Our family had a memorial service for my father on May 01, 2015. My brother David, the eldest son, spoke for the family, doing a eulogy to honor my Dad. I’ve asked him if I could reprint his words, and he has allowed me to do so.
Dad’s Tribute
May 1, 2015
Ernie was the youngest of six sons born to John & Mabel Ormon – he was a third generation Haligonian. Dad’s parents and his five brothers have all predeceased him.
Ernie’s father was a farmer, mainly raising dairy cows supplying cream to Moir’s Chocolate Factory in Halifax. Dad was quite young when the family farm burned down. The family moved to Armdale (a superb of Halifax) and where Dad’s father delivered bread using horse & wagon – a teamster.
Dad left school after completing Grade 9. He was baptized in St James Anglican Church in Armdale on May 4, 1941. This is interesting, as originally the family came from Ireland, and of course, most Irish are Catholic. The closest church to home was Anglican, so that is where Grandma sent Dad for baptism classes. All other family members were Catholic.
After leaving school, Ernie worked for one of his brothers, who was a bricklayer (he carried the bricks up the ladder to the bricklayers). That lasted only a short time. He then went to work for a construction company that was building the Victoria General Hospital in downtown Halifax. Although he became strong and a good carpenter, he soon came to realize that a life of manual labour was not for him.
So on March 8, 1948, at 17, he enlisted in the Canadian Army, choosing to join the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (this was the transportation corp for the army). An interesting fact here is that, Dad, one of his brothers and a friend tried to enlist in the Navy. Since the Navy would not have him, he decided to enlist with the army instead. Dad had a very distinguished Army career – he enlisted as a Private and he retired as an officer – Captain.
The Army always transferred their soldiers from base to base. Dad had many postings/transfers within and outside of Canada. I will just speak briefly on a few of them.
Camp Borden (a few miles outside Barrie, Ont) is where he took his basic training. Shortly after basic training, the army enrolled him at Ryerson Technical College in Toronto to learn to type. So after basic training, Dad was a truck driver and an admin clerk. Ernie was an excellent typist – a skill I often admired but could never duplicate. Dad volunteered for jump school at Shilo, Manitoba where he got his “wings” – as a parachutist. Dad was very proud of having his wings. Jumping out of airplanes is not something I would have done…
Winnipeg, 1949. One of his duties was to drive the school bus – taking the military high school age kids from the base to a high school in downtown Winnipeg. On the bus was a young lady he became quite enamoured with – one Mary Margaret Fuson. Mom graduated from high school in 1951 (there was picture of them at Mom’s graduation in the video). Mom moved to Ottawa with her parents shortly after graduation as her Father was transferred to Army HQ in Ottawa. Dad and Mom got married on April 21, 1952 at Parkdale United Church in Ottawa. Dad and Mom would have celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary last week.
Ernie was posted back to Halifax shortly after they were married where a family was soon started. I was born in 1953 and Rod in 1955. Dad was recommended for officer training. Since he only had a Grade 9 education, and officers had to have a high school education, Ernie attended Royal Military College in Kingston during 1955 where he got his grade 12 equivalency. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on December 30, 1955. (His commissioning certificate will be on view in the reception area afterwards). As a 2nd Lt, Dad was posted to Camp Borden as an Instructor at the Service Corp School, the same place he took his basic training in 1948.
Maurice and Karen were born in Barrie – both in 1957 – Maurice in January and Karen in December. As Karen mentioned to me, Dad was the youngest of 6 boys and he had 3 sons of his own, so this daughter was a new experience for him. Karen definitely became her father’s daughter. Dad was very proud of his daughter becoming an engineer.
Edmonton, 1961- he supervised the recruitment centre in downtown Edmonton.
In December 1963, Ernie was sent to Egypt for a year (without family) as part of the United Nations Emergency Force – Middle East; which created the buffer between the Egyptians and the Israelis. He served in Port Said (supervising the unloading of supply ships) and Rafah (supervising the unloading/loading of cargo and troop planes).
