Monday, March 22, 2021
We remember our Dad as a fun-loving, infinitely patient, smart, educated man who taught us the importance treating everyone equally regardless of the colour of their skin or position in life. He loved music, in particular the bagpipes, which he taught himself to play; classical music and opera as sung by the 3 Tenors and Mario Lanza. Of course, he also appreciated a good military march and he would sometimes demonstrate his marching skills for us in the kitchen.
Dad had a great interest in woodworking and would spend hours in the garage puttering over some project and more hours reading woodworking magazines. When he was unsure of how to do something or sought knowledge, he would often turn to books for the answer and he was especially knowledgeable about historical events. He loved to read and would sometimes become so absorbed in a book that he would be oblivious to what was going on around him. He instilled that love of reading in his daughters by his example. Dad loved to laugh and he appreciated a good, harmless practical joke.
He was the kind of father who participated in his daughters' upbringing whether it was reading us bed-time stories in his beautiful reading voice, teaching us a new skill, encouraging us to be independent thinkers, writing us countless, individual letters when he was away, or giving us the opportunity to "help" with whatever he was doing around the house(no matter what kind of a mess we made).
He was a man of humble and very difficult beginnings who could have been resentful, bitter or angry about his early life, but he wisely chose a different path. He chose to put his energies into being accepting of others, going out of his way to help those who needed it, caring for his children and performing his duties as a soldier with excellence and pride.
His was a life well-lived and we are so proud to be his daughters!
