It's hard to believe that John is no longer with us. We attended his memorial service in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on Feb 16 following his death on Feb 9. John and Linda had been living there over the past 4 years.John had just turned 59 years old. He had fought a courageous battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease over the past 3 years. Walking close beside him was his equally courageous wife of 35 1/2 years, Linda.
I don't claim to know all the details of John's early life. He had been born in Newfoundland and lived some years in England as a child before coming with his parents to live in Hamilton.
His chosen profession was that of a Respiratory Technologist and he worked effeciently at that job for 27 years. After restructuring occurred at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton in 1994, he worked at several other jobs.
I remember back in about 1970 of Tom and I double dating with John and Linda. John had met Linda at a Coffee House event at St Joe's where he was working and where Linda was a student nurse. John took notice of the petite attractive Linda, singing and strumming her guitar, dressed in a lovely dress which definitely was becoming to her womanly features. She surely caught John's attention.
John's priority was taking care of his wife and the two children they were blessed with, Kelly and Matthew. When I say, "taking care of", I mean, he made sure they were each pampered and as happy as he could make them with whatever he could do. A very important way he could do this, was to be sure they were well-fed. Linda, was a great cook, but was often busy with her job, and moved over in the kitchen, so John could do the day to day cooking that needed to be done. John often used "Diana Sauce" when he was cooking chicken.
John used to enjoy challenging our little girls about cleaning their rooms. He'd tell them to grab a garbage bag and get to work. Yes, their rooms were indeed in need of a good going over and the garbage bags were put to great use.
We holidayed with John and Linda at Camp Kahquah for many years. In the evening our girls would be included in a procession including Kelly and Matthew, and march behind the Pied Piper, John, to the washrooms to brush their teeth as they sang along with him
"We're in the army now,
We're not behind the plough,
We'll never get rich, digging a ditch,
We're in the army now"
Oh yes, the memories are rich.
When Linda married John, he professed his religion to be Roman Catholic. After several years of Linda attending the Ridgemount Brethren in Christ Church, John began, ever so cautiously, to join her, at first infrequently and then on a regular basis. I still remember the joy of the day of his adult baptism. Indeed, that was a time of celebration.
But John is gone now. A wonderful friend is no longer with us. It feels good reminiscing and thinking about him. We look forward to the day when we will join with him in our heavenly home
John used to enjoy challenging our little girls about cleaning their rooms. He'd tell them to grab a garbage bag and get to work. Yes, their rooms were indeed in need of a good going over and the garbage bags were put to great use.
We holidayed with John and Linda at Camp Kahquah for many years. In the evening our girls would be included in a procession including Kelly and Matthew, and march behind the Pied Piper, John, to the washrooms to brush their teeth as they sang along with him
"We're in the army now,
We're not behind the plough,
We'll never get rich, digging a ditch,
We're in the army now"
Oh yes, the memories are rich.
When Linda married John, he professed his religion to be Roman Catholic. After several years of Linda attending the Ridgemount Brethren in Christ Church, John began, ever so cautiously, to join her, at first infrequently and then on a regular basis. I still remember the joy of the day of his adult baptism. Indeed, that was a time of celebration.
But John is gone now. A wonderful friend is no longer with us. It feels good reminiscing and thinking about him. We look forward to the day when we will join with him in our heavenly home
