Читать книгу Let It Snow - Darryl Humber - Страница 7

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We begin by thanking the folks at Dundurn Press and Jane Gibson and Barry Penhale in particular. Their imprint, Natural Heritage Books, is now part of a significant Canadian publishing presence. These are challenging times for the makers of books and hopefully we are, in our small way by investing countless hours in research and writing, doing our part to keep this miracle of human culture alive and thriving.

This is Darryl’s first work of non-fiction, having completed two works of fiction in the last four years. For Bill, (or William, as he prefers his byline to read) it is his eleventh. Past efforts have included those on baseball, soccer, and bicycling, and two with Natural Heritage, one on both Darryl and Bill’s hometown, Bowmanville, Ontario, and the other on African-Canadian athletes.

We salute the patience and help of many, including Darryl and Bill’s family members — mother/wife Cathie, brother/son Brad, sister/daughter Karen, uncle/brother Larry (whose art designs were wonderful), aunt/ sister Mary, grandmother/mother-in-law Ruth, and for Darryl, Ann-Marie Gazley, who also chipped in with research support.

For making this book possible, we thank the brilliant graphic artist Aleks Janicijevic, the escapee from London’s February 2009 winter surprise Leeroy Murray, the proofreading brilliance and critical comments of Sally Moore, Todd Latham, and Suzanne Elston. Resources and research were provided by the dean of hockey researchers, Bill Fitsell, and another Society for International Hockey Research stalwart, Martin Harris.

Colleagues at Seneca with whom Bill works on matters related to climate change include Mary Dawson, Roy Paluoja, Gary Johnson, Carolyn Anderson, Steve Wilson, Ken Ellis, and countless others who will torment him with cries of, “Why didn’t you mention me?”

We dedicate this book to the memory of Alfred Humber, the grandfather/father of Darryl and Bill, in recognition of his long nights of backyard ice-making. Neither he nor the mysterious lady in our introduction who befriended Joseph Atkinson could have known they would find their way into a book so many years later. The good they did, however, lives forever and this is its small reward.