Happy 90th Birthday Celebrations

Ken & Alma celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary
together with their family - August 1997.

This information relates to the main Lincolnshire tree - descendants of Johannis [John] and Elizabeth Pask née Archer, who lived in Lincolnshire.

Very special wishes to Ken Pask who this weekend will be celebrating his 90th birthday with his family. Ken is Stuart's cousin. He was born in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England, the son of Arthur Edward & Rachel Pask née Sanders.

He joined the RAF in December 1940, was awarded his pilot wings in January 1942, and was posted to Kilbride for test pilot training. In August 1943 he was posted to India, joined 155 (F) Squadron in Burma, South East Asia Command. In May 1945 he moved to 226 Group, Delhi, and on to Risalpur and Karachi on test pilot duties until returning to Britain in June 1946. After the war, Ken returned to university and graduated in 1947. He joined Pfizer Canada Inc. and retired in 1987 as Regional Manager, Western Canada.

Kenneth married Alma Yvonne Laughton, daughter of Francis Thomas Abraham & Amelia Laughton née Langford, on 23 August 1947 at Christ Church, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. Sadly his wife, Alma, died on 29 June 2009, at the age of 85, after 62 years of marriage.

In 1949 the family immigrated to Canada. Ken has four children, eight grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren.

Alma & Ken preparing to fly away on their honeymoon
23 August 1947

Edgar Alexander Pask Featured on BBC's The One Show

Professor Edgar Alexander Pask O.B.E. (1912-1966)

This information relates to the main Lincolnshire tree - descendants of Johannis [John] and Elizabeth Pask née Archer, who lived in Lincolnshire.

On Monday 20 August 2012, the BBC programme The One Show, featured the remarkable story of Professor Edgar Alexander Pask O.B.E.

He was deemed 'The bravest man in the RAF never to have flown an aeroplane'. Edgar 'Gar' Pask was the first professor of anaesthesia in Newcastle, the second chair to be established in England. During the Second World War, he worked with Professor Macintosh, researching aspects of human physiology for the RAF. He acted as a human guinea pig for very dangerous experiments, intended to investigate ways of saving the lives of airmen forced to bale out at high altitudes, or ditch into freezing seas. He tested the limits of a human endurance due to hypoxia at high altitudes. He tested immersion suits and, unconscious and afloat, tested life jackets. For his bravery, the King awarded him the OBE in 1944.

You can see the programme again on BBC iPlayer - The One Show. However, be quick as it is only available for 5 more days. The topic is about 20 minutes into the programme. We are trying to obtain a copy of the programme.

Edgar, was Stuart's 3rd cousin, once removed. Many thanks to Jo Pask for notifying us that this was featured.

Family Reunion 29 July 2012 Update

Shirley Amos née Pask

This information relates to the main Lincolnshire tree - descendants of Johannis [John] and Elizabeth Pask née Archer, who lived in Lincolnshire.

Yesterday we received an e-mail from a very excited Shirley Amos, who lives in Medina, Orleans County, New York State. She advised us that she had been interviewed by a local reporter. Then today, via Google alerts, we received notification of an article in The Daily News, the local newspaper for Genesee, Wyoming, and Orleans Counties. The full article, written by Virginia Kropf of The Daily News, is available online.

The article is about the Family Reunion held on 29 July, as reported in the previous blog. The above photograph of Shirley is shown, together with Robert Pask who did the DNA test proving the link to Stuart's family. This enabled us to establish that Shirley, and Robert are Stuart's 10th cousin, once removed.

Over the past three weeks, whilst working in Germany, I have included 250+ new people from the family trees provided in Shirley's book into the Pask database. This is far from finished, and I will continue over the forthcoming weeks. In the meantime, we welcome any additional information / updates from our Orleans County cousins.