My Dad was born in a
little farm house in Ireland. He had six brothers and three sisters.
The boys were wild and fought like cats. But my Dad had fond
memories of growing up on the farm.
He never did well in
school. However, he valued the education of my sister and I. He
always said to me “Knowledge was no burden to carry”.
Later in life, he
bought a set of World Book encycloypedias. He used to read them in
bed. He would come down in the morning talking about canons and
camels and castles. We knew he was reading the C book.
When my grandfather
retired from farming, the Taylors moved to a big house in town. The
boys became fancy dressers who loved big cars. They would come home
from church on Sunday afternoon, open the hood of their cars and
start changing the oil or fiddling with the carborator in their
Sunday best. He continued to do this all his life. My Mom used to
get furious at him.
He lived at home
until he got married at the age of 36. Apparently, on his wedding
night, he sat on the edge of the bed and cried about having to leave
home.
Shortly after he
married, he and Edwina came to Canada for the job opportunities in
carpentry and teaching. He always regretted leaving Ireland. He
went back many times to visit. He used to say to people that he has
lived in Canada for 50 years but he only lost his accent 10 years
ago.
When he left
carpentry, he worked in real estate. He would get listings by going
door to door. He would talk his way into the house and convince
people to put their house up for sale over a cup of tea. One time he
was forcefully told to go away in sign language by a deaf couple.
His most famous
client was Tim Horton when Tim Horton was starting his famous
business in 1966. I remember in 1967, my Dad taking me to the
opening of the first Tim Horton's donut shop in Burlington. Tim
Horton brought the starting lineup of the Toronto Maple Leafs there
just after they won their last Stanley Cup.
He went from real
estate into the hardware business. He bought a little Home Hardware
store on the Hamilton Mountain. I used to help him on my summer
vacations. My aunt and uncle and cousin lived in an apartment in the
back of the store. One day my aunt gave us a mattress, she didn't
need anymore. We put it on the roof of the car in the morning. In
the evening, we got in the car and started to drive home. Pulling
away from a stoplight outside the hardware store, my Dad cried, “Oh
the mattress!” I looked back and saw the mattress bouncing down
the road on its edge before being driven over by a bus.
He learned to play
golf with my sister, me and my friends at a little executive golf
course in Clappisons Corners north of Burlington. Little did we know
that it would become his major passed time in later life. Before he
retired and started going to Florida, he even played golf in the
winter in Hamilton. He got his picture on the front page of the
paper putting on a snow covered green. They had to shovel little
paths with their clubs to get to the hole.
My high school
friends in Burlington used to tell me about playing golf with a
little Irishman who was telling jokes and singing songs who turned
out to be my Dad.
His other favourite
passed time was taking Sunday drives. He continued that tradition
long after everyone stopped doing it when gas prices increased
drastically in the 1970's. He loved to take friends and family on
long drives in the afternoon to see the sights. He would often drop
in unannounced to see old friends and have a cup of tea.
When he could no
longer drive, he enjoyed Daphne taking him for long drives to do her
errands. He passed that “going out” gene on to Daphne and at
least one of his granddaughters. So we know his “going out” and
his “love of golf” genes will live on through his offspring.
No comments:
Post a Comment