1999 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Loyola Helen Park

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1999 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Loyola Helen Park
(Photo: David Archer)

(Photo: David Archer)

At the age of 74, Mrs. Loyola Helen Park of London, Ontario, was the 1999 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother, marking the first mother of a slain peacekeeper to be selected for the role. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1999, she laid a wreath in front of the Parliament buildings on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada. The ceremony was relocated from the National War Memorial which was undergoing an extensive renovation.

On August 9, 1974, her son, Corporal Michael William Simpson, was killed when the plane he was travelling on, United Nations Flight 51, was shot down by a missile en route from Cairo to Lebanon.

Mrs. Park (nee Harrington), was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of a First World War Veteran, Frederick Daniel Harrington, and Helen (Tutty) Harrington. Her mother died when she was 11 months of age, leaving her to be raised by her paternal grandparents.

Mrs. Park attended school in Ontario and became a postal clerk in 1942. She joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in 1945, just a few months before V-E Day. Following duties in Kitchener and Ottawa, Corporal Harrington (Mrs. Park) was discharged in 1946. She was married the same year to William (Bill) James Simpson of Toronto, a D-Day Veteran who served in France, Belgium and Normandy with the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. Together they raised four children–Jack, Michael, Janice and Theresa.

Mr. Simpson joined the Toronto Fire Department in 1947. The family settled in Scarborough in 1955. Mrs. Park worked in the City Clerk’s office. Unfortunately, in 1966, Mr. Simpson succumbed to a heart attack suffered in the line of duty. Mrs. Park later earned two college diplomas. She worked in nursing and social services until her retirement in 1983.

Mrs. Park remarried in 1983 to Robert Park, a Second World War Veteran and retired Toronto firefighter, moving to London, Ontario, a short time later. Mr. Park died in 2005.

Mrs. Loyola Helen Park was awarded the 1939-45 War Medal after the war and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. She celebrated her 89^th birthday at her home in Windsor, Ontario, in 2014.

List of National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers

(Information courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion, Canadian War Museum and families of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers)