Norma’s Eulogy:
My tribute to Doug on Ash Wednesday: It’s Ashes to Ashes……
Doug always had the DailyBread at his bedside table which he read every day. When I came back from the Palliative Care Unit a few days ago three mini books were within my reach. How appropriate, I said to myself, to put a tribute together. There it was: the Daily Bread, The ‘Yardarm” brochures, and his Danish-English Dictionary. The spirituality of his thought was there. The Yardarm cover had the HMS Cruiser Belfast shown, on the Thames Embankment. We had boarded this ship while visiting England and Scotland for three weeks.
So here it is:
Danish for fishing: fisheri
Danish for difficult: svaer
‘Suffering can teach us what we cannot learn in any other way’
And Doug loved Proverbs: I chose Chapter 9-9: Give instructions to a wise man and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man and he will increase his learning. This humble, honest, warm-hearted man I’ve been honoured to be married to prompted this:
“Sailing through rough waters
or calming of the sea
Doug’s courageous journey
Ended up with THEE
Doug’s A-B=C’s of life
Awareness-bravery and candor
Shone upon him always
And brought him to the ‘Grand shore”
So joyous in his travels
Reaching out to all
Sharing his life’s passions
With accurate recall
So, the lessons that he gave us
Gently from his heart
We’ll hug them all within us
Our Valentine must depart.”
My analogy for Doug like our 3 Canadian armed forces: Doug’s early life was ‘sailing” through anything, later life just ‘soldiering’ along through adversities, and the last of his dear life was ‘flying’ with God……………(Norma)
