Dear editor,I woud like to thank you for your gracious editorial on the occasion of my husband Peter Paterson’s death. To elaborate a little regarding your story about Peter in the same issue, I would like to make clear that the Carrot Campaign was very much Roland Shanks’ own project and he deserves the credit for its success. The award of which Peter was most proud was the Jim Sanderson Award for editorial writing in 1978. It was the Gazette that took everyone to the award ceremony, not Peter personally.Of Peter’s varied careers and ventures I believe the editorship of the North Island Gazette was his happiest. Wrtiting heart- rending stories to raise money for the Xmas hamper was dear to his heart. His pride and joy was his column, Out of Left Field, and his creation of the character, Sven McDougall after whom there is a street named in Port Hardy. His last venture with Bruce Winfield was the MidCoast Beacon. It was a gem of a newspaper but a financial disaster. After that Peter’s health slowly declined.For the last few years we have lived a quiet, and for Peter, a sometimes lonely life in our little trailer with our six cats whom Peter adored. They were our favourite topic of conversation and a source of affection and delight. Watching their antics and feeling their little bodies roaming over us at night kept us both amused and helped to dispel the doldrums.I will not be having a service or event but if anyone would like to pay a private tribute to Peter’s memory they could make a donation to Cats’ Meow or even adopt a lonely critter from the pound.Elin PatersonPort Hardy
