Eulogies

Delivered by Kevin, Terry, and Glen Owen

Over the last few days we have been reflecting and sharing memories and stories of Dad and we have just heard some wonderful details and memories from the perspective of many of his close friends and associates as his he went through his great life.
Now, we would like to share some of the many great memories that we, his three sons, have of Dad.

Kevin:

For myself, some of my fondest memories include the Drive In outings in the old Pontiac with me and my brothers propped up on a folded mattress in the backseat and we would make loads of our own popcorn and bring our own drinks. We used to go to the RCMP Long Island Camp Grounds for our vacations where I remember the outdoor movies in the park, fishing for Catfish or whatever we could catch and swimming in the pool.

I recall a time when Dad was trying to push the old Volvo from being stuck in the snow in the driveway. He asked me to sit in the drivers seat to help out and brake once things started to move. Unfortunately, I was not entirely sure how to operate the brakes at that time. I remember Dad’s mad scramble to the drivers side of the car, reaching to put the brakes on and the end result being the car stopped and the drivers door was bent in the direction opposite of what it was designed to do. Although rather upset at the time all was forgiven and we laughed about the story as we recalled it over the years.

In high school, Dad was always on us about spending more time and effort to get the marks up. He could not tell us enough of how important it was to do well in school. Ya right we would be thinking right? Dad knew how to get the point across though when it came time. I had tried out for the high school football team for 3 years and finally made it in grade 10 as a second string defensive safety. It meant so much to me. At the end of the year I was asked to play on the senior team as a first string safety during my graduating year! I was so pumped. And then Dad got a hold of my report card. Not good. He basically said not good enough so no football for you. I was so angry as you could imagine.

Well by the end of the graduating year, my marks were up, I had a drivers license and had experienced a class trip to New York City.
He was tough, but he was fair.

Dad always had something to give of himself. Time, money, effort, support, knowledge, experience. I know that each of the 3 of us has experienced how generous he could be. When I fell and broke my back an opportunity presented itself that would change my life. Dad brought me a Toshiba laptop to start learning more about computers so I could pursue another career path. With his moral and financial support I went back to school at age 26 and with his experience guided me through the process of getting an opportunity for a career that I have been in for almost 15 years now. I could not have done it without his support.

And Dad sure loved and cared for his grandchildren. Memories of trimming the Christmas tree, reading stories to them, watching movies together and overall enjoying each others company. In the last couple of years Dad had Mitch out on the golf course with his first set of clubs. Kaitlyn and Kyra learned to curl with Grandpa and they all truly enjoyed their time at the rink together. And Christopher loved to sit and listen and talk with Dad about his stories and experiences. They loved having sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa’s place. The kids always wanted to sleep with Grandma, so you can picture a man of Dad’s stature spending the night on the couch. And he did it without question. Although I heard he spent a few nights on the couch when the kids weren’t there.

Terry:

There is a certain stereotypical role as the middle son that I guess applies to me being the musician, entertainer. I tended to get into a little more trouble than my 2 brothers so I find myself reflecting on stories of my dad and when we’d ultimately get into trouble and how Dave handled it.

Honesty is the best policy is our family motto. We have a Family coat of Arms with that motto on it to help remind us, but Dave instilled this motto into us.
An excellent policy to live by in general, but I can think of no other situation that it applies to more than when we’d get into trouble or do something wrong.

Often when we were young when we’d get out of hand during the day we knew when we’d gone too far by hearing the dreaded words. “Wait ‘til your father gets home.” No matter what kind of trouble that was we new one thing:

We were getting the ‘Full Mountie’.

Dad made a huge impression in our lives, an authority figure. To look up at this giant of a man in a red uniform, boots, hat and holster… and if you did something wrong…well we were scared.

Dave was a do-it-yourselfer and a gadget man and like using his new toys.
Upon purchasing a new toy he would be quite eager to put that item to the Owen test, in this case our brand new $1200 Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
Of course Dad was eager to use his new toy in every capacity, so I found myself helping him vacuum the car, in the early spring…in the snow.
As the vacuum slowly melted and sank into its own whole in the snow, I might have accidentally sucked up a little snow as well. In a short time there was a very noticeable electrical burning smell, some smoke, and as the motor ceased to function I felt certain that I would suffer a similar fate.
I was devastated. I was so upset and sorry.

Dave obviously very unhappy accepted the consequences in stride, maybe because he was not without fault himself… but I was just following orders. When he explained what had happened to the repairman about how awfully sorry I was he was so taken by the story that he fixed it for free.

