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Maureen O'Rourke donated to BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
In loving memory of a wonderful friend of 40 years.
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Matthew Harding posted a condolence
Monday, July 20, 2015
Remembrance of my Father - Matthew Harding, July 18, 2015
Dad. Grandpa. Arthur.
Where to start? Engineer and Geologist. Car Mechanic and Boat Owner. British and Canadian. Music lover and Book lover. Husband, father, grandfather.
If I had to describe my father, the first thing would be to mention his sense of humour: often peculiar, always unique. In the last week several people have offered me tributes and personal recollections through emails and phone calls, and the one thing that stood out the most that people mentioned was my dad’s sense of humour. My dad could see the irony in any situation and was never at a loss to provide his humorous outlook.
Anyone who knew my dad, knew that he always had a story to tell. Some true, some not so true. There was never any story that couldn’t be made better for the repeated telling.
As our good family friend Carroll told me, he was usually the life of any party and was always certain to give you his perspective and advice, and then chase you down to make sure you actually took it.
When I was talking on the phone with my brother-in-law Alastair, who couldn’t be here today, he described my father as a great guy with a good sense of humour. Then he paused a moment and said: “Oh yes, and he had good taste in beer”.
Whenever someone used to tell me I have inherited my father’s sense of humour. I never knew whether to take it as a compliment. I think now I understand it to be a compliment. And also I realize, that Joe and David had also inherited it. I only have to look at my children to realize that we have all inherited his quirky sense of humour. We are all comedians, mimics, actors and great storytellers, and I know whom to thank for that.
My father also had a lifetime passion for music and reading, something that was instilled in us since we were young. He was always reading or listening to music, collecting old books, LPs, cassettes and then CDs, and he had a special fondness for Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. I believe he has probably over 20 complete versions on CD or DVDs sitting around the house, and he was always filling us in on the latest version he had just acquired.
As for books and reading, I will always remember our monthly book rituals. He would come to my house to borrow a book from my shelf I hadn’t read in years, and take it home to read it, and several months later I would be browsing his bookshelves and find a book I liked, and ask if he minded if I could borrow it. “No problem”, he would say. “That one is yours anyway”. He stole my books when he came to my house, I stole his licorice allsorts when I went to his house. Back and forth it went.
Fashionable, however, is one word I would not use to describe my father. Fashion was never his strong suit, although he did put on his best sweatpants for his weekend trips to Canadian Tire. Although he cleaned up well, he was never more comfortable than when he was wearing his shorts, hat and Flip-flops or moccasins working at a job site or just puttering out in his garage.
Another word to describe my Dad a wanderer. He loved to travel. Like Joe, I also have fond memories of travelling extensively as a child, from Afghanistan to Nigeria, from the South of France to Switzerland back to Billericay, England and all points in between. How many of my friends can say they were there when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and had to leave in the middle of the night to drive through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India in an orange Volkswagen Camper Bus?
I still remember vividly the one time in the early 80s when we were travelling through Amsterdam to get back to Lagos, Nigeria from one of our vacations. The customs officer in Amsterdam asked us if we had any prohibited weapons in our suitcases or bags. “Oh no” said my father, “none at all”. We then waited an hour while they patiently went through our luggage and confiscated a total of 21 plastic cap guns, water pistols, knives, fireworks, and I think a plastic hand grenade. “Don’t worry”, said my father. “I’m sure they will forward them on to us in Nigeria”. We never saw them again.
I would also like to thank my father for a few other things we picked up on our travels –malaria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis and schistosomiasis. Not to mention annual immunizations against other popular diseases such as Yellow fever, Hepatitis, Rabies, Dengue Fever, and I’ve forgotten most of the rest of them. Our childhoods were never boring.
After the excitement of travelling the world my Mum and Dad “retired” to Mallorytown 20 years ago. I say retired in quotes, because my father was still working and when he did actually retire, immediately decided he wanted to become an independent consultant to work even more.
I figured my Dad would slowly ease into full retirement through a series of small jobs, but he started getting busier and busier. For a while he was commuting weekly to Syracuse, NY to work on a pulp and paper manufacturing facility, but finally he called me one day and said he was doing one last small job before real retirement. When I asked him what job, he said “just a small mining project in the Congo”. I was a little concerned, and asked him if it was the Democratic Republic of Congo or the Congo. “Don’t worry”, said my Dad – “it’s the Good Congo”.
