AUGUST 17, 1950 – FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Well as they say “There are no words”….but that is a lie….there are many words and that is the hard part. To share with even with family and close friends is not something that we do everyday…but it does need to be done somehow. I find it very difficult to bring it from the beginning to the end because I didn’t live his life…I just danced along with him for 46 years.
I was and audience and an observer. Born at the old Galt hospital in 1950 and born to Mary (Sebastian) and Alfred Smith he was brought home to Preston to join his brother Tom and sister Jeanette. His parents and his brother have passed and left to mourn him is his sister. Raised in Preston and attending PHS he enjoyed his City and all the friends he made along the way. Not long out of high school he was employed at Firth Brown Tools for 47 years and that was quite the journey that he relished in the paycheque and the security that it brought him but did not enjoy the industry. He made friends along that path that seemed to make him content.
He realize that his humour drew people to him and his goodness and kindness were always reflected in the people who he touched. I can never remember one person speaking ill of him and he rarely spoke ill of anyone else. That surely is a gift that can’t be taught. When I first met Allen (Smitty) I was amazed at how comfortable he was in his own skin. He didn’t want for much and he lived in the present, never worrying about the future and knew that life just sorts itself out …. Good or bad….What drew me to him was how he could make me laugh and we sure did that over the many years and our Friday nights with great conversations about everything over a few bevies…He was very diplomatic, practical and grounded in his world views of things. Simple things brought him so much pleasure and his life was lived with peace within himself and a joy he would say “just to be alive”. I was the kite and he was the rock.
What I am so thankful was how he embraced my family with true love. I would complain about so many things and he would say “Shut up” you have a fabulous family. He respected my parents and he enjoyed them just as Nan and Jim and they said if we ever parted they would pick him over me. They have since past. He loved my brothers …Jim and his wife Barbara, Mike and his wife Sandra and Kyle and his wife Diane and his many nieces and nephews and enjoyed hearing about all the things they were doing. My brothers called him brother also and treated him as their own. They all are left to mourn but he will always be mentioned in their conversations over the years to come that they will share with their own kids and their friends.
Who could ask for more. Even though he was Canadian we turned him into a true “Scot” over the years. He relished all of the Scottish family visiting and he finally over the years could understand what they were saying. He loved my connection to Scotland and often spoke about all of them. All the clan will surely miss him but again will speak of him often.
We will do a nice “Celebration of Life” at a later date and we will toast him and have a good old laugh. A very special heart felt thank you to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital for your care and especially your compassion that took him out of this world peacefully and with no pain. Angels on earth…..thank you…….
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A favourite line from a song he loved……”Long May You Run”…………………………………..
Allen F. Smith - August 17, 1950 - February 7, 2024