As we would come to know our fear of dad was usually greater than any consequences or punishment from our actions and that “The Full Mountie” meant that we would be treated firm, fair, and honest. He always made sure you came away with some lesson that you wouldn’t forget.
I never vacuum in the snow.

Dad I’m sure came to regret our motto from time to time simply preferring not to know, but whatever the circumstances were he was there with open arms.

Even our career choices.

I studied music under Bob Cleall who played trumpet in the military and RCMP bands. He knew my father from various functions and liked the idea of me rounding my education out…but not too crazy about me making a career out of it.

Dave didn’t find it easy to open up and talk about things with family, definitely his British heritage there. I knew that he wasn’t crazy about my choice and was very surprised to find out that he would often ‘brag’ about his musician son.
I never knew that and it offered a glimpse into the man that he shielded us from and as we grew older came to know better.

Dad loves ‘live’ music. He took me to see Tony Bennett in high school and over the years would come and see the various acts I played in.
Dave always quick to ‘fit in’ would not only clap after each song but after each solo in the song as he had seen at larger blues shows.
Often he would be the lone clapper, yelling praise to my fellow musicians throughout the whole evening, slightly embarrassing Betty and a few around him more than once. It always brought a smile and chuckle to me and a wink from my band mates and I enjoyed immensely seeing my dad let it out.

I Have many memories of my dad and often would talk to my mom about things, like how they met, what things were like then and over the years have stored them to reflect on from time to time. I seem to have a very good memory, especially of the past, although Mom & Dad would say ‘only when I apply it’.

I remember Dad teaching me how to tie my shoes for the very first time and my first tie which for some reason I never could remember how to tie a tie, he must have shown me 3 or 4 times. I liked when he would teach me how.

As you can see by my Texas tie today I still can’t remember how and wish I could ask him maybe to teach me one more time.

Glen:

Over the last few days and nights I’ve been trying to find examples to back up what we have been trying to say about Dad. At this point, I think everyone will appreciate the fact that I won’t be going into details about each memory but I can give you some highlights that stand out in my mind.

When we were younger I remember we were forced to get crew cuts every August before going back to school year and making us keep it that short for the course of the year. If I remember correctly it was the number 1 clipper.

I think he believed the short hair was a way to keep us in line and out of trouble. He may have been right, cause I’m pretty sure we started getting into more trouble as our hair got longer.

As we got older we realized Dad could also be quite crafty. He could take something like a family vacation in Calabogie, sell it as something fantastic and once we arrived, out came the do list.
In the summers we spent at that cottage in Calabogie, we helped varnish the outside of the cottage, install a shower in the bathroom, stucco the ceilings, remove seaweed from around the dock and a number of other odd jobs to keep us busy.
He was probably just using his B.A. in sociology to manipulate us but we just thought is was a load of B.S.

But he never volunteered for a job that he didn’t think the 3 of us couldn’t handle.

Every neighborhood had a house where all the kids would hang out.
For us, it was ours. But we were never told to go play somewhere else. Instead he went along with it.
I remember a bunch of us playing soccer in the backyard and Dad joining in on the fun. We had a long line of cedar hedges running across the back fence. As Dad was moving the ball along the hedge, Wax (Yvon) sent him into the hedges and he disappeared.
It was hilarious.
When it started to rain, we all went into the shed and waited for the rain to stop, and all of us were laughing our butts off.

Over the years we’ve each had different women in our lives. Today those women are Lynn, Gigi and Pam.
Dad never judged any of them, but instead welcomed them into the family without any hesitation. He treated them just like family from the start, although I personally think he just enjoyed having some extra pairs of boobs in the house.
I guess that is one trait I definitely got from him.

There are others, like taking his booze out of the freezer and asking why it had ice in it.
Or the time we put the K-car in the ditch but luckily didn’t damage it. Months later he came in from outside and said “I wish the car could talk because I would love to know how all this grass got underneath the bumper”. I’m sure he knew what was going on in each of those situations, but he never demanded answers.

He just accepted it. Just like he did most of the time.

He just accepted it, just like we must accept the fact he is no longer here.
But at the same time he will always be here. In our hearts, in our thoughts and in our memories.
I’ll miss you Dad.

Thanks for helping shape me into the man I am today.

In Closing:

As we were growing up Dad definitely tried to influence us with the RCMP training and discipline he had experienced. Eventually this influenced us all in our lives as we grew up.
As you have heard in our stories he was always supportive no matter what. He was an excellent provider, financially supportive, generous to many and caring.

He was tough and he was fair.
We did not always vocalize the love we have for each other, but we know in our hearts that his love was shown by his actions.

We love you and we will miss you Dad.

Al Haggerty - The 3 Sons - Kaitlyn's Poem - Kyra's Poem