OJ, I hope you are doing well. You have many friends here who miss you greatly. Kathy G in MI

Now I'm starting to worry too. I was sure he would check in long before this. Maybe he's having transportation problems.

I am in OntarioCanada and could possibly find a number or address for him. Should I try?

I offered to phone him, and wrote to CherryFizz but she hasn't responded.

Didn't Ed write in one of his posts that his son would post here if anything happened to him?

Jak or Jas, that would be nice if his address/number are easily available in the white pages. I'm most doubtful he'd be unhappy about it.

Lindsey, I do think OJ did write that about his son--hopefully his son would remember.

Kathy and All

I dug out my paper address book realizing I have Ed's phone number and address. He gave them to me when he stayed with us a few days on one of his cross country trips.

I called the number. It rang and rang and rang, 10 or 11 times, and then switched to a fast double-beep. I don't know if that was a message machine or not, but when it was quiet, I left a message.

I will try calling several more times throughout the day.

I have no info on his son or daughter.

And today is Thursday. Isn't this his normal library day?

According to his profile page, he has a son living in the area.

I appreciate anyone's effort to find some information. He's been quite ill in recent weeks/months.

Thank you, Caroline. Would you be able to write him a short snail mail note, with a "Gardenweb Kitchen Table" notation near your name on the envelope? Or would that just look like junk mail?

Yes, I will send him a card from all of us today. He knows my full name, address, etc.

Add my good wishes for him! I've been watching, but haven't commented until just now.

I remember Ed's son's first name. He's posted it here a few times.
Someone who has more info might be able to look him up assuming Ed and
his son have the same last name. I'm assuming the son lives relatively
close. I can send you the name if you don't know it already.

I looked up Ed's address on white pages, but there are a number of listings with the same name, outside of the city, which is where he lives. So I'm not sure which one he is.

I realize that Ed lives in Canada, and I am in the USA, but here in the States you can contact the local law enforcement and ask them to do a "wellness check." Does law enforcement in Canada do the same thing? (I would think that they do.)

Anyway, perhaps since Caroline has Ed's address and phone number, she could contact the authorities in Ed's city and ask for a wellness check.

"I looked up Ed's address on white pages, but there are a number of
listings with the same name, outside of the city, which is where he
lives. So I'm not sure which one he is."

Jasdip, call everyone on the list, and say, "sorry to bother you, but I am looking for an 85 (?) year old man by the name of Ed___. No one answers at his number, and I was hoping to find a relative or someone who knows him."

Be aware that Canada Post is in the throes of labour issues so snail mail might not yield results. Im thinking of looking for him with what limited info I have.

I just remembered something else! He belongs to a mens' Bible study group. I think I remember it being at the Methodist Church.

If I can find their number, I believe it's in Southwold, Ontario, I could call there and perhaps find out his status and leave a message from all of us.

I'm going to call him! Since Caroline mentioned Southwold, I'm calling that one.

I just called and I got the same response as Caroline did. Several rings, then consecutive beeps. I'm looking for the church.

I'm not really getting anywhere. I called the main library and also a couple of possible branches. He's listed in their system, but they don't know what branch he'd be using. The lady on the phone did do a walk-about and he's not there.

I left a message at a church, but it's probably not the right one. There's no actual Methodist Church in London and vicinity.

I called names and no one knows him or related to him.

Jasdip... I just sent you a message...

This is really getting upsetting. I truly hope Ed is o.k., he is missed here!

U---P---D---A---T---E

Our friend Ol' Joyful is busy gardening!!!! He's out in the garden and has been too busy to go online. He said he'll pop in soon to say hi.

I called the police and they sent an officer around.

So we can all rest easy.

Thank you for the update!

Thank you; thank you; thank you!!!

Ed, take a small gardening break and spend some quality computer time with us!

Thanks Jasdip for persuing and updating us.

I'm surprised there's much to garden. We need a rain desperately, the lawns are brown and crisp, and the weeds aren't growing. Oh well, he's healthy and happy!

I am glad Ole Joyful is fine. He must have been surprised when the officer checked up on him.

Wonderful news!

Yay! I'm so relieved! Thank you so much, Jasdip, for sticking to this like a bloodhound. Ed has been an important presence in this forum for a long time, a friend to one and all.

Good news! He'll have a story to tell us when he comes back.

What a relief. Thank you Jasdip for taking the lead and going the extra mile. I know everyone here is so relieved to know he is OK.

Thank the good Lord!

Glad he's still around! What a nice man to have so many friends that care enough that they send the police. See OJ ... You can't get away with anything, even gardening. Glad you're well.

Oh I'm so glad. Jasdip, thanks for going the extra mile and thanks to the officers for doing a wellness check. They were probably wondering - "so what's this GW stuff and who/what is a Jasdip and Ole Joyful?"

