum   • Community supports Grace’s Wish at barbecue   • Home office backs Grace’s quest to meet Oprah   • Norwood community starts pulling for Grace’s Wish   FEATURE: • Pleasant Meadow makes dreams come true   LETTER: • 'She truly believes in the difference Oprah makes'   MAKE-A-WISH STORIES: • Pleasant Meadow resident teaches at local school   • 'Jonesey' coaches the Petes   • OMNI employees interested in ‘Make-a-Wish’   • Home grants residents’ wishes   IN OTHER NEWS: • Meeting Oprah would be a dream come true   • Oprah, you've a big fan in Norwood who wants to meet you   • Axiom, OMNI Health Care want Grace to meet Oprah   • OMNI works to grant resident’s wish to meet Oprah

As he extended his hand good-bye to the woman on the platform, his hat flew off his head and came to rest between the train and the platform. Grace Patterson mailed it to the man on the train who had been courting her, who was then stationed in England during the Second World War.

“I sent it back to him,” she says.

“He asked if I would see him again.”

Grace continued to exchange letters with David Alexander Patterson, a Canadian she met in Glasgow, Scotland near her hometown.

Meanwhile, Grace worked in the Singer factory, first in the needle department and then later making artillery for war planes.

On April 5, 1944, she married David Alexander, known as Alex.

Grace immigrated to Canada on the anniversary of D Day, June 6, 1945, along with the other war brides. She settled into her in-laws’ home in the Village of Lang, awaiting her husband’s return.

Grace, a woman with tight grey curls who is dressed modernly in a red and black striped shirt, shares the story of her past. The lilt in her words hints at her Scottish heritage. She is sitting in a wheelchair next to a large window in her bedroom at Pleasant Meadow Manor, a long-term care home in Norwood. The 80-year-old woman moved into the home in September 2002.

She has become popular as of late because of a wish she dropped into a well at the long-term care home. She wants to meet Oprah Winfrey and watches her show religiously. OMNI has launched a letter-writing campaign in hopes of arranging the special request for Grace.

“She feels like a celebrity actually,” says Pleasant Meadow Manor Administrator Connie Garden.

Returning to her earlier days, Grace recalls her husband arriving in Canada in October 1945. He had been wounded in the war, losing some of his height after two bones collapsed. They remained at her in-laws’ home for another month before moving into a little house on a farm where Alex tended to gardens and vegetables for its owner.

Grace and Alex bought their own dairy farm near Westwood two years later, where they spent the next 50 years of their lives.

“He had always wanted to farm, so he did.”

They raised four children, Betty, Donald, Heather and Anne, together. Following Alex’s death, during a year which Grace cannot pinpoint, she remained in the home for 12 months before settling into an apartment across from the fire hall in Norwood.

Since moving into Pleasant Meadow last summer, Grace says her favourite pastimes including playing bingo and watching Oprah.
On any given weekday between noon and 1 p.m. Grace can be found settled into her chair, in front of the large-screen television in her room. When her program is on, Grace shuns away from any activities going on at the long-term care home. That hour a day is her time with the iconic talk-show host.

She doesn’t recall when she started watching the woman who is a source of inspiration to many. But she does know, it was earlier in life, perhaps when she lived alongside David Alexander Patterson, her man on the train.