Family Legacy

A few Sundays ago an elderly couple, about 80 years old, attended the church and approached me after the service. They hadn't come to hear me, but rather they wanted to see me and tell me about something that had taken place many years ago.

I had never met this couple, Klaus and Edith, but I was eager to hear what they had to say since it was about my dad.

Klaus told me that he and his wife were immigrants from Germany about 45 years ago. They had come through the prairies to BC and had nothing. Klaus met my dad, who owned a lumber yard, when he was looking for work. He asked my dad if he needed any sort of accounting help and my dad told him no. Back then there wasn't a lot of places for German immigrants and so my dad had a soft spot for him and told Klaus to just come and help out.

So he did that. He worked for my dad and my Aunty May, who was head of all the accounting for the company for a few months until my dad found him a job at Crown Zellerbach. Klaus was so thankful that my dad had taken him in, even when he didn’t need anybody and given him a chance, but that was not all my dad did for him.

When Klaus and Edith wanted to move to Port Coquitlam for his new job, they had no place to go. So, my dad offered to help him. He had just built several houses in the area, as a side venture, and he suggested Klaus buy one of them. Klaus said he had no money, so my dad lent him the down payment. My uncle mortgaged the house for them and got them into their new home for absolutely no money. Klaus and his wife still live there to this day.

Dad did not know these people and when I asked him about it, he didn't really remember helping them. But that is the kind of man he is. He's 87 years old now and hearing Klaus and Edith tell me their story, I started thinking about all the things my dad did for me.

Perhaps the greatest things he did was instill in me a good work ethic and a faith in God. My dad was a very new Christian when he married my mom and he was a righteous man. I can still hear some of things he often said. Things I eventually found myself saying to my girls:

• Always leave a room (or a desk top) cleaner when you leave it than when you entered it (that often means picking up just one out-of-place article).
• If you are going to do a job, do it well.
• Always take something up the stairs when you go (books to your room, toilet paper to the bathroom, clean clothes from the laundry).
• Always bring something down when you come down the stairs (dirty laundry, cup or glass by your bed etc.).
• Don’t buy something you can’t pay for now.
• Appreciate everything God created (from bugs to leaves to mountain ranges).
• If you can’t think of something positive or encouraging to say, don’t speak.
• Treat women like they are princesses and your wife like a queen.
• Take second place. Always open the door for the person behind you to go first.
• Using foul language is a sign of ignorance.
• Always say “thank-you” and “please” with sincerity.

As a father, I hope I did as good a job as my dad raising our daughters and as a Papa of six wonderful grandchildren (that's them in their Sunday Easter outfits) it's become even more important to me to ensure I am setting a good example for them to emulate and passing on the same legacy of faith that my dad did.

You know, talking about my dad has inspired me. I think I'll write more about him for one of my upcoming columns. Watch for it -- if you're interested.

Barry