Bob Gurkin and his Newfoundland Stories

My brother, Robert (Bob) McCollum Gurkin, was born in St. Johns, Newfoundland on March 17, 1942. Our father, James (Jim) Lewis Gurkin was one of the first US Army troops to arrive via ship in St. Johns in 1941. He soon met and married our mother, Alice Hicks Gurkin, a young girl who lived not far from dad's Army barracks.  Bob was born on base in 1942. After the war, dad was stationed or a short time in Boston. And then after being discharged he moved back to Selma, North Carolina. Obviously Bob wouldn't remember very much of his early childhood in St. Johns.

Later on in life, Bob moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada and worked at a ball bearing factory. He met his first wife, Peggy Bowdring, while working in Toronto. As it happened, Peggy was from Bell Island, just off the coast from St. Johns, so they had much in common.,Eventually they moved back down to North Carolina. 

In the late 1990's, Peggy was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and her wish was to spend her final days on Bell Island. So they moved back there, where she passed peacefully not long after. While on Bell Island, Bob fully embraced his childhood in Newfoundland and it's fabled history and lore. And that is where his remarkable imagination and gift for story telling led to the tales he spun in his notes, and now into this blog.

There was a time after Peggy's passing that he seemed to be wanting to die and join her. But miracles do happen and he luckily later met the true love of his life, Lynn. Lynn's husband had also passed recently and they found each other at just the absolute right time.They married and had a wonderful life together before Bob unfortunately died after complications from heart surgery in 2013. I'm so happy they found each other, and so sad that Bob left us too soon.

This is just a chapter in a part of Bob's history. I have a final few to post from his old notebook. We all miss you brother.

- Rick Gurkin