The more I thought about it, the more I realized the only way to make this work was to drive Old Don home. With my 12-year- old son, Ben as my co-pilot and Old Don, laying in his casket, squeezed in the back of a Ford Explorer, we started our 2200 kilometre funeral procession. Old Don, Ben and I got to visit the St. Lawrence seaway, the Bay of Fundy, the Northumberland Strait and finally, the Atlantic Ocean as we progressed eastward. When we arrived at the little cemetery just minutes from where Old Don would fish as a lad, the old man had successfully re - traced the path he took when he left his hometown 50 years before. We were greeted by some of his east coast relatives who had asked me to come prepared to say a few words about our travelling companion. My notes remained in my pocket. Instead, I told them the story of our road trip and all the places Old Don got to visit along the way. Such is life. It’s always hard when we get to the end of the road, but if the trip was impactful, the memories created live on in the people who were along for the ride. I know that my young son, Ben will never forget bringing “Old Don” home and why what we did was so important.
The Homecoming by Bill Denning A few years ago, “Old Don” died. Don was a Cape Breton- er who came to Ontario when he was a young man looking for work. He spent most of his life in Strathroy, but never for- got about his beloved home in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He was friends with my great uncle, so had no problem en- trusting his undertaker buddy with the task of sending him back east when he died. When Old Don shuffled off the mortal coil, his dying wish
became our sacred duty. As we began to sort out the logistics, we ran into some problems. The first issue was that the cost of cargo flights had increased to more than the total amount in the pre-arrangement fund he had established with us twenty years earlier. The second issue was that there were no provisions made for the services of a receiving undertaker to pick up Old Don at the airport and bring him to the cemetery. And lastly, we were in the middle of a travel disrupting pandemic. But we had to find a way. Like Robert Service said in The Cremation of Sam McGee, “A promise made is a debt unpaid." In addition to that, we had signed a guaranteed contract with Old Don, so we were obligated to fulfill his wishes, even if it meant taking a loss.
Denning's of Strathroy 32 Metcalf St. W. Strathroy www.strathroyfuneralhome.com 519-245-1023
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