Today I read of the passing of Hughie Beaton, and it brought me back to October 1998 and the 125th Anniversary of the RCMP. Everett and I were the co-chairs of the 125th Anniversary Gala Ball to celebrate the anniversary of the RCMP. In such formal affairs there are a number of traditions and toasts that are followed, one being a toast to the Force.

We decided that it should be a veteran of the RCMP to make this toast. During the summer Uncle Hughie and Aunt Greet were home [in Inverness] for a visit. During one visit, Uncle Hughie spoke about his time in the RCMP and his friend Hughie Beaton. Everett and I never tire of hearing the stories of member in the days of old. As we thought about who we should ask to give the Toast to the Force at the ball, we both thought of the two Hughies.

[Pictured at the right: Hughie Ferguson in RCMP uniform, 1934.]
We called Uncle Hughie and asked him, and Kay Stubbert took Uncle Hughie and Everett and me over to Hughie Beaton’s place so we could talk to him about joining Uncle Hughie with this task.  Both gentlemen accepted our invitation and we were thrilled. This did mean Uncle Hughie had to come back to Halifax in October and he did.

My brother Barton surprised me and came for the ball as well.

Needless to say having him and the two Hughies there was wonderful. The night of the ball Gerard Ferguson was kind enough to ensure Hughie Beaton got to and from the hotel. Another little treat was Jane Ferguson and her husband Ed were at the Ball.

The two Hughie’s regimental numbers were in the 123oos (a regimental number is assigned when one joins the RCMP; the number indicates how many members are in the force, the regimental numbers are now in the 59000s).

These gentlemen toasted the Force with a couple of stories and such elegance it brought tears to guests eyes. When Commissioner Murray had to respond to the toast to the Force, he said these gentlemen were a hard act to follow, and that their ages combined were older than the Force itself. Commissioner Murray paid tribute to the veterans and their contribution to the RCMP. It was a beautiful evening and Everett and I were proud as punch.

[Pictured above, left to right: Hughie Beaton, Commissioner Murray, Hughie Ferguson.]

To this day we thank Uncle Hughie and Hughie Beaton for being such wonderful speakers and sharing in the 125th anniversary of the RCMP.

RCMP: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (the Mounties)
Everett Summerfield: Julene Coady’s husband, an officer in the RCMP
Kay Stubbert: a cousin of Edith Macdonald (Julene Coady’s mother) and her sister, Greet Macdonald
Hughie Ferguson: Julene Coady’s uncle
Greet Macdonald: Hughie Ferguson’s wife
Gerard Ferguson: Hughie Ferguson’s nephew, son of Roddie Ferguson
Jane Ferguson: Hughie Ferguson’s niece, daughter of Dannie Ferguson
Commissioner Murray: Joseph Philip Robert Murray, commander of the RCMP (1994 – 2000)

Regimental numbers: identification numbers for members of the RCMP. Regimental numbers are issued sequentially, so the first Mounties had single-digit numbers. Mounties joining today have numbers in the 59,000 range, meaning there have been over 59,000 Mounties. Hughie Ferguson and Hughie Beaton have regimental numbers in the 12,300 range.

One summer when I was a teenager, my family went to Inverness, like we did every year. While we were there, my cousin Jackie (Freddie’s daughter) and I went to the cemetery. She spent more time in Inverness than I did, and I asked her to show me graves where relatives were buried.

She showed me this one and that one. Then she stopped for a while at a headstone for D. A. Macdonald. After a minute, I asked who that was.

“Daddy,” she said.

“What’s the D. A. for?”

“Donald Angus. That was his name.”

My entire life, I’d known him as Freddie.

Some thirty years later, I was in Detroit for my dad’s 80th birthday. Lots of people had come from out of town, even some from Nova Scotia. I ended up talking with my cousin Gerard Ferguson (Roddie and Pat’s boy), whom I hadn’t seen since I was a teenager. I often stayed with his family when we were in Inverness. I told him this story, finished up with “I never knew his name was Donald Angus.”

Gerard said, “Neither did I till you told me.”