Connie's Eulogy

It's now more than four months since Dad's funeral, but I'm finally able to share my sister's eulogy from that service. It was "buried" on dad's computer, which I recently moved from Sudbury to my home.

Thank you all so very much for coming to share with us in the celebration of the life of our Dad…He was Grandpa, Great grandpa, Uncle, Great Uncle, wonderful friend, minister, colleague and of course an absolutely wonderful Husband to my Mom Jean.

He was an incredible man…, so sweet and kind, so generous with his time, ears to listen always and a voice to give you advice, a story, an analogy, one of his memories, or a sermon (and the ones you heard were a little different the ones we got as kids!) He was such a source of encouragement. Knowledgeable, and understanding, but most importantly it was his willingness to share his Love…
I’m sure there is not a one of you that didn’t experience some Love from the “Rev” (as teenagers, Brad and I and our friends called him that) it wasn’t til his retirement at Copper Cliff that his new name of Marryin’, Buryin’ Erion was coined and put on a T-shirt and song lyrics! But, all kidding aside, my Dad was all about Love. There were no borders, no limits, and no conditions to his Love. It was genuine and generous. An absolutely beautiful soul….

Others have talked about his professional life but I’d like to share a couple of personal facts you may not know about Ed:

When I was 4 or 5 I realized I could get some special time with my dad if I’d eat red onion and blue cheese sandwiches with him. Yup they were one of his favorites!
He did love to eat, especially sweets, and until his 1st heart attack 15 years ago, when my Mom changed his diet to heart smart, he was totally in the right profession for finding the desert table… what baptism, wedding or funeral doesn’t include the best deserts! Last night at the visitation, Gerry Lougheed gave us Ed cookies and asked us to share them with someone and tell an Ed story… and please go on-line on their site and share those stories with all of us.

Dad wasn’t what I would call athletic, though he is the raining ping pong champion of the Erion Clan! Not bad at 82, as second runner up, I should have challenged him to a rematch this year; I might have had a slight advantage, as his cane would have got in the way!
But he was a role model for staying fit for all of us… he got up everyday except Sunday at 6am, he would stop over for coffee and toast with the boys and staff at Gloria’s [coffee shop]. And then head down to the gym for a work out. This past year he and my Mom went to the “Y” together every day...

Dad was also a fan of Hockey Night in Canada. I’m not even sure he had a favorite team… he just loved the game. On Saturday nights when we lived in Batawa, he and his 4 kids would head over to the Cranstons' arena for the entertainment. This gave my Mother some much need time alone, but for me, I went along for the pop and chips and a chance to hang out with the boys!

Now this fact might surprise you… our Dad was an addict. No, not to food or drugs or alcohol, okay, I'll give you a clue, our bathrooms always had the daily newspaper and a pencil in them, these papers were also on his desk, the coffee table or kitchen table… they involved words, puzzles, clues… you know it, my Dad was a CROSSWORD junkie!!! And a master to boot! He told me recently that he thought “Memory FX” helped, but for sure the crosswords were keeping his mind sharp!

Another thing about Dad, this one I call a gift and I’m so fortunate to have inherited… Dad could, at the drop of a hat, or better yet the drop of his eyelids be asleep! Standing, seating, leaning, lying, even sometimes while you were in conversation with him! Boom he was out! He probably saw a few of you do that during his sermons too!

Now Dad didn’t watch much TV, but when the series MASH came out, it became his soap opera! And over the last couple of years whenever possible, everything stopped at 4:30 and he and Mom would watch the back-to-back reruns before going up to make dinner.

Dad loved a bowl of cereal before bed… a little warm milk and Quaker shredded wheat.

One more, dad could never whistle or sing very well for that matter, but he always had a little hum, we all knew he was happy and content when we heard that “little hum”.

He liked the odd glass of port or sherry, maybe a glass of white wine for a special occasion dinner, a cold beer on a hot day, even crown and ginger now and then. So the next time you’re having a beverage outside, take a moment and share a little libation to the ground in honor of a truly, truly fine man. The Ghanaians taught us that the spirits of our ancestors are beneath us to support us. So give a little toast by pouring the first sip of your drink onto the ground and know his spirit and memory will live on forever, his genes will continue for generations and his legacy of loving, sharing and caring will never die…

Thank you all for being apart of Dads life…you gave him purpose and reason…
We will all miss him incredibly…

In closing
A little lesson from my dad. When you look in someone’s eyes see God in them and when they look in your eyes be sure they see God in you. May God Bless you and keep you safe and smart.

more wartime memories

I'm grateful to Bob Schimmell for this outline of Ed's wartime chronology - I knew of most of its parts but did not have the sequence of events clear.

Bob Shimmell reporting in. I was a Radar Mech with your Dad starting in May 1941, getting on the train at Hamilton, bound for Yarmouth N.S.. I went to UNB in Fredericton, while Ed went to another University in the Maritines. We went Overseas in the same convoy, and went to different Radar School in the U.K. We met up again at Gibraltar in 1942. Both on RAF Coastal Command Squadrons, Ed on 48 Sqdn and I on 233 Sqdn, sharing the same runway, half-mile-square Airfield, and similar deplorable living conditions. One bright light -- I joined up with the 2 "Reds", and two Canadian Radar Mechs from 79 Sqdn., I think, and we won the Basketball Championship of Gibraltar!!!!!
Our squadrons returned to U.K. and switched to Transport Command for the coming D-Day invasion. We were located in almost adjacent Airfields and when Canada decided to have its own Transport squadron, those of us who had been at Gib applied for relocation to 437 RCAF Squadron , and were accepted.
We spent the final 12 months of the War and our overseas service together. We had a great and congenial time under those conditions. Ed and I were good pals, even going out on double-dates with WAAFs, and the odd low-budget pub-crawl. (We weren't all that great as drinkers). Ed, Lofty Goodmanson and I were the three Flight Corporals, looking after about 33 Dakotas (with help from LAC Radar Mechs). We came home on the same Convoy--------------- after a few years of getting our separate lives straightened out, I located Ed up at Lively, and have kept in touch ever since. So, that's my introduction.

Ed was a great guy, and I wish to submit my most sincere condolences to Jean, Connie, You, and the grandchildren etc., etc. Ed obviously made his presence felt in the religious, and other, commmunities in the Sudbury area.

I will miss Ed because he is so wrapped up my memories of WWII, and the people I met under sometimes adverse conditions. There aren't very many of us left. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.