ANGEL WINGS #37166 10-8 HEAVEN

In this memoir, a woman recounts a happy childhood and her career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Simons was born in Divide, Saskatchewan, a “farm kid” who divided her time among sports, horses, motorbikes, and her brothers. Her family was deeply religious and attended a Lutheran church regularly, and that sense of spiritual support became a central pillar of her life. After she graduated from Mount Royal College, she joined the RCMP and served in many capacities for nearly 37 years until her retirement. She participated in many kinds of investigations, including homicide and sex trafficking, and writes affectingly about the contributions made by ordinary people every day to protect their communities: “Heroes walk among us daily.” She became close with two of her colleagues—Sarah Cockerill and Lesli Roseberry—and the three came to be known as “The Angels” for their tireless devotion to the welfare of at-risk children. Simons’ memoir is a candidly spiritual one—when Cockerill died of cancer, the author believed she had a “divine experience” in which she encountered her as an angel: “The purity of the white colour in the wings is not a colour of white that we have on Earth. Mix the colour white with light, peace, and the shining glory of GOD. Sarah is safe and she is a child of GOD. HEAVEN IS REAL.” Simons’ lucid remembrance is as informally anecdotal as it is forthcoming. The short work—under 100 pages and much of that personal photographs—reads like a story casually related to a friend. But it is so distinctively personal that it is unlikely to resonate with a wide readership. Still, the author’s loved ones, friends, and RCMP colleagues will enjoy this recollection.

A frank but idiosyncratic police and spiritual account.