How Canada's first Centennial baby got a Sesquicentennial surprise
"Canada turns 150 in 2017, and our New Year's Baby turns 50." — Ed Medford
Moments after baby Danny let out his first cries, his mother, Maxine Medford, saw fireworks popping in the sky through the hospital window.
It was New Year's Day, 1967 — four minutes after midnight — at the Royal Canadian Air Force base in Zweibrücken, Germany. After the birth, the nurses called around to all the other Canadian bases and embassies in Europe to ask if any other babies had arrived earlier that night. Before long, a nurse returned to Maxine's bedside with exciting news: as far as they could tell, Danny was the first Canadian citizen to be born in Canada's Centennial year.
Both the air base newspaper and local German media outlets ran stories on the newborn trailblazer.
Born Canadian, abroad
Which Centennial baby?
The term "Centennial baby" has come to refer to two distinct groups: babies born during Canada's Centennial year, and babies born on July 1 of that year, then known as Dominion Day. Danny Medford belongs to the former group; Pamela Anderson, famously, claims the title of the first baby in the latter group.
Lesser known: Danny Medford and Pamela Anderson went to high school together!
So how did Canada's first centennial baby come to be born on German soil — before the midnight bells had even chimed in Newfoundland?
Back in 1961, Danny's father, Ed — a West Indies-born British subject — had been stationed in the Royal Canadian Air Force at the Greenwood air base in Nova Scotia. That's where he met Maxine, who had a job serving at the local diner.
"Mess halls kept short hours, so I used to go for coffee and pie in the evenings," recalls Ed. Three years and countless slices later, the two were married. And three months after their wedding, they left for Germany where Ed was posted next.
The following year, when Maxine was expecting the couple's first child (Danny's elder brother Condy), Ed decided to apply for Canadian citizenship. He wanted their children to be Canadians, regardless of their place of birth.
"This was at the height of the Cold War," he says, "and the future looked quite bleak in Europe." And so he headed to the RCAF air base, 150 kilometres away, in the French town of Marville, to take his Oath of Allegiance.
The family returned to Canada when Danny was just six months old. A little sister, Tina, was born in Trenton, Ont. six years later.
Like any military family, the Medfords moved often. Living on both the East and West coasts, they got to know and love the whole country.
A sesquicentennial surprise
Just six years ago, Danny fell for an American woman and moved to Los Angeles, so they could be together. While the relationship blossomed into a happy marriage, he expresses an unshakeable longing for his mother country.
"Sometimes I miss Canada so badly it's almost like an ache in my stomach."
Fortunately for Danny, the Medfords had a big surprise in store for his 50th birthday and the start of his home country's 150th, and the family went to great lengths to throw him off the scent.
"Condy told him he'd be off skiing, and since I play in a few bands, I posted on Facebook that I had a gig in B.C. for New Year's Eve," says Ed. Danny had replied with an uncharacteristically short note saying "Have fun, Dad." "But he sounded disappointed," says his father.
On New Year's Eve, as Ed awaited his flight from Seattle, he continued the ruse, posting about traffic conditions on the road to his gig and pre-show nerves.
Just after midnight, Danny — who was already in bed — got a call from his sister Tina.
"Can't you hear your doorbell ringing?" she asked, when Danny picked up the phone. "Can you open the door? It's pretty darned cold out here!"
Danny got dressed, ran to the front door, and sure enough there was his sister, freshly arrived from Vancouver.
There was much hugging and laughter with fireworks going off all over the neighbourhood.
Five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. This time, Danny's brother Condy was waiting on the doorstep, having come all the way from Ottawa.
"Get the hell outta here!" cried Danny, throwing his arms open for another hug.
Still, it didn't dawn on Danny that his parents might have also made the journey from Canada, not even when his sister said she'd left a parcel at the front door. Out Danny went to retrieve it, only to take a great step back in surprise at what he saw.
"I opened the door and saw my mother standing there…" he says, voice cracking. His parents and siblings had brought Canada to his doorstep. "I still get choked up thinking about it," he says. "Best birthday present ever!"