Do you suppose he is having a good chuckle as he goes to bed? Hopefully he knows how much we all care about him. Enough to call the police ;0)

Thank you Jasdip. Mystery solved.

Thankful OJ is okay. Thank you, jasdip, for all you did to check up on him for us! OJ, you are missed, and loved!

Oh, thank you so much, Sherry! He's never been away this long that I know of and I'm thrilled to pieces to know he is fine and busy. How wonderful of you to have pursued this for us all.

Sorry Jasdip, I haven't been back to the KT until now. I am glad you were able to find Ed and he was okay. I had checked for emails he has sent me in the past for his phone number and I must have deleted them. I did send him an email to his personal email account but if he hasn't been going to the library he would not have received it.

I am happy to hear he is O.K. Whatta' Guy, Gardening for all his friends and neighbors. A labor of love that keeps him going!

I'm waiting for the upcoming episode of COPS Canada where they take the battering ram to the door of the old farmhouse and a joyful dude is squattin on the pot fixing elastic on his undies...

Thanks Jasdip for checking on Ed for us. I have an image of you calling the police department and telling them that you have an internet friend and that you haven't heard from him for a while and all of your other (imaginary) friends on the internet are urging you to contact him. ......and then they show up and he's out weeding his garden.

Thanks again. Mario

I was running out of ideas, so the police were the last thing to try. The woman I spoke to took down his information, and mine, and I was able to describe him from the get-together that we had a few years ago with Nita and Mike. I did say that he's part of a large online community, which kind of took her aback a bit I think. She paused and then proceeded to ask me more questions. :-)

I too would love to have seen the look on his face, and even the officer's when she pulled in, and there he is outside puttering in the garden with not a care in the world. LOL

He will have a great story to tell! Thank you jasdip for all you did. It is really appreciated. Now........hopefully we don't have to wait til next Thursday to hear from him.

LOL, an international effort to find a friend. I love it. I'm glad it has a happy ending. Good work, everyone! I, too, would love to have heard the talk at the police department. You know, it is remarkable that they didn't just write it off as "crazy" when you explained how you know Ed. :) Good for them. I wonder what my local police department would do.

Thank you so much Jasdip. This is what friendship is and what "love one another" and "you are your brother's keeper" is all about. I'm so glad he is doing well.

cynic -- Tee-hee! O.J. will appreciate that one!

As much as your intentions were good and come from a place of concern I would not have liked the police coming to my door. to check up on me. OJ has lots of friends and family that I am sure keep tabs on him and his well fare. Sometimes we all like to disconnect from the electronic world we live in and just get back to nature.

But there are people who don't have a safety network and whose only daily connection is their cyberfriends. I would not like to be a part of a group, real or cyber, who are not concerned about the people around them.

Ed does have a network of friends and he has a son nearby and a landlord so that is why I wasn't too overly concerned

Just came back to check this message again ... and found that it started on June 25 (and carried through till July 8). I hadn't noticed before, but June 25 is an important date in my past.

Some time ago while visiting a business plaza in the city, I saw the words of that date written on a game store window, so went in there to check. They were not of Korean background, but carried the game, which has a Korean origin.

The words are "Yook Ee Oh": "yook" is "six", "Ee" is "two" and "oh" is "five", so when put together, they are "6 - 25" which to Koreans are as familiar as "9-11" is to U.S. folks.

It is the date on which the Korean War began, June 25, 1950. And it ended with a truce, in July, 1953 ... and there hasn't been a "peace" in place, yet!

When I was in university, in 1950, the year in which the Korea War began, some left-leaning people said that it was the Republic of Korea (South Korea, or "ROK") that started it, not the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Whatever "democratic" means, in that context.

If there's anything that people who had deeply dedicated to a certain ideology, philosophy or theology can't stand, it's to have some people make a joke of their major viewpoint.

When they claimed that South Korea started the war ... we laughingly said to them that, yes, South Korea started the war ... and in two days, their capital city was overrun by the army of the country that they'd invaded ...

... and they lost their military headquarters.

Anybody who'd believe that ... would probably believe that the moon was made of green/cream cheese, if the people making the claim were earnest enough!

The war was still going when I was appointed by my church (The United Church of Canada, union of Methodist, Congregationalist and about 70% of the Presbyterians, in 1925) to go there to carry on missionary work, and the truce was declared while I was on a ship on the Pacific en route there. Eighteen days out of sight of land on the Pacific, en route from Los Angeles to Manila gives one who hadn't seen an ocean until then an idea of how large this world is.

The main task was to help something over 100,000 refugees get their lives started over.

So I was quite interested in the date of this thread when I noticed it.

ole joyfuelled