Videos :: Sandra Davison :: Memorial Website

Memorial to Sandra

Updated: 16 February 2023 -- Posted something on my personal blog about the 20th anniversary of Sandra's death, as well as a comment about possibly raising funds for a memorial park bench for Sandra in Richmond.

Videos

My beautiful wife Sandra, 1958-2003. Picture taken Christmas day 2002.

This is a video showing Sandra with my family at Christmas 2001 and Thanksgiving 2002. (Canadian Thanksgiving, a public holiday, is in October.) In the middle there's also a short, undated (but sometime in 2002 before Thanksgiving) segment where Elizabeth (our niece) talks briefly about an earlier visit Sandra and I had made. Because the purpose of the video was really to capture the kids, Sandra isn't always the centre of attention; however, she's in there (sometimes only in voice or in reference), and that's why this video is a true gem.

I think it's worth adding a little bit of perspective here with respect to timelines. In December 2001 (when the first segments of the video were shot) Sandra was experiencing the first pains of what she was to discover, on 7 February 2002, was a malignant tumour almost completely blocking her colon. She had just started to see her doctor about this and was undergoing the first tests to rule out more common possible causes. The video taken at Thanksgiving was shot seven days after Sandra found out that the cancer had spread to her liver. This was a huge blow for Sandra and really the beginning of the end for her, but with the courage and strength that she displayed throughout the last year of her life (that she didn't even admit to having), she put on a brave and happy face for the kids. This video brings back happy memories, but the toll that the chemotherapy took on Sandra shows after the gap between Christmas and Thanksgiving the following year.

Video of Sandra.

Archived Video

Since I put the videos below online in 2004, video-on-demand technology on the Web -- not to mention broadband penetration -- has improved considerably, hence the single, full-length Flash video above that I put online in 2010. However, if you still want to download the Windows Media Video (WMV) files below, be my guest. For those with either the patience or a high-speed connection, I combined all eleven of the smaller clips into a single video which is five and a half minutes long. This is what is now displayed above in Flash video format, but the original full-length video in WMV format is also available for download immediately below. Therefore you don't have to download each clip individually; just download one of the full-length videos. They all have the same footage, but are of differing quality. I recommend the high-quality one, but the medium-quality one isn't too bad. (All of the shorter clips are high quality.) The low-quality one is quite small (on the screen) and the video quality is quite bad, so I'd only download that one if you really don't want to get one of the bigger files.

Technical information and download instructions are at the bottom of the page, if you need them.

Full-length video
Description	File	Length (m:ss)	Size	Download (mm:ss)^*
All the same footage, so you can just pick one that you would like to download and watch.
High-quality video	sandra_all_high.wmv	5:35	9.4 MB	22:35
Medium-quality video	sandra_all_medium.wmv	5:35	4.1 MB	9:56
Low-quality video	sandra_all_low.wmv	5:35	1.2 MB	2:57

See the descriptions of each of the clips below to find out what is happening and with who in each of the scenes in the full-length video.

Individual video clips
Date	Description	File	Length (m:ss)	Size	Download (m:ss)^*
25 December 2001	Sandra and Craig interacting with Christopher, with banter in the background. Christopher is about seven-weeks-old.	sandra01.wmv	0:23	686 kB	1:39
25 December 2001	Elizabeth opens a Christmas present (with help from Bruce), while Sandra and Colin talk in the background. Ends with Sandra and Craig with Christopher. Elizabeth is 22-months-old.	sandra02.wmv	0:42	1.2 MB	2:54
25 December 2001	Elizabeth performs for the camera, with Sandra in the background.	sandra03.wmv	0:31	903 kB	2:10
25 December 2001	Elizabeth plays with her new dump truck. More of Sandra, Craig and Christopher.	sandra04.wmv	0:39	1.1 MB	2:42
Unknown, 2002	Bruce talks to Elizabeth about an earlier visit from Sandra and Craig. "What did you do with Sandra and Craig?" "Eat." She'd be around two-years-old here, depending on the exact date.	sandra05.wmv	0:30	886 kB	2:08
Unknown, 2002	Bruce asks Elizabeth who came over to visit the other day. (Same clip as the previous one, but less of it.)	sandra06.wmv	0:07	226 kB	0:32
14 October 2002	Christopher walking (11-months-old), Dad (mine) in the background. Sandra can be heard talking in the background with Mum (mine again), and Elizabeth also calls out to her.	sandra07.wmv	0:35	1.0 MB	2:27
14 October 2002	More of Christopher walking, with Aunty Sandra (and Carolyn) being encouraging as always.	sandra08.wmv	1:05	1.8 MB	4:27
14 October 2002	More of Christopher walking, with Aunty Sandra (and Carolyn) being encouraging as always. (Same clip as the previous one, but less of it.)	sandra09.wmv	0:32	931 kB	2:14
14 October 2002	Sandra talking to Christopher while he plays with a briefcase.	sandra10.wmv	0:35	1.0 MB	2:27
14 October 2002	Carolyn recaps Thanksgiving, mentioning Sandra and the books she brought for the kids.	sandra11.wmv	0:26	766 kB	1:50
^* Estimated download times are over a 56 kbps modem. Download times over high-speed connections such as ADSL and cable will obviously be much shorter, and are relatively insignificant.

Now for the technical stuff. These files are in the Windows Media Video (.wmv) file format. I've played them without any problems in Windows XP Professional, Windows ME and Windows 98, with Windows Media Player versions 7, 9, 10 and 11; hopefully you won't have problems either. Let me know if you do and I'll try to help. To play them, you can probably just click on the appropriate linked file name; however, I'd recommend that you right-click on the link, select "Save Link As..." (Firefox and Chrome) or "Save Target As..." (Internet Explorer), save the video file on your hard drive, and play it from there by simply double-clicking it. That way you'll also be able to play it any time you want without connecting to the Internet and coming back to this website to download it again.

Home | Photographs | Videos | Ashes | Memorial Book | Obituary | Letter | Updates | Contact