We lost our dad just before Father’s Day
By Bill Fox/Columnist
Our 94-year old father has passed away.
The past few years had been difficult for him after having two falls that led to him being hospitalized. He had lived in his own home in Wilmot Creek after our mother died and was putting out garbage one night and had a fall. It was September and the temperature went down to 5 C that night. At 11 o’clock the next morning, someone noticed him lying near the back of his home. He eventually recovered after spending a few weeks in intensive care.
Last November, he fell in his home, cracking some ribs. He would never return to his beloved home again as the drugs used to initially to control the pain caused his slight dementia to increase. Eventually off the painkillers, he returned to his old good-natured self.
In the Bowmanville/Newcastle area, many people knew Dad as the Shortbread King. In his final years, he would make his famous shortbread for everyone he had contact with. It gave him great joy to put together a small bag of shortbread and take it with him to give to the store cashiers, his church secretary or whoever else we had to visit that week. Putting a smile on people’s faces is what I believe allowed him to survive so long, especially after Mom died.
Dad was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1921 and came to Canada in 1950 with an uncle to find work before sending for my Mom, my brother and I to follow. That must have been tough, coming to a completely new country and leaving your young family back in Britain while you sought out your destiny. After initial setbacks, we were all reunited in Toronto.
Dad was completely dedicated to his family. Eventually, he got on with the Scarborough Township’s works department as a labourer, even though he was an upholsterer by trade. Many a snowy night, he would be called out to help with snow clearing and sanding of roads. It was not unusual for him to work more than 24 hours straight during the worst of storms. I never knew him to skip the opportunity to work overtime to help give us a better life.
Eventually, he rose up the ranks and was offered the chance to take some courses to better himself. When he retired, he had risen to the rank of roads and sewer inspector, working alongside university-trained engineers holding the same position.
Dad always had a great smile and sense of humour. Just a month ago, my son Jon (of the Standstills) was talking to him about the music award he received for being in the best new rock group in Canada for 2016. Dad mentioned that music ran in his family as his father sang in the church choir for over 50 years, so Jon asked about how come I did not display musical talent? Dad’s immediate response was, “sometimes it skips a generation!”…and he smiled at me and winked.
Along with his dedication to his family and his sense of humour, Dad was very spiritual and good-natured. Before he passed, he would often wear his rosary around his neck. Towards the end, it was difficult for him to get out of bed, but the young physiotherapists would come and get him to walk down the nursing home hall with his walker. Sometimes he felt too tired and didn’t really care to go for a walk that day, but these young people needed their job, and he said if he did not co-operate, they might lose their positions, so he would try his best to accommodate them and then tell me that they would say he actually was ‘running’ down the hall with his walker as he got so enthusiastic.
The physical vessel carrying my Dad’s spirit has died and has gone, but my Dad’s spirit, sense of humour and musical talent lives on in his family. Keep watching over us, and thanks Dad.