Sunday 19 July 2009

a great man

Tomorrow I will be attending the funeral of my uncle Jack. He died about two years ago but, in accordance with his wishes, his body was used for medical research and the donor programme.
Within hours of his death his cornea had given someone their sight, he would've loved that.
Having cared for his wife, who was crippled with arthritis until 1979 he then dedicated the rest of his life to helping those in need. He was a well known and popular figure around the area (not least because he seemed to be related to every second person)and his diet of cheese was the bane of many a restaurant. He was virtually t-total and no-one ever said his refusal to drink made him less of a man (correction, no one ever said that twice).
Fiercely loyal to his family and a great friend he was the epitome of a true Yorkshire man.
We held a celebration of his full and wonderful life at the time of his death so tomorrow will be a quiet(ish) cremation and his ashes will be split into three; some to be scattered at Myddelton Lodge in Ilkley which was a retreat centre and a place he dearly loved; some to be scattered on the rose garden where his beloved Vera's ashes were scattered and the final ashes to be scattered in Lourdes where he made pilgrimage and worked for the benefit of his fellow pilgrims every year until he died.

2 comments:

KB said...

Has it really been two years? I know how much Jack meant to you. My thoughts are with you hun xxx

Toadee said...

two years almost exactly.

Apparently his body was kept at a very low temp. This was the actual funeral, we held the memorial when he died (I know it seems a bit back to front).
Interesting fact is that he didn't give one person back their sight, he gave sight to FOUR people.
Thank you both, if I can live my life half as well as he did I will die a very happy (and old) man xx