A Fathers’ Day Discovery

My father loved exploring, and every chance he had he took us kids on an adventure. Most often it was a Sunday afternoon, or in the summer it was a road trip vacation. Mountains, oceans, and urban cores seemed to be his favorite destinations.
 
Even in his final years when he was wheelchair bound, he enjoyed being pushed around town exploring new places – hoping to find a good bookstore, warm coffee, and a view of nature.
 
On the most recent Fathers’ Day I decided to go on a mini adventure in memory of my dad. My wife came along for the ride, experiencing what I did most of my childhood – finding something new.

The stated destination was an old bridge in St. Thomas, Ontario. The bridge had been converted from an abandoned railway bridge into a walking park, with art and gardens, and great view of a valley and river.[1]
 
After exploring the bridge, we found by the railway tracks a massive statue of an African elephant. We stopped for some pictures, were impressed with the craftsmanship, but pondered why it was in the middle of rural Ontario.
 
It was only when I got home and did a bit of searching online did I realize that the elephant named “Jumbo” had quite a history. Here is only a quick bullet point summary of some of the more noteworthy aspects of Jumbo (taken from Wikipedia[2]):
 

• African Bush elephant born in 1860 in the Sudan
• died in 1885 in St. Thomas, ON, after being hit by a locomotive
• over 10 feet tall
• became famous in the zoo and circus, first in Europe then America
• after his death his skeleton was sold off, his body was stuffed by a taxidermist (but eventually was destroyed in a fire)
• ashes of his body are kept
• parts of his body were on display – such as his heart and tail (his heart was lost in 1940s)
• there are statues of Jumbo in England
• songs were written about him
• TV shows were made about him
• Disney movie Dumbo was perhaps based on Jumbo
• books were written about him
• St. Thomas born NHL player Joe Thorton’s nickname (Jumbo Joe) came from Jumbo

 
At the end of the day, what stood out for me was not so much the bridge park (as nice as it was), but Jumbo (especially as I read about him after I returned home).
 
And what also struck me was if I had not been in adventure mode that day, I would have never known about that sad story about a famous elephant. And in that discovery, I got a taste of why my dad liked doing what he did – the world is of full of (sometimes sad) surprises like Jumbo, but the only way you will discovery them it is to head out in the spirit of adventure.
 
 


[1] https://www.elevatedpark.ca

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo