Friends, relatives and aquaintances of Danny Segin recently gathered in the quaint Toronto suburb of Oakville, Ontario to surprise him for his 70th birthday. And he was suprised. His brothers came from western Canada, some of his cousins came from the United States and his children and grandchildren came from the area to wine, dine and celebrate.

The party was held on Saturday, August 10, 2002 at the home of Mike and Sabrina Goodfellow. But the prelude and warmup began Friday, August 8, 2002 when the surprise party co-conspirators gathered at a watering hole in Burlington, Ontario _ The Whistling Mountie.

  Apparently the Mountie doesn't know the words.

Among those gathered there were Pat and Jeannette Segin, Sabrina, Mike, Christa, Dana (comedic cannon fodder). They were joined by Dan and Steve Feica (nicknamed Vito and Guido or The Ugly Americans) who endeared themselves to their Canadian cousins with rapid-fire one-liners about everything and everyone. They were joined a short time later by Shelley and Victor Sing who brought Charlie Segin from the airport. Charlie bears more than a passing resemblance to the character George Constanza from the Seinfeld show. And that was the comedic high point of the evening.

 After taking over the patio of The Whistling Mountie and sipping vast quantities of adult beverages and talking until the wee hours of the morning, it was off to bed for another marathon party that was to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Danny Segin was brought to the Goodfellow home with the understanding that it was to be just a regular family gathering. As it was, some of his army buddies (including his quartermaster from Danny's stint in Cyrpus) were among the surprise guests. Danny was shocked and especially surprised, not just by the appearance of his American cousins, but because Charlie, who had never made the trip out to Ontario arrived fresh from B.C. 

  Charlie surprising Danny Segin.

The Brothers Segin. Charlie, Danny and Pat.

Dan Segin and Steve Feica chatting about the old days.

Dan's friend Margaret and his daughter, Shelley Sing.

Jeannette Segin and Dan's son, Darcy.

Danny Feica and Charlie Segin. You can tell they're related ... always a drink in the hand.

Mike, Patrick and Danny.