How do you tell the story of a man's life in a few minutes? How do I sum up who Roger Wills really was? Well, he was many things, a father, a grandfather, a brother, brother-in-law, a friend. He was all those things and more to so many of us here today. Lucky for me, he was my dad. Most of all, he was a good, kind, decent man - a genuine nice guy.Someone you could count on when the going got tough. If I could use only one word to describe my dad there's no doubt - it would be RELIABLE! Any time I was in a bind, large or small, I knew I could count on my dad to help me out.
I used to lock my keys in the car often enough that I left a spare set with him. I would call him and he'd say "aww Gar, not again?! - all right, I'll be there in a few minutes" and soon enough, there he'd be to unlock the car for me. He might have grumbled a bit but he always answered the call.
In his younger days he was a paper boy. I used to love it when he'd tell us about meeting the train at the station, rolling up the papers, and delivering them by tossing them on the porch while riding his bike. I bet he thought when he started a family and moved to Bramalea that his paper boy days were over. Little did he know they were just beginning! We ended up with 4 paper routes in our family and pretty much every Saturday during hockey season Dad became the paper boy once again. He would drop the tailgate on the station wagon and slowly roll up the street while several of us dashed back and forth delivering papers. He did this to ensure that the papers got delivered and we all made it on time to the many hockey games and practices we had every weekend. And I do mean MANY!! Our house was CRAZY on weekends, filled with dashing between arenas all over town (and sometimes out of town). I do not remember one single game when I couldn't look into the stands and see my mom and dad cheering as if it was the Stanley Cup. Every single game. They never missed. In the summer it was soccer and baseball - same thing - they were there for pretty much every game. I seriously don't know how they did it! Many years later when I became a father myself I remember complaining how tough it was rushing home from work to get to games or practices. Dad's reply was "you know Gary, these are the best years of your life, enjoy them. If someone would have told me when I was running around like crazy to all you kids games that those would be the best times in my life I would have said they're crazy but, looking back, there's no doubt that for your mother and I they were the best years of our lives". I know if my mom could be here today she would whole-heartedly agree. Speaking of my mom - she used to joke that if she was around for this day she would make sure there was half a speech, half a service, half a.....well, you get the point. Everything would be not quite 100% finished. The origin of this running joke was that while he started many projects around the house it seemed that a lot of them stalled at the 90 - 95% completion level, sometimes for many years. Don't worry dad, that's a traditon I am carrying on for you. I have several projects on the go right now and I have to admit, I'd be happy if any of them were 90% done!
I'd also be so happy if I could tell my dad today how much I loved him, how much we all loved him, and appreciated all the things he did for us. He'd probably be embarassed. My dad wasn't much for words. He wasn't the kind to toss "I love yous" out there but he didn't have to. His actions were his voice. I am so proud he was my dad and I stand in front of you now to say "Roger Wills was a good man and he will be sorely missed".
