Saturday, July 5th, 2014 at 1pm

The service to celebrate Arnie’s life was held at the Queensborough Community Centre from 1pm to 3pm Saturday, July 5th.

Below is a copy of the eulogy that Paul Fussell read at the service.  We thank him for such a wonderfully written and heart felt presentation.

---

EULOGY

Raymond Arnold Pope. (February 24,1938 – June 1, 2014)

“ARNIE” – My Buddy

Because this is for Arnie, and as we know he could ramble on a bit, I have tried to stay true to form. But, as a courtesy to those present, I managed to limit the time to a little less that 2 ½ hours. There will be a coffee and stretch break about half way through. So, if anyone needs to use the facilities please do so now so as not to interrupt the proceedings. Arnie would not like it if you left while he was being eulogized.

I can see him smiling now.

Of course this is not true. It is about 10 minutes

 

I met Arnie in the early 1960’s in Trenton, Ontario. We were both in the Air force and we became friends. Over the years we always seemed to end up in the same places, Trenton, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Because of our friendship Merna and Glen asked me if I would do the eulogy for Arnie. My reply, “No Way, not on your life” but as they kept offering more money I finally gave in.

 

Actually I said “I would be honored.”

I suppose that part if not all of a Eulogy is intended to bring certain aspects of a person’s life together so that we can remember that person. Because of what he was I do not expect that many will forget Arnie. He was truly an unforgettable individual. But what made him so unforgettable?

 

• Was it his sense of humour, his ability to laugh at others and himself? A sense of humour that stayed with him until the end.

 

• Was it his ability to endure the ups and downs of life and still maintain that sense of humour?

 

• Was it his dedication to family and friends?

 

• Was it his sometimes unusual attire?

 

• Was it his incredible memory for things in his past?

 

It is all of the above and the list could go on.

 

Sense of humour

In our twenties a group of us were fishing near Trenton Ontario. Arnie had been out in a small rowboat with Brent, Brent in the front rowing and Arnie in the back fishing and drinking a beer, probably in the reverse order. Now picture this – Brent rowed the boat to the shore, jumped out and pulled the bow up out of the water. Arnie at this time was fairly heavy and as the bow came up the stern – with Arnie – went down, under the water. So there sat our friend, water up to his waste, beer in hand. Some might have uttered an expletive or jumped up but not Arnie. He simply sat there looking rather regal and said “A good captain always goes down with his ship”.

 

On another occasion Arnie purchased a potato masher as an anniversary present for Merna, his wife of 35 years. Can you imagine, a hand held, manual potato masher. When I mentioned that at least he could have stuck a flower in it, he laughed and said “Great idea, wished I had thought of that.”

 

His Ability to Endure

During his life Arnie had to deal with an addiction to both alcohol and cigarettes and the resulting problems it caused him and Merna. But deal with it he did; he quit both. Although the alcohol did not seem to have a lasting affect on him after he quit that unfortunately was not the case for the cigarettes. Though he had stopped smoking, the damage had been done.

 

In his later years Arnie had to live with a number of health challenges; however he always seemed to pull another rabbit out of the hat. He had an amazing ability to bounce back from a health crisis.  And, to his credit, he didn’t complain much and certainly not to me. His comment was “Paul, I did it to myself and if I had known I would live this long I would have looked after myself better.”

 

A couple of years ago, Arnie was very ill, seriously ill, and spent quite a long time in hospital.  Nobody, including the medical staff, expected him to recover, but recover he did.  It is a tribute to his wonderful sense of humour that he the laughed so much when I told him about the comment my wife Cathy had made after his latest miraculous recovery. She said “After the nuclear holocaust, it’ll just be Arnie and the cockroaches!”  He told me he even phoned Nova Scotia to tell the folks out there about that one.

 

Dedication to Family and Friends

Arnie and Merna were married for 54 years. Through the good times and the not so good they remained together. With Merna and their son Glen Arnie had the family he loved. When Glen married Melissa the family grew and, in time, a couple of Grandchildren, Daniella and Jacob, blessed the Popes. Man he loved those kids! Whenever I talked to him, either in person or on the phone, he would bring up some story that included the grandchildren.

He was dedicated to his family but he was also devoted to his friends. If you were a friend of Arnie’s, you were a friend for life.

As William Shakespeare once quoted, “There is flattery in friendship.” I guess Arnie flattered us all.

 

His remarkable Memory

Arnie’s memory was encyclopedic especially for past events in his life. He would bring up events that had taken place 50 years ago with amazing clarity. On many occasions he would be relating a story from the past to Brent and I and we would just look at each other wondering how on earth he remembers this stuff. He never tired of telling stories and he was a great storyteller.

 

This Eulogy is to help us remember Arnie, So:

When you see an aircraft maintenance mechanic, he was a licensed AME (aircraft maintenance engineer) in coveralls – think of Arnie. He was a hard working guy.

When you see an old guy with a beard and a cowboy hat – think of Arnie.

When you put a coffee in your travel mug – think of Arnie, he was seldom without his coffee.

When you pass an I-hop restaurant, one of his favorites – think of Arnie.

When you go on a driving trip, he called it toodling and he loved to toodle – think of Arnie.

When you use a potato masher – think of Arnie.

And, when you see a guy in the back of a rowboat, water up to his waist and a beer in his hand – think of Arnie

 

I wrote these few words for Arnie but I think that were he inclined he may have written them himself.

A Great Day

I came, I stayed a while, I left.

Dawn came.

It was a great day, with lots of sun and some clouds.

It was a great day, with accomplishments and some failures.

It was a great day, I laughed, for the most part, the whole day through.

It was a great day, because I met you, you and you.

And now the sun has set.

But it was a great day.

 

And now I would like to propose a toast. Would you please stand.

“TO ARNIE”