‘It means everything to me. ‘It’s my mother and father,’ replies the woman.
Tracey Snow was in a motel in Edmonton when her aunt called to tell her that a teddy bear carrying her parents’ ashes had been found at a Husky service station in Richer, Manitoba, during a cross-country journey.
“‘Where?’ I wondered. What happened to that? ‘I don’t recall being there,’ says the narrator “Snow said. “However, when I saw the photo of where it was, I knew exactly where it was.”
A small white bear carrying the ashes of her parents had traveled from Dartmouth, N.S., to a service station in Manitoba with five humans and three dogs after being involved in a vehicle accident in Ontario.
The bear got out of the car during a petrol stop in the hamlet, which is roughly 60 kilometers southeast of Winnipeg, on Dec. 9.
The bear was left behind as the family piled back into their pickup truck to resume their lengthy trek to Alberta.
“My aunt told me one of them didn’t want to travel to Alberta, so they dropped out,” Snow said. “They weren’t fond of the cold.”
‘It’s a miracle,’ says the author.
Fortunately, a gas station employee noticed the bear, and when the employees discovered it was holding ashes, they set out to find the creature’s owner.
The news of the bear quickly traveled on social media Monday morning, landing on Snow’s aunt’s Facebook page in Nova Scotia.
“It means a great deal to me. It’s my mother and father on the other end of the line. Both of them died within a year of each other “Snow said. “That was simply one of the things I could go to when I was sad and upset, and I could just hold it and feel a lot better.”
She phoned the gas station, and the proprietor, Hubert Perrin, consented to return the bear to Nova Scotia, as the family currently does not have an address in Alberta.
“It’s incredible – and it happened in one day,” Perrin added.
“They were ecstatic and thankful that this had happened and that someone had been able to locate them.”
Snow doesn’t think it’s surprising that her parents have gotten national recognition.
“That would be my mother and father; they were always in the spotlight,” she said. “They’re dead and gone, but they’re still in the news.”
The family had traveled a considerable distance to a new province, but finding the bear was the Christmas miracle they needed, according to Snow.
“I just want to express my gratitude to everyone. It was certainly a miracle that they were found and that they can return home to be with their families “she stated, “I just want to express my gratitude to everyone from the bottom of my heart.”