RIP Henry V Brown

 

1937 - 2024

Henry V Brown passed away August 25, 2024 in Burlington, Ontario after 87 and a half years of adventure, leadership and a full rich life.

Henry was born in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on January 16, 1937 to Thelma and Charles Brown. He is predeceased by his parents, first wife Roma and two sisters and a brother. He is survived by his three sisters and two brothers. His love and admiration for his wife Theresa was evident to all who knew them. He was a devoted father to his four children and loving papa to his eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Family was the cornerstone of Henry’s life and spending time with them was his greatest joy.

Henry became a teacher and then a principal by age 19. He was an innovative educator, inspiring the first ever student-built computer in the mid sixties; taking his students on overnight winter ski trips; directing school musicals; and running environmental programs at Pembroke Senior Public School starting in the seventies.

He owned several family businesses in Pembroke including a boat tour company. He eagerly shared his passion for the Ottawa River with countless cruises on the Miss Pembroke, often landing at Oiseau Rock for a corn roast and swim.

In the nineties he fulfilled his lifelong dream of living and working in the Arctic as the senior administrative officer for Cambridge Bay and Broughton Island.

Henry was a changemaker and modelled community service. He served as councillor and mayor on the Pembroke City Council for many years in the seventies. He helped bring geared to income and seniors housing, a second ice surface, and the marina to Pembroke as well as helped facilitate the establishment of Festival Hall. He was an active member in every community he lived in, helping create positive change, including in his final Burlington village community.

His commitment to being a lifelong learner and his determination to remain positive while overcoming obstacles inspired us all. He left the world a better place.

He is peering through a greater porthole now. Rest in peace Polar Bear.

Fresh Air and Sunshine

After over six months of medical confinement, I was pushed out of Joseph Brant Hospital in a less than a comfortable wheelchair. I was free however from that huge medical factory that grabs you and keeps you in a tangle of medical tests and results which leads to more time in confinement.

MOTHER NATURE

The year 2000 sure has been wonderful. Whatever riled her up we will never know but the daily events have been nothing less than specular. Record low and record high temperatures. Record snowfalls and record everything. Is she showing us who is boss or is she just being the powerful lady who looks after our beautiful environment and letting us know we are not doing such a good job.

I am a nature lover and have had a wonderful experience with a mild winter where birds forgot to go south and snow was scarce this year. I see people being challenged with a virus powerful enough to make the whole world take notice. For me, I see a wake-up call where all peoples of the world have to live together and work if they are to survive. I will have more to say in the near future about the dynamics of the world as it becomes a natural part of the universe instead of a world with an angry and selfish existence.

Back Home Again

I have been away from the blogger writing for quite a time. I have been busy working to get well and after two years without being able to walk I am finally making progress. I was encouraged during the past couple of years to receive many contacts from the past. I intend to honour the messages and to return to blogging and enjoying the great pastime of amateur writing and sharing thoughts and ideas about Canada and our neighbourhoods.  

Back Writing Again

I have not written a post for many months as I have been on quite an adventure. I would like to share the details of that adventure with family and friends. Many of my posts will be personal and reveal some secrets. Stay tuned. Just wanted you to know that I am back.

Turning 80

I jut turned eighty and I don't feel one bit different than I did a week ago. On the other hand I did think about some important facts. My life is on the home stretch and I am thankful I can even think about the future. Plans are always on my mind and when it comes to time left I feel very fortunate I can still function in a positive manner and carry out my daily needs in a happy way.

I believe that people do change with older aging in a more mellow and engaging way. We are less judgemental and more confrontable and because of this we become easier to like. Our grandchildren and children as well as friends view us as wiser and friendlier and are more ready to engage us in their thoughts and conversations. As I aged I became aware of other peoples worth and the value of family. I get excited about a family visit or the birth of a baby in our circle of friends.

I no longer worry about little things that don't concern me but think and dream of the wonderful gifts I have shared over the years. My strong belief that we are all people of the universe and subject to the great truth about the natural order of things makes me free of the dependence of man created law that
help to kill the very nature of our being.

Today is

February 17th and it is like summer. I was out on the deck with only a shirt and the temperature was almost 20 degrees. Our little brook was running and all the local ponds and waterways are ice free. People here are being convinced about weather changes as the evidence is here.

When I compare the weather when I was a young lad to the weather today there are some similarities as the East Coast is experiencing very heavy snow falls and windy storms. Maybe with weather changing we are really experiencing a cyclic weather pattern. Global warming is another story.

Overnight Visitor

This morning Theresa had the fright of her life. She went to the balcony to shake the dust off a mat when she heard a growl. As expected she was startled and ran back to the door with the beat  behind her. She got to the door and the visitor growling but remained where he was.
Theresa gained her composer and realized that the visitor a racoon. This was an angry animal and continued growling and taking an offensive stance. Theresa closed the door and took pictures. This little fellow has been hanging around and looking for a home for the winter. When I came home I tried to get rid of him and managed to get him off the deck bet  he only went as far as the area Below the deck. I am trying to make a plan to get rid of him all together but there are laws. So much for the visitor who came in from the cold.