 Oke's grandson, John Langdon Oke (1854–1928), wed Mary Winifred Sheppard, whose father, Nathaniel Sheppard, was a lighthouse keeper on Harbour Grace Island.John suggested the site for the first civil airport in North America (now the oldest surviving operational airstrip in Canada), from which aviators such as Amelia Earhart embarked across the Atlantic Ocean.In 1951, the early transatlantic flights departing from the Harbour Grace airfield were designated Events of National Historic Significance (Canada).