On Monday, September 3rd, the 58 year old brother of Wendy Woudstra was discovered to have passed away. We are not sure if he passed away on the 2nd or sometime on the 3rd.

This event has been devastating to my business partner, Wendy who learned about her brother’s passing early in the afternoon of the 3rd of September. Gerry Woudstra was only 58 years old.

Although I have never met Gerry myself, I know that he was a special man that meant a lot to everyone that did know him. Wendy and my son David, who is ten years old, had an extremely special “uncle/nephew” relationship that I admired and knew was very special to my son.

At this time, I would like to ask you for your thoughts as my long time business partner, very good friend, and mother of my son David mourns the sudden passing of her brother Gerry. It came as a shock to us all.

We are busy trying to make arrangements for Wendy and David to travel to Alberta to attend his funeral.

I would ask at this time that any business correspondence that would normally be sent to Wendy, be cc’d to me (ian at pairowoodies dot com) and we will do our best to respond as quickly as we can, but also ask for your patience as we deal with this matter.

For friends and family, I would appreciate your thoughts at this time, especially for Wendy and David. I spent the afternoon with David (and Wendy) and my own heart is heavy for the way that David took the news of his very special Uncle having passed away.

It has been a tumultuous week, and I apologize for delayed responses to emails and voice messages. Last week, my ex-wife’s house, which she also shared with one of my sons, burned to the ground and my three older sons who all had lived in that house, lost everything that they ever acquired during their childhood
and teenage years. That has been a major concern for me, but we are all thankful that there was no loss of life as a result of that house fire.

Today however, there has been a loss of a very loved life, and I am especially asking you for your support and thoughts for Wendy at this time. We are working on being able to get Wendy and our son out to Edmonton for Gerry’s funeral, and our ten year old son will need some support as he faces the first
time in his life that he needs to learn how to grieve for the loss of someone he loved and enjoyed dearly.

Wendy and I, and this business will get through this; it is not the first time we have faced back to back tumultuous events. Back when we were building this business in January of 2001, my father passed away suddenly in Ontario, and a week later, Wendy’s father passed away in Alberta.

Thank you, and I know that Wendy would appreciate your thoughts for her and her family at this time.

Again, please ensure any business related emails are cc’d to me, and I will do my best at this time to work through whatever your needs might be.