Finally, my dad did fully retire, and spent the better part of the last 10 years building additions onto his house, travelling with my mother to England and Florida, entertaining visitors, and driving to Ottawa and Kingston for numerous school concerts, kindergarten and high school graduations, and grandchildren birthday parties. He also spent hours and hours dredging the beaver pond at the end of his property, transferring it into “Crystal Lake”.
In our annual family reunions, the Farm Annual Birthdays, or FABs as we like to call them, my Dad always spent days and days in preparation, including setting up lawn bowling, badminton, horseshoes, cricket pitches, and treasure hunts to entertain his 9 grandchildren. Probably my favourite FAB memory involved a complicated treasure hunt involving canoe trips across Crystal Lake, negotiating with Chief Braveheart to trade for his wares, and bringing them back to camp by canoe. I don’t know if I was the only one that noticed Chief Braveheart had a Cockney accent, but I do have my suspicions.
The last 12 months has been a tough journey for all of us, but most especially my mother. But through all this, Arthur bore it with his usual sense of humour, only rarely letting his frustration show through.
I know the last few weeks for him were made much more pleasurable with the support of his community including Movie Nights he spent with his friends Bob Morrisson and John Cowan, the odd trip to Kingston, Brockville and Ottawa in search of Korean Food (and maybe 1 or 2 trips to Princess Auto), and even running with his 3 boys in Shannon Morrisson’s Marathon to celebrate the opening of her new physiotherapy centre. When I say running in the marathon, I mean actually a very slow 1K walk. We were overtaken by a family of 4 with 2 kids in baby strollers, but we finally finished and Arthur still wanted his t-shirt.
My brothers and I were also very fortunate to get to spend a final Boys Weekend together with my Dad in last month. My mum was with Andrea, and so Joe, David and I got to spend a thoroughly enjoyable weekend with my Dad doing what boys do best. Our weekend consisted of grilling steak on the BBQ, burning things, shooting 22 rifles at various targets including one of my mum’s old casserole dishes, drinking a 21-year old bottle of Port, and watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy – all 9 ½ hours. It pretty much doesn’t get better than that.
Even to the end my father still kept his sense of humour. As he was being admitted to the Brockville Palliative Care unit two weeks ago, he asked his nurse what her name was. “Shirley”, she said. “Then I think I will call you Curly Shirley”, he decided. She was quite amused when she was later telling me the story. Then she thought for a moment and confided in me, “It’s a good job my name isn’t Shelly though. Then he probably would have called me Smelly Shelly”.
I got the chance to say thank you to my father several weeks ago and I would like to do it again today.
Thank You:
– Thank You for teaching me how to play backgammon when I was 10 years old (and sometimes even letting me win)
– Thank You for trying to teach me to drive in the Jebba Spillway in Nigeria. And Thank You for not being too mad later, when I crashed your cars in Montreal. Both of them.
– Thank You for not laughing at me at age 15 when I said I was going to marry my girlfriend and spend the rest of my life with her (which I did)
– Thank you for being a visionary and buying our first computer with 1K of RAM that launched me in my career
– Thank You for introducing me to Glenn Gould, this Canadian piano player that has given me a lifetime of pleasure
– Thank You for having the courage to bring us to Canada where so much of our success and happiness has come
– But most of all, thank you for being my father. We didn’t talk every day, but you were my father always. I love you.
I would like to close with a short poem by Charles Bukowski, entitled “happy birthday”.
when Wagner was an
old man
a birthday party was given
in his
honor
and a couple of youthful
incidental compositions
were played.
afterwards
he asked,
“who wrote those?”
“you did,” he was
told.
“ah”, he responded,
“it’s as I have always
suspected: death
then
does have some
virtue”.
Thank you for the memories. Thank you for being my father.
You will always be Chief Braveheart to me.
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Louis Harvey posted a condolence
Sunday, July 19, 2015
I learned with sorrow the departure of Arthur, at an age not far beyond mine.
I came to the Monenco Jebba Project in August 1981, to replace Mike Hall in the powerhouse area. Since Arthur and Mike were good friends. I got to know a bit of Arthur's personal history shortly after my arrival, at the occasion of his visits in the small site office that I was sharing with Mike Hall.
