Sunday we held the memorial for Dad. We planted a Hoopsi Blue Spruce at the pond @ Pala for him. We also planted one for Maddy. Many of our cousins were there to help us celebrate his life and mourn his loss.
Jo traveled from Quebec City and Sue fron Tuscon. Most came from the Toronto area.
Dad's brothers, Jim & Tom, gave a lovely presentation entitled, "The Legend of Doug Juan". You had to be there. It was very lovely.
I presented this video. The songs are "Close Your Eyes", sung by James Taylor and Carole King, and, "Hobo's Lullaby", sung by Arlo Guthrie.
Doug
Doug at the Tofino Reunion, 2009
The video is lovely. It choked me up entirely. I wish I could have come to the memorial. It coincided with my wife's family reunion.
ReplyDeleteDoug and I were friends and colleagues through the EDB, LEAP and Community Futures early days. Since he was in Toronto and I in Sudbury, we saw each other mostly at meetings and conferences over the years and then sadly lost touch after he left the government.
I remember him as a thoughtful, fun-loving, caring, kind and gentle man with a lot of integrity, and not much time for bullshit. In his time as the manager responsible for guiding the Community Futures Program in Ontario, a role I later inherited, he was always modest and never pedantic, although his knowledge and experience in community economic development was considerable. He always knew and would often remind us that the real experts were the people doing it at the community level, not us bureaucrats, no matter how benevolent, well-intentioned and idealistic we might be.
I am struck, reading the posts and seeing the pictures, how many parallels our lives had, in music, reading, formative camp experiences, as well as work.
He always talked a lot about his kids and his love for you was obvious to all who knew him.
He was a truly nice man,and I miss him.
Scott
Scott,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post.
Dad always struggled with the bureaucracy.
And he did love us, that was always clear.
I miss him too.
Erin