"We're going to Fort McMurray. Today.” Then-Cadet Tinisha Reid was surprised to hear those words from her husband, Stefan, one morning last May. Although her father lived in Fort McMurray, Alta., she had been to see him recently. He was battling cancer and the end was drawing near, but as far as she knew, he was doing OK. So why the urgency? But Stefan was adamant. “There's something telling me we have to be there.”

By 6 p.m. that evening, they were on a plane. As they flew into the city, Tinisha looked out the window. “We could see the fire outside Fort McMurray—a little red glow,” she says. “It was small. It didn't look threatening.” But things were about to get much worse.

A New Home
Tinisha's parents, Quentin and Verna Thomas, moved to Fort McMurray in 2006, after restructuring affected Quentin's job in La Scie, N.L. He decided to try the oilsands, like thousands of other Newfoundlanders, and “fell in love with the city and everyone there,” says Tinisha. “It felt like a new family, like home.”

In university at the time, Tinisha was struggling to find her place. Although she felt called to officership, something was holding her back. “So when they moved,” she recalls, “I decided to go with them and take some time away from school, to try to figure out who I was and what God wanted me to do with my life.”

Sitting around a firepit with friends one evening, she realized it was time to surrender. “From that moment, I gave everything to God,” she says. “Right from the start, Dad was supportive and encouraging. He was always one of my biggest cheerleaders.”

As Tinisha began working toward officership, she met and married Stefan, and they continued the journey together.

“I'll Be There”
But soon after they were accepted to training college, they received devastating news—Quentin had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, two weeks before his 45th birthday. “You hear so many horrible stories about cancer,” says Tinisha. “But he never once complained or was upset with God, even though he had so much more to live for—he was still young, he had a brand-new granddaughter, his son just got engaged.

Lt Tinisha Reid shares some time at the hospital with her father, Quentin Thomas

“He always said, 'Don't ask, “Why me?” Say, “Try me.” ' He knew God was in control. His faith was so strong.”

After the diagnosis, Tinisha and Stefan wanted to put off training college. “Dad was always there for me, so I didn't want to leave him when he needed me, or take his only grandchild away,” she says. “But when we talked about it, he got upset. He said, 'Don't you dare stay home for me. You have to do what God calls you to do. Don't worry about me, I'll be OK. All is well.' ”

Quentin went through almost 70 rounds of chemo. Throughout his treatment, he continued to work, go to church and travel. “Even though he was extremely ill, he was never willing to pity himself,” says Tinisha. “He never stopped life for one minute. He was our Superman.”

As Tinisha, Stefan and their daughter, Rachel, moved to Winnipeg to join the Messengers of Light Session, he told them, “I'll be at commissioning. I'm fighting for commissioning. I'll be there.”

Silver Star
But in March, just a few months before commissioning, doctors told Quentin that his liver was failing. There was nothing more they could do. Realizing he didn't have much time, Tinisha flew home to Fort McMurray. Before she left, she met with Major David Allen, principal at the College for Officer Training (CFOT).

“I told him, 'I don't want to give my father his Silver Star after he's gone,' ” says Tinisha. “I want him to know he's getting it, I want him to know why, and I want him to be able to wear it at least once while he's alive.” The Silver Star is a pin that new lieutenants present to a parent or mentor at commissioning as a way to recognize and honour them, an expression of gratitude for their love and support.

“Knowing his faith, and his absolute trust in God, made it so much easier.”

On April 10, with the blessing of the territorial president of women's ministries, the Fellowship of the Silver Star secretary and the CFOT, Tinisha gave her father his Silver Star during a service at their corps. The worship team sang one of Quentin's favourite songs, He's Been Faithful to Me, as Major Stephen Hibbs talked about how his witness of faith had been an inspiration not just to Tinisha, but to the whole congregation.

“As I was pinning him, it was a moment of thanksgiving that I've had such a strong, amazing dad, who through so much could still say, 'All is well' and that God was in control,” says Tinisha. “But there was also so much sadness, to know that he wasn't going to make it to commissioning, that I wouldn't get to share such an important moment with him.

“Knowing his faith, and his absolute trust in God, that God was doing all things well, just made it so much easier.”

Evacuation
Back in Winnipeg, Tinisha kept checking in with her mom, ready to drop everything at a moment's notice if her dad took a turn for the worse. They waited and prayed, until the Monday morning at the beginning of May when Stefan said, “We need to go today.”

The day before, fire crews had discovered a wildfire southwest of Fort McMurray. By Monday evening, as they were flying in, it had grown from two to 1,250 hectares, and firefighters warned that it was going to get worse.

On Tuesday morning, Tinisha, Stefan and Rachel surprised her parents at home. Quentin was happy to see them, but too weak to get up. Knowing they were there, he seemed to relax.

By this point, the fire was threatening the city, but it was still on the south side of the river. Tinisha thought they were OK; Quentin and Verna lived in Timberlea, on the north side.

But at noon, the fire crossed the river.

“Abasand and Beacon Hill were on fire, and Thickwood was starting to burn,” she says. “Things started to get serious.”

When they called for an ambulance, the paramedics told them the wind was shifting again, moving the fire back south, toward the hospital, which was about to be evacuated. They said it was safest to stay put, but showed them how to move Quentin using a blanket as a stretcher.

That afternoon, the temperature soared and the fire grew. Neighbourhood after neighbourhood received mandatory evacuation notices.

“We were sitting by the radio, waiting, when all of a sudden, we heard, 'Everybody in Fort McMurray, get out,' ” says Tinisha.

They quickly packed some clothes, pictures and videos. Friends helped carry Quentin down two flights of stairs and tried to make him as comfortable as possible in their truck.

From Confederation Way, they merged onto Highway 63, the only major road through Fort McMurray. Just a few minutes before they left, police in gas masks were directing people north, to an oilsands work camp. We can't bring Dad north, there's nowhere to take care of him, Tinisha recalls thinking. But for some reason, they let them go south.

“The drive through 63 was like something from a Hollywood movie,” says Tinisha. Houses on fire, flames shooting, neighbourhoods smoking and obliterated. The highway was jammed with vehicles as almost 90,000 people fled the city. For most, it took hours.

“From the time we left their door, to the time we were in the safety zone, it was about half an hour,” says Tinisha. “It was only God, that's all we can say. It was God's way of letting us know that he was with us and we were going to get out, and Dad wouldn't have to be too long in the truck.”

Late that evening, they arrived in Lac la Biche, Alta., and took Quentin to the hospital.

Lts Stefan and Tinisha Reid were commissioned in June. Tinisha presented her father with a Silver Star at their home corps in April (Photo: Timothy Cheng)

All is Well
Two nights later, Quentin passed away with his family and friends around him. His last words were, “I love you. I want to go to heaven. I want to see Jesus.”

Earlier that day, they learned their house was destroyed in the fire; the Silver Star Tinisha had given her father was lost. Major Ron Cartmell, divisional commander for the Alberta and Northern Territories Division, met them at the airport in Edmonton with a replacement as they travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador for the funeral.

“He had an amazing home going,” says Tinisha. “Even though he was gone at such a young age, he loved life, and he lived it to the fullest. So we had an uplifting and encouraging worship service that reflected Dad's life.”

Quentin had been a volunteer assistant fire chief in La Scie. At the end of the service, firefighters provided an honour guard and the casket was taken to the cemetery in a fire truck.

“Stefan did the committal, and then we sang Dad's favourite chorus,” says Tinisha. “We ended by releasing red and blue balloons—Superman colours—into the air.

“As we released them, we shouted, 'All is well!' ”