At Rafah, he learned to play GOLF. Apparently, the runways were hard packed sand – what else would you expect being in the desert? The soldiers carved out a golf course on the runway and played golf while waiting for the supply/troop planes to arrive. Golfing became his passion.
In August 1967, came a transfer to Germany as part of the NATO Land Forces, Europe. The first three years were spent in Soest (near Dusseldorf) and the final year in Lahr, in the Black Forest area.
Living in Europe gave us wonderful travel opportunities.
We always reminisce about this one incident. A family camping trip to Italy was our first trip. While in a small town in Italy, we went into a shop looking for milk. Dad didn’t speak Italian and the shop keeper didn’t speak English. Having grown up on a farm with dairy cows, Dad got down on all fours; moo’d like a cow and then tried to make it look like he was milking the cow. It was so funny – but we got the milk!
As Ernie was nearing his compulsory retirement age, he was allowed to choose his last posting. He chose Calgary as Mom had spent some of her life growing up in Calgary while her father was serving with the Calgary Highlanders during WW2. Mom’s family had moved to Calgary from Scotland in 1909 when her Mom was only 3 years old. We arrived in Calgary in August 1971 and Dad retired on his birthday, August 25, 1977 – only 47 years old.
Dad was presented with 4 medals during his military career: the Canadian Forces Decoration with clasp (CD); the United Nations Emergency Force – Middle East; NATO Service; and, Canadian Peace Keeping medal. Dad always remarked jokingly that the CD medal was given out for 12 years of undetected crime.
On retirement from the military, he briefly worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia but soon moved to the TD Bank. At TD, Dad was a loans officer, assistant manager, mortgages and served as relief manager at different branches on numerous occasions. He retired from the TD on his 60th birthday, August 25, 1990.
Dad’s passion was golfing, developed while he was in Egypt. I remember him trying to teach me how to play golf when I was about 12 years old (living in Wainwright at the time). The town golf course had sand greens – could Dad ever putt on those sand greens. I always had trouble keeping my head down while swinging the golf club– so he gave me this piece of advice. Looking at the ball in your stance, pretend there is a piece of string connecting your lower lip and your crotch AND there is a large fish hook on each end. It never helped me – I was always a poor golfer.
Dad became a charter member at the Priddis Greens Golf Course and played there for over 13 years. Karen learned to play golf after university and she and Dad spent many happy days golfing at Priddis. The picture on the back of the service folder is a picture of Ernie winning one the TD Banks internal golf tournaments.
Dad, along with Mom, was very active with the Heritage Seniors, which meets here at this church. He led the Walking Club, organized the Golf Club, taught a basic introduction course to computers and assisted in many other ways.
Dad loved the Army and his golfing. But the thing that mattered most to Dad was his family – his wife, his 4 children and their spouses, his 7 grandchildren and his 2 great grandchildren.
Dad was always there for us. As a child growing up, I remember Dad attending as many sports games and school concerts as possible even with his military commitments. He coached hockey and baseball. He ran behind us as we learned to ride bikes. He taught us how to catch and throw a baseball (he was a great softball player in the army). He played football with us. He helped us with school projects. He taught us to spit-&-polish shoes – hope everyone has shiny shoes on. He was the greatest of Dads.
Later on, he loved to attend whatever activities his grandchildren and great grandchildren were active in. There were many pictures in the video presentation showing his involvement with his family.
There was never a stranger when Dad was around. He would strike up a conversation with anyone, whether he knew you or not.
Dad was always willing to lend a hand – family or friends, it did not matter. If we asked him to help us move, he was there to help pack our stuff and load/unload the vehicle. If we asked him to remove wall paper, he arrived with his tool belt and just pitched in. Or even when we asked him to help lay hardwood he came to help us with all the necessary tools. And Karen says she wants his tools!
Just a couple of days after Dad had passed away, our youngest granddaughter, Addy who is 3 years old, came into Mom & Dad’s house and said to Cathy “Why did great grandpa have to die?” Well Addy, great grandpa’s journey has come to an end and he is onto another form of existence. He had a good life; he was proud of his accomplishments and he was proud of his family. We wish him God Speed on his next journey.