Westmounter kisses hand of bomber - classic photo from 1963

John Spendlove kisses Jeanne Schoeters' hand in Montreal 1963

   John Spendlove was an artist painter who lived at 1 Gladstone in Westmount, the NE corner of Dorchester, in a spot that has been a parking lot for decades.
   So why is he kissing this young beauty's hand at the Montreal courthouse?
   In 1963 separatist terrorist FLQ bombers went on an explosives spree, killing Wilfred O'Neill in an explosion at an army recruiting centre on April 20.
   Behind the attacks was a Belgian professor named George Schoeters. His wife Jeanne was later hauled in and she told authorities that she had pleaded with her husband not to participate in such nonsense.

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   He ignored her counsel and she went along with him only to make sure that he didn't blow himself up or some such, perhaps to henpeck him even more.
   So she was charged and bail was set at $10,000, quite a sum in those days.
   Nobody had that kind of moolah but this old eccentric, said to be in his sixties but looking older, came in and laid down the loot, saying that even though the bombers had laid explosives at his door, one had to love their enemies. He also said he liked Belgians.
   She's obviously delighted to be freed by such an unlikely source.
   The internet has forgotten Spendlove, as barely a word makes reference to his entire life.

George Schoeters

  Schoeters was deported back to Belgium and lovely Jeanne, seen here at age 28, surely accompanied him.
   He died in 1994 and she would be in her eighties now if still alive.

(This post was originally a quiz but nobody had any ideas, everybody fails!)