The Citizen, 2005-09-29, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005.
Bannerman says joy of life in journey
Editor's note: Rev. Eugen
Bannerman was the minister at Blyth
United Church for almost four years.
He also contributed several stories
to this newspaper. He and his wife
have retired to British Columbia.
By Eugen Bannerman
Canada’s first cross-country auto
trip was made by writer Thomas
Wilby and mechanic Jack Haney in
1912. They drove a Reo touring car
from Halifax to Victoria in 52 days.
Parts of the country did not even
(X
Obituaries
FRANCIS COLEMAN
Francis Coleman of Egmondville
passed away at Seaforth
Community Hospital on Saturday,
Sept. 24. 2005. He was in his 86th
year.
He- was the beloved husband of
Edylhe (McMillan) Coleman and
loved father of Barb Gackstetter.
Hensail, Jim and Shirley Coleman.
Seaforth. Gerald and Jean Coleman.
Zurich, and Sandra and Murray
Pepper, Brussels. He was the loved
grandfather to 10 grandchildren and
six great-grandchildren and is also
survived by one sister Pearl
Dolmage and her husband Roy of
Huronlea. Brussels.
Mr. Coleman was predeceased by
his son-in-law Lome Gackstetter,
one sister Vietta Hoggart and her
husband George, and his parents
Francis (Frank) and Florence
have proper roads, and some of the
6,700 km trip had to be made by rail
and along railway ties.
In the Maritimes, people were still
driving on the left-hand side of the
road. In the Fraser Canyon, the road
led through some ol the world's
most treacherous terrain.
It wasn't until 1946 that somebody
drove across Canada without having
to travel along railway tracks. It took
them nine days.
In July, my wife. Iris and 1 made
(Townsend) Coleman.
The family received friends at the
Whitney-Ribey Funeral Home. 87
Goderich St. W., Seaforth on
Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. and
Wednesday from 10 a.m. until the
time of the service at 11 a.m. at the
funeral home.
Pallbearers were: Bill McMillan.
Ken Scott, Harvey Hoggart, John
Hoggart, Francis Hunt, Frank
Dolmage and John Eckert
(honorary).
Flowerbearers were grandsons
Rob Gackstetter. Steven Coleman.
Kevin Coleman and Brent Pepper.
Interment was at Maitlandbank
Cemetery, Seaforth. Rev. Henry
Hubberts officiated.
Expressions of sympathy may be
made to the charity of your choice.
Condolences at
www.whitneyribeyfuneralhome.com
the 4,600 km trip from Stratford. ON
to Victoria. B. C. in five-and-a-half
easy days. Almost all of it was along
the first class, all season, two and
four-lane Trans-Canada Highway.
Mile “0" of the highway is just a
few blocks from our new home.
The Trans-Canada Highway is the
world’s longest national highway. It
was opened in 1962. and fulfilled
many political, economic and social
dreams. It opened up new regions of
the country, and made fellow
Canadians “just a car ride away.” It
unified the country socially in quick
and easy drives.
Like the first cross-Canada
travellers, my wife and I marvelled
at the vastness and grandeur of our
great country. We thought of the
voyageurs who canoed along the
uncharted rivers, and the many
pioneers who trekked along muddy
roads to the prairies hoping to find a
more prosperous life in the west.
Crossing legendary Manitoulin
Island in Lake Huron, we felt an
urge to read the Native prayer of
thanksgiving to the Great Manitou,
the Spirit of the Island:
We return thanks to our mother, the
earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the plants,
which furnish food for our bodies.
We return thanks to the'rivers and
streams, which supply us with
water.
We return thanks for all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the
cure of our illnesses.
Lastly, we return thanks to the
Great Spirit who directs all things
for the good of her children.
Near Thunder Bay, we were duly
impressed by the Terry Fox
Memorial overlooking Lake
Superior. Here Canada's youngest
hero finished his Marathon of Hope.
The bronze statue with its
clenched fists and determined face is
truly inspiring. The base is covered
with local amethyst gem stones.
What a noble monument to the
human spirit that can reach the
miraculous.
Impressions of a different kind
emerged in Dinosaur National Park
near Medicine Hat, Alberta. We saw
the sand dunes where archaeologists
found dinosaur fossils dating back
75 million years. We held in our
hands a fossilized tooth, and walked
on soil containing tiny fossilized
fragments of dinosaur bones.
I tried to imagine the scene as it
was even before the Rocky
Mountains had been formed, but I
could not get. modern images of
Jurassic Park out of my mind.
And God had already been
populating the earth for a hundred
million years before the dinosaurs
were formed! Did the dinosaurs
achieve a level of consciousness
comparable to what humans have
today? Were they self-reflective with
emotions of wonder . and
celebration? How else could they
have survived on earth for over a
hundred million years unless they
had a complex web of intelligence
and intuition?
It baffles the mind, and fills me
with gratitude for the short span of
life given to humans.
I wondered: Are humans now
God’s favoured creation? Is it not
our role to celebrate the marvels of
past and present existence? We, too,
have evolved from the earth with the
capacity to reflect back upon
ourselves, and say with the bard,
“What a piece of work is man; how
noble in reason.”
Our new home in Victoria is on the
ocean, where the seals and whales
have played in the tides for aeons.
After time on the road, there is
nothing like the ocean to settle our
souls and make us grateful for life.
The joy of life is in the journey,
and the events we experience along
the way. For my wife and I, those
events included participation in the
social and religious life of Blyth.
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