It is Thanksgiving Monday in Canada. This is my brother Neale’s birthday. Today I express my gratitude to God for Neale. He is the younger of my two brothers and he is eleven years younger than I am. It must be a rarity to have a father Edward who was six years younger than his middle brother Harry and eleven years younger than his eldest brother Neale (Cornelius). Then to have those same age intervals in the second generation of boys as well is an oddity that I have taken some pleasure in reciting occasionally. My brother was named after our Uncle Neale.
My brother was entering his teen years when I married Christine. On a Thanksgiving weekend when I first brought Christine home to meet my family over four decades ago, I received Neale’s approval of her. He liked her a lot and that served as solid validation to me. Neale was one of my groomsmen.
Neale has loved and lived for God since he was a young boy. He enrolled in a Bible College. He has a lovely tenor voice and did solo work for years. He began to sing with a travelling male trio singing Christian music and testifying to the value of a relationship with Jesus Christ. For a couple of years he and my brother Murray were together in the Messengers Quartet travelling across Canada and into the United States. I always envied their experience together. I was already engaged in pastoral work by that time and I was establishing a family as well as establishing myself as a preacher and local newspaper religion columnist. Neale and married Kathy. They were then and have always been, just right for one another. For several years he directed ministries of a Canadian international mission organization headquartered in Dorchester Ontario. 
Both and Neale and Kathy were needlework hobbyists doing beautiful work and following the conclusion of his mission involvement he and Kathy opened their own needlework retail outlet called Thread & Eye in London Ontario which they continue to operate. Located in London, Ontario, Thread & Eye is a treasure for those who love cross stitch, traditional needlepoint, hardanger, huck or swedish weaving and all the threads, beads, fabric, buttons and patterns that needleworkers are looking for. Neale took a picture framing course and for years now has operated framing facility in conjunction with the needlecraft. Just minutes from highway 401 midway between Toronto and Windsor, you'll find a warm and welcoming atmosphere. They have one lovely daughter named Amy who has gone Hollywood, that is, she married a man named Chris Hollywood. You will find Neale and Kathy's Thread & Eye website well maintained, easy to use and tremendously informative. Neale reminds me of our father. He is a good and reliable man, with a servant spirit and a gentle manner. When Christine and I made our cross Canada relocation to work in B.C. we gave up so much in terms of family connection, and I miss proximity to my brothers very much.
Happy Birthday Neale.
Thread & Eye
699 Wilkins St
London, Ontario N6C 5C8
(519) 685-1444
(800) 608-7380 (for outside the local London area)
threadneye@bellnet.ca
Hours of business:
Tuesday-Wednesday 10 am - 5 pm
Thursday-Friday 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday 10 am - 4 pm
