There is a reason we had Dad’s Celebration of Life at Fanshawe Pioneer Village…

We said

I think Dad was all of three seconds into retirement before he was knee-deep volunteering first, then working at The Village. He spent a large part of his time in the London Free Press print shop. I’m pretty sure his draw to that area of The Village was the fact that at one time he had three sons that were actively working as graphic designers. It was fitting he was there and he touched many a family that visited there—some never knew that the guy in the print shop was our Dad.

The team there did an amazing job of giving us a fitting space to celebrate his life and even had a memorial to his time there. But, they also pulled a Dad move and printed up these commemorative signs for people to take home as memorial of the person who made a deep impact on anyone he met. Thank you to everyone at The Village who gave him such a special ‘home’ in his retirement and made sure to stop by today and say hello.

Today we celebrated Dad’s life. It went exactly the way he would have wanted it: low key, friends and family enjoying their time together, and with an over abundance of food. The Village put together a special tribute which is the thank you’s he had gotten from visitors from all over the world, written in their language of comfort to share what comfort he made them feel. And those messages he had, that hung on the wall in the print shop were a great source of pride and reflection for him.

Thank you to everyone who came out today and a to everyone who sent messages that couldn’t make it. It meant a lot to us as we heal from this last year.