Jim Owen finally got to meet his hockey hero Bobby Orr through the magic of teleconferencing.
At 78, Owen knows he’s coming to the end of his life and it’s not likely he will ever get out of hospital care to return to living on his own in his Port Moody home. In that apartment on his kitchen wall he has that famous photo of Orr flying through the air when he got tripped after scoring the overtime goal that gave the Boston Bruins their 1970 Stanley Cup championship.
Back in Prince George, Louise and Richard Lefebvre wanted to do something meaningful for their good friend in his dying days, so Louise reached out to the Bobby Orr Fan Club through his Florida-based website.
After a couple tries, Orr and Owen were able to get together for a face-to-face conference call using Stephanie’s phone.
During their five-minute conversation, Orr asked Owen if he’d been watching Vancouver Canucks games and he acknowledged he was, but made it clear his heart lies with the Bruins.
“Our Bruins have been struggling lately,” said Orr.
Stephanie asked her dad what he loved about watching Orr play and he said it was his skating ability, which allowed him to make breathtaking rink-length rushes with the puck.
Said Orr: “(Quinn) Hughes is like that, on Vancouver, he can skate.”
Stephanie told Orr how the Lefebvres got in touch with his fan club and mentioned they were both Montreal Canadiens fans.
“It took us awhile to beat the Canadiens, they were always good,” said the 75-year-old Orr.
“But you did it, Bobby,” replied Owen.
He asked Jim if he had ever been a hockey player and he said he hadn’t, he was just a fan. Orr promised he would send him one of his books and also gave them the option of a 16 X 20 or 8 X 10 print of his famous goal, which he would put in the mail the next day. Owen said the smaller photo would be fine and he’s since received an autographed copy of his latest book.
After the call, Stephanie asked her dad what he thought of his one-on-one conversation with the hockey legend.
“That’s top of the list,” he said.
Jim and his wife Lynda moved to Prince George from Yorkton, Sask., in 1969, when the city in the midst of a building boom, spurred by construction of the pulp mills. Jim got a job working in The Bay warehouse downtown, while Lynda was hired as food supervisor for the kitchen at Prince George Regional Hospital. Their two daughters were born at that hospital and lived in Prince George until 1987, they were six and eight, when the family moved to Abbotsford.
Louise first met the Owens in 1975 when she was working as a dietician at the hospital. She and Louise were pregnant around the same time and her daughters became good friends with Stephanie and Jennifer Owen.
Hockey is a bond the Lefebvres and the Owens always shared. Louise was born and raised in Montreal and the Habs are Richard’s team as well, so that made for interesting get-togethers when they’d watch Bruins-Habs games on TV. The Lefebvres bought Jim the Orr photo he’s treasured for years.
Lynda died in 2001 and Louise and Richard have stayed in regular contact with Jim, visiting him in his home usually several times a year. When they saw him in March and July they could see how frail he’s become.
They’ve known his health has been deteriorating over the past couple years and recently he’s taken several falls and was diagnosed with cerebral inflammation. They called his home in October and got no answer and found out he had been hospitalized and is awaiting placement in long-term care. That prompted Louise to reach out to Orr to try to raise Jim’s spirits.
“I Googled ‘Bobby Orr’ and found the address (of the website),” said Louise, “and within a couple hours I received a reply from an administrator overseeing the fan club and it was a one-liner that said, ‘Give us Jim’s phone number and we’ll see what we can do.’
“I got a second email that said 'we will arrange for Bobby Orr to call Jim directly.' I was stunned, and I called his daughter and said this is for real.”
Louise could see in her friend's face what that short call meant to him.
“He teared up,” she said. “When he saw Bobby Orr, what a lifter. I could just see the strength and the regaining of life. He was really touched.
“Bobby was very gracious. What a gentleman.”
