My words at the Service: When my Dad passed he was surrounded by friends and family and we filled his room with hours of laughter and stories. I would hope we can celebrate by sharing our fondest memories now. There is a lot of family and friends from out East in Ontario that are not able to join us. Today I received a message from one of many cousins Gary who shared this with me. I was thinking about your dad the other night and I remember his smile , married to ONE wife , his son that followed him in careers ,a daughter that he spoiled and adored and all the things that I saw since I was a kid. He was a one armed man that drove bike, drove standard cars with the stick on the column ,shuffled & dealt cards ,lit matches and was able to reel in a fish ,.lol still love him for his smile I have so many memories that I will hold close in my heart. I wanted to share three stories that I have told many times. My Dad was always willing to help a friend or a friend of friend or even a stranger so when I came to him as a teenager one night to tell him my friend Derrick broke down just outside Red Deer at 10pm at night. Dad and I jump in the truck and we found Derrick. Dad connected a 20 foot tow line to Derrick car. Dad pulled Derrick along the highway in his car. Now Dad and I got to talking and Dad forgot Derrick was behind us and he resume regular highway speeds. Dad and I got a little concerned when the back end would slide a little when we took a bend in the road. As we made a significant turn the back end really pulled and both Dad and I turned to look behind us to see Derrick leaving the ditch to cross the highway and into another ditch and back on the highway. We tried not to laugh unsuccessful at Derrick who was white knuckled and pale repeating that he was ok. Dad told everyone story many times and always laughed. Now I have memories that I can laugh at now but at the time I failed to see the humour. My very first date where the boy drove from Calgary to pick me up for dinner and movie. I was so very excited but I was not quiet ready when my date arrived. Now some dads use imitation but not my Dad, I protested when Dad suggested that he take the boy for coffee while I get ready, The boy looked nervous until Dad suggested they go on the motorcycle. We lived in Airdrie and my Dad brought the boy to Kananskis for coffee and returned 3 hours later and the boy was very excited to tell me how much fun he had and that he really liked my date. Dad did not understand why I would not talk to him for days for going on my first date for me. Now my final memories requires a little back story. Many of you will know that after many years trying to have a baby we pursued Invitro Fertization and on the first try we conceived Neo. Dad got more excited as my pregnancy progressed. Dad got very sick and he almost lost his life while he was in Ontario for a wedding when I was 5 months pregnant so a memory that I hold close to my heart is when my Dad came to the hospital to see Neo in the NICU. I asked Dad if he wanted to hold Neo and Dad offered his finger to Neo and shook his head. Dad said he did not want to hurt him but I insisted that he sit and I passed Neo to Dad and tears went down his face as Neo cuddled closer and spit up on him. Dad laughed and told me that this would be his favourite shirt as Neo had marked him as his. I hope you will share your memories as well. Thank you for listening.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 18:13:41 +0000