I feel grateful to Arthur for having helped me with some technical problem I had to resolve at the time.
My sincere condolences to Mary and family.
Louis Harvey / Site engineer / Jebba Monenco team / 1981-1983
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Alastair Mickie donated to BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL
Friday, July 17, 2015
Our most sincere condolences for your loss. Thinking of Arthur and all the Hardings on this day.
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The Ingold Family posted a condolence
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Dear Matthew, Andrea, Mary and family,
Our sincere condolences on your loss. Arthur was very special to you all. Over time may your memories give you strength and peace.
Our thoughts and prayers will be with you on Saturday and always.
Iris, Doug and family
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The Smith Family posted a condolence
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Dear Joe, Sharlene, and Family, We were so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. We are thinking of you and your family during this extremely difficult time. With sincerest condolences, Dave, Petra, Owen, and Andrew Smith
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james cantafio posted a condolence
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Dear Mary, sorry to hear about your loss. Thinking about you and your family. My sincere condolences. -James
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Sam Peter posted a condolence
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Dear Family; Please accept my sincerest condolences. I am always saddened to see the loss of a loved one, although they are at peace, we still miss them very much. My prayer is that, “Our Father who art in heaven” grant your desire to see your loved one again thru the sacrifice and love of His son, "the Resurrection and Everlasting life. May the "God of all comfort" be with you at this time. Sincere sympathies, SamPeter.12@gmail.com and family USMC, DAV.
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Alexandra and Tony Brett lit a candle
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
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Our deepest condolences to the Harding family during this difficult time. We are all thinking of you.
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Alexandra Brett purchased flowers
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
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Onno Kruller posted a condolence
Monday, July 13, 2015
During the 90ties when leaving the office on Stanley street for home at the same time, Art and I would walk to the station and continue our conversation on the train. With his characteristic laconic humour he would often zoom in on the irony or triviality of a given situation or news development - my heartfelt condolences with your sad loss.
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Sharon & Jason Sewerynek and Family posted a condolence
Monday, July 13, 2015
Dear Mary, Matthew, Joe, David and families, we are so sorry to hear of Arthur's passing. Please know that our hearts go out to all of you, you are all in our thoughts and prayers. Arthur was a wonderful man, who made us laugh with his British wit and silliness. He will be deeply missed. Sending you the strength you will need during this difficult time. Love, Sharon, Jason and the boys.
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Kathleen, Stewart, Michaela & Eleanor Taylor posted a condolence
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Our spirits are there to hold and comfort all of you during this difficult time. We have memories of Arthur that will always make us smile.
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Bill and Karen Harding lit a candle
Sunday, July 12, 2015
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Claire posted a condolence
Saturday, July 11, 2015
I am truly sorry for your loss. No doubt Arthur enriched the lives of many around him. No one better than God, understands the depth of your pain and can help you cope with your disquieting thoughts. Thus, I hope that in due time, your family receives God’s peace that excels all thought, so that it will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus. God is love and he cares for all his creatures. He is called the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation. Also, may the resurrection hope in the new world, and knowing that "Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart, and those who are crushed in spirit he saves" bring you emotional support. (Psalm 34:18; John 6:40)
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Kent Penney posted a condolence
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Our deepest condolences to the Harding family during this difficult time. We are all thinking of you.
Kent, Heather, Caroline and Jack Penney
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Brian and Maggie Roberts posted a condolence
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Dear Mary and family,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this sad time. We have many happy memories of Arthur and his British sense of humour. We know he will be missed.
All our love, Maggie and Brian
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Charron Family posted a condolence
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Dear Harding Family - we grieve with you at your loss and send you strength and offers of support as you remember the life of Arthur Harding and in the weeks ahead.
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Bruce and Suzanne Mackeen posted a condolence
Friday, July 10, 2015
Our thoughts and sympathy we extend to you and your family.
Bruce and Suzanne Mackeen
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The family of Arthur David Harding uploaded a photo
Friday, July 10, 2015
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Matthew lit a candle
Friday, July 10, 2015
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The family of Arthur David Harding uploaded a photo
Friday, July 10, 2015
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