WATCH: It turns out there was more than one baby born on the old Johnson Street Bridge. Ceilidh Millar reports.
Dorothy and Jim Carstairs have travelled all the way from Oregon to say goodbye to “Old Blue.”
“It’s kind of sad to see that go,” Dorothy said.
For the Carstairs, the blue bridge takes them back to the morning of October 15, 1963.
“It brings back the memories of the birth of my youngest son,” Dorothy explained.
Jim was stationed at CFB Esquimalt when he got the call that his wife was in labour.
“Our neighbour phoned the ship to say she was going to have the baby,” Jim said with a laugh.
Dorothy, who was being transported to hospital in a police wagon, didn’t quite make it there.
“They had traffic back-up at that time in the morning,” Dorothy explained. “They had to stop, and pop, I had a baby!”
Only this week, they discovered they were actually the second set of parents to give birth to a bridge baby.
Earlier this week, CHEK News brought you the story of Stephen Hussey, an Esquimalt man who was also born on Old Blue.
“I didn’t know anyone else was born on it,” Dorothy said with a laugh.
Now, more than fifty years since the birth of their son James, Dorothy and Jim watched as the main bridge span was towed away today.
“Everyone has to move on,” Dorothy said. “Even us!”
Ceilidh Millar
