RUN SHEET
02/01/22
Well, my uncle Don died today. It was a graphic demonstration of just how close my family is.
Firstly, I didn't know he was sick until this summer when he was interviewed on TV and mentioned it. Until then I had heard nothing. Didn't hear anything afterward either until I got a call at Xmas time telling me he didn't have more than a few days left.
When he died my aunt (his sister) emailed me with the news (we live in the same town, is it just me? or was that really tacky)
Anyway, As you might guess we weren't all that close in most ways, but he and I shared some things.
Don was the beekeeper of the family, and I learned my craft from him. He was always ready to answer questions or give advice. He taught me most of what I know, and whenever he came down this way to visit his sister or his mother while she lived, he would always bring his bee outfit and we would go through my hives. He'd tell me all kinds of little tricks and give me some real insight into what went on inside the hives. He wasn't a person given to emotion, but the bees touched his soul like they touch mine. That was obvious to anyone who ever saw or heard him talk about them.
Don had the driest wit of anyone I've ever known. He could be hilarious but rarely even cracked a smile.
He carried out some of the most elaborate practical jokes I ever heard of. He would have long and rambling wars with himself on the letter to the editor page of the local newspaper, often writing in as three different people with opposing views on ficticious subjects until he had drawn dozens of other people into the argument. His most famous hoax was when he began writing in about the proposed government camel farm that was going to be built at the local fair grounds. This of course was fiction, but by the time he was finished there were citizens protesting outside the local government offices.
His other famous hoax was the UFOs that would appear around the Squamish Chief (A mountain that borders the town he lived in). Every year or so there would be a rash of UFO sightings at the mountain, glowing lights would be seen floating around the mountain face in the night. These UFOs began being seen shortly after Don discovered that a dry cleaning bag, birthday candles and balsa wood will make a hot air balloon that glows in the dark.
Coincedence?... I think not.
In short, Don was a good man, and had a hell of a sense of humour. However, we were never close at all. None of my family are or were. we are at best acquaintances, and often strangers. In fact, one of my cousins and I met at a vintage car show quite by accident and discovered we were related during our conversation about my motorcycle.
Don and I weren't close, but truth
be told, I'll miss him just the same. I'm a long way from shedding tears
for him, but spring is coming and the bees will be stirring soon. This
will be the first time in close to fifty years he won't be stirring with
them.