“All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller
True love transcends even death.
There are always the memories of a life shared. The pieces of life that are left behind, the clothes, the books – all of that are reminders of who we lost.
For one widow, the memento her husband left behind to her was more powerful than any piece of clothing he might have worn. He left her his voice.
Dr. Margaret McCollum lost her husband, Oswald Laurence, after more than 15 years together. She had met Oswald, a former actor, through a tour and cruise company he was working for.
His death was the hardest thing she had gone through. “It was devastating to lose him. He had a great zest for life.”
Oswald Laurence was a theatre actor.
But Oswald had left behind a different sort of legacy. In 1950, he took a voice acting job. He recorded a message to be played on British subways to remind travelers to ‘Mind the gap.” The gap was a dangerous empty space between where passengers stood on the dock and the subway train itself.
Oswald was one of many voices that were used throughout all of London’s subway stations. His particular recording was used in the Embankment Tube Station. And it was there that Margaret went when she needed to be closer to her husband, when she missed him the most.
“Since he died, I would sit and wait for the next train until I heard his voice. On Nov. 1, he wasn’t there. I was just stunned when Laurence wasn’t there anymore. I inquired and I was told there was a new digital system and they could not get his voice on it,” she said.
Listening to his voice, she said, helped her through the darker days of grief.
(I would) sometimes miss a couple of trains just so I could hear it,” she said. “Although he could do accents, it was his natural speaking voice – clear, precise, authoritative.”
“So that was what I would do … until one day, I heard a different voice,” she said.
Reporter John Bull talked to Margaret and the subway station staff following the removal of Oswald’s message. He wrote, “(Margaret) kept asking them where the voice had gone. They weren’t sure what she meant,” but she explained, “The man who says ‘Mind the Gap’.”
So, Bull wrote, Margaret explained that it was her husband’s voice.
The staff was crushed, but told her they weren’t sure they could change it back to Oswald’s voice – but they did promise Margaret a copy of the recording.
But the employees didn’t stop there. Behind the scenes they worked desperately to comb through archival tapes and locate Oswald’s particular message. From there they managed to finally digitize his voice, adding it to their newly-updated announcement system.
Margaret McCollum sits in the subway station where her husband’s voice announces a “Mind the gap” message. Photo courtesy of Facebook and Moovit
A few months later, Margaret , who hadn’t been told about the surprise, was heading to work and passing through the station as she always had. When the ‘Mind the gap’ message began playing – she stopped in her tracks.
“… Over the speakers she heard a familiar voice. The voice of a man she had loved so much, and never thought she’d hear again.” Bull wrote.
Staff presented Margaret with her own copy of the recording, as well.
“Transport for London were approached by the widow of Oswald Laurence to see whether she could get a copy of the iconic ‘mind the gap’ announcement her husband made over 40 years ago,” said London Underground director Nigel Holness. “We were very touched by her story.”
What an amazing way to help a grieving widow keep her husband’s memory alive.
Watch below for the amazing story and to hear Oswald’s message in the subway station.
