Raiders passings cause memories to be more cherished

Plaques for Donn Clark and Bruce Vance on the Raiders Wall of Honour.

You never know how someone’s passing is going to affect you until they actually pass away.

When I moved to Prince Albert way back in May of 2001 to work for the Daily Herald as a full-time sports reporter, the first two people I basically met after Daily Herald staffers were Donn Clark and Bruce Vance. The introduction came at a Raiders annual general meeting shortly after I arrived in town.

Clark at the time was holding the roles of Raiders head coach and general manager. Vance had recently at that time arrived in town as the team’s new director of marketing. In recent days, I have been struggling with the fact that both are now gone from this life.

Clark passed away on March 2, 2019 just two days shy of his 57^th birthday. We share a March 4 birthday. Vance passed away this past October 18 at age 63.

Cancer got both of them. Looking back to that first meeting in May of 2001, I thought we would all seemingly live forever and be in hockey forever being fairly young like I was back then.

I never thought Clark or Vance would not live to see their respective 65^th birthdays. For both, I knew the end was coming in their cancer battles, but it still doesn’t prepare you for when it will happen.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.