I went to a funeral yesterday.  Pat was tied up as the CWL financials were getting audited by a committee.

I have not been to a funeral that did not involve being a member of the family, but I felt I should go because I really liked this man.  We were not close friends.  I have not been to his house and he has not been here.  Our relationship is solely from meetings through the Probus club.  Chatted with him many times.  Just one of those guys that you cannot help but like.

His death came as a bit of a shock to us.

Over the years I heard a bit about his background but only in talking to the family before and after the funeral did I realize what an interesting life he had led.

Born in 1941 In Yorkshire.  His father was an officer in the RAF and was killed in 1943 on a bombing raid.  He grew up with, I expect, a bit of money, so at age of 10 was sent off to boarding school (think of Hogwarts).  He developed a love and a skill in Rugby but was not at the time, scholastic.

At the age of 18 he was recruited by Hudson Bay Company to move to Canada and work at an outpost north of Hudson Bay.  Running a store and buying furs.   His career took him to more southerly outposts when he finally determined he should go back to school.  By then he was married to a girl who had been a teacher at one of the outposts.  She supported him through University to get a Poly Sci degree.  ( I know, not what I would have done).

This got him a series of jobs (too long to list) throughout the north, with government and mining companies.  Throughout his life he had been an avid skier and tried to continue to play Rugby.  He taught kids in Yellowknife to play the game.  He eventually received an offer to move to Comox Valley, to be the first general manager of a new ski resort, Mount Washington.

They had 3 kids by now and fortunately his wife Barb, could always get a job as a teacher wherever they went.

They settled here, and after the Mount Washington position was passed on, he worked as a consultant, obviously not making a lot of money… but making a lot of friends.

He organized and ran the local Rugby programs and had time to be the founding President of the Probus club we belong to.  (Which is how I met him.)

There were hundreds of people at his funeral yesterday.  More, I suspect, than will be there for mine.