Steve Thomas, In Memorium

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Steve Thomas, our lead rider for the Great FASD Horseback Ride Across Canada.

Steve went in for surgery on a cyst on his pancreas in December 2008. Instead, they discovered he had pancreatic cancer and it had spread. They stitched him up and sent him home. He was told to get his affairs in order and enjoy what time he had left. Chemotherapy might buy him a couple of extra weeks but they would be miserable.

Being a tough old cowboy, and with a lot of faith, Steve refused to roll over and die. He fought the disease for 8 months before it took his life in July 2009.

On July 29, 2009 a memorial service was held for Steve, attended by hundreds of people who knew him in the Golden, BC area, across Canada and the USA. He had touched many people during his lifetime. It was an outdoor service in cowboy tradition, with his beloved quarter horse Dash, and his team of Belgian horses and wagon. Steve was well known in his retirement years for providing horse and wagon transportation at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. His hat was placed on Dash's saddle and boots in the stirrups, backwards. It was a deeply moving ceremony.

I have placed a memorial slide show at http://www.faslink.org/steve showing Steve and a few of the images from the Great FASD Horseback Ride Across Canada.

Please take a few moments and ask the Lord to keep him close in his new journey.

Thanks,
Bruce Ritchie