Neil and my sister Heather, May 2009
Today, while I was at work, I stumbled across a copy of the Saturday Free Press (Jackpot!!) -- Sadly, one of the first articles I noticed in the scrambled paper (somebody, or bodies, had gotten to the paper first, and it wasn't in any particular order) I saw Gordon Sinclair Jr.'s article about Neil Bardal. -- Mr. Bardal, a prominent funeral director in Winnipeg, is dying of cancer.
Mr. Bardal has been a close friend of my grandma for a number of years (Long before I was around...) Although I don't know him extremely well, I still have fond feelings and fond memories of him...
You see Mr. Bardal goes to my grandmas church, and when my sisters and I were little girls, we also used to go to my grandma's church.
After the long and boring service (And I say that with the utmost respect, but you've got to understand that any amount of adult-content lecture-style sermon is TEDIOUS for a kid...) Neil would joke around with us, and pretend to "snatch our purses".
It might sound silly, but in an old Lutheran Church, filled with mainly "older folks" who were always on their best behaviour, Neil was like a playful breath of fresh air, and we all really liked him.
Over the years Mr. Bardal has buried many of our loved ones, and he has done so with the highest degree of respect and dignity. He is a good man, who has treated my grandma as though she was his own mother, and who can be counted on to attend her birthday parties, and other special functions...
I was so terribly sad to read Sinclair's column about Mr. Bardal's battle with terminal cancer (Which he courageously beat a couple of years ago...) -- I know that Neil has been blessed with a good and fairly long life, but his illness and impending death just makes me extremely sad...
May he live the rest of his days surrounded by the ones he loves, and may his journey to the next life be one that is peaceful and painless...
No comments:
Post a Comment