Mr. Robert "Bob" Cartwright Peck

Obituary Notice

After a lengthy battle, courageously borne, Bob died peacefully at home on Saturday, January 10, 2009. Beloved husband of Margery (née Upton) for 65 years. Wonderful father to Stan (Mary), Rob (Julia), Bruce, Weston (Cathy) and the late infant Janet. Grandpa of Michael, Gordon, David, Ross, Jennifer, Douglas (Jessica), Graham and Linda. He is survived by his brother George (late wife Mary) and many nieces and nephews. Bob was a longtime employee of Alcan working in British Guiana; Geneva, Switzerland; Newport, England; Shawinigan Falls, Quebec; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Toronto, Kingston and Etobicoke, Ontario; retiring in 1973 from Birmingham, England after 32 years service. Bob and Margery moved to Peterborough after retirement where they have lived happily for the last 35 years. Visitation will be held from 7-9 pm on Thursday, January 15 at COMSTOCK FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION CENTRE, 356 Rubidge Street, Peterborough. A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 16, 2009 at 11:00 am at TRINITY UNITED CHURCH, 360 Reid Street, Peterborough with Rev. Kevin Derry officiating. In keeping with Bob's wishes, cremation has taken place. The family greatly appreciates the support of Trinity United Church and the Peterborough chapters of the Canadian Cancer Society, the V.O.N. and the Canadian Red Cross. Online condolences may be made at www.mem.com.

Eulogy

The following is the eulogy presented at the memorial service on January 16, 2009 by Bob's son Rob on behalf of the family:

Hi. My name is Rob Peck. Bob Peck was my Dad.

My son Doug tells me a good model for church meditations is the following: challenge in the world, grace in the world. Start with the challenge, end with the grace. That really works for me. So I am going to talk about Dad's travel, medical issues and work and family life. First the challenge, then the grace.

Dad met Mum at the University of Alberta in Edmonton where he studied Civil Engineering and she studied Home Ec. After graduation in 1940, Dad went to work for the Aluminum Company of Canada in British Guiana (also known as B.G.). In March of 1943 Mum arrived in B.G. and very soon after they were married.

Between 1943 and 1973 Mum and Dad moved 10 times for an average of once every 3 years. From B.G. to Ontario, back to B.G., to Switzerland to England to Quebec, back to Ontario, to Denmark, back to England and finally back to Peterborough. In the course of those moves they picked up 5 kids, Stan in 1944, me in '46, Bruce in '48, Weston in '51 and Janet in '61. Tragically, Janet died as a small baby.

Amidst the challenge of always roaming, forever making and leaving new friends, the church was a grounding presence... Mum and Dad had one rule...find a church and join the choir. In Canada it was the United Church … elsewhere it might be Methodist, Lutheran or Anglican. Within 6 months of arriving in a new town, they would be totally plugged in to their church community.

And living in foreign countries was not all hardship. Switzerland, Denmark and England are not hardship posts! While in Europe, they took advantage of the opportunity to travel extensively and learn new languages. And they made many friends with whom they still keep in touch.

But Mum told Dad on his retirement that she wanted to find a nice place where they could stay. Where they wouldn't have to leave their friends. They chose Peterborough for several reasons, it reminded them of Calgary, it had a University and it wasn't too close to the kids.

One of the first things they did was find Trinity United Church...where they found a good community...God's community.

And the travels continued but now were in the form of vacations. 32 years of moves and dislocations were followed by 35 years of grace in Peterborough.

Dad had a number of life-threatening medical challenges. Some examples include tuberculosis, a collapsed lung, a ruptured gall bladder, a serious stroke and several different types of cancers.

Our son, Doug, remembers swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool... seeing Grandpa in his swim suit and noticing he had many more belly buttons that the average man. When Doug asked him about it, Grandpa told him about his many surgeries in a very concise, matter of fact manner. Dad could laugh at the hand he was dealt. He took it all in stride and continued living his life right up to the end.

During the past few days, Mum has often said we were fortunate to have him for 65 years, about 30 years more than Dad and his brother George had their Dad. Comes to that, Dad always used to say his goal was to make it to the year 2000 and he did do that!

In large part due to Mum's love and support. Mum is incredibly strong mentally, emotionally and physically. While she has had some medical challenges of her own, she has never let it get in the way of looking after Dad. We think she is the reason he made it so far against such long odds.

Several years ago I asked him, “Dad, you had so many good jobs, manager of this, director of that. What job did you like the most?” He thought for only a few seconds and said, “None of them.”

It then occurred to me that, during his working years, Dad had been under more stress than I had ever realized. Because he never brought it home to us, we never knew.

Dad was always willing to listen to us when we had a problem. Mind you, don't ever think our house was a democracy. There was never any question of that. Mum and Dad were fond of saying it was a benevolent dictatorship!

Mum's and Dad's support was unconditional. They would often say, “Just remember that no matter what happens, we love you and we are proud of you.” That was always a great comfort to me.

Some years ago I asked Dad at what age he stopped worrying about us. He said, “When I get there, I'll let you know.”

We are so grateful for the positive example that Mum and Dad set for us of a loving relationship, a strong family unit and encouragement to do your best. We only hope that the superb example they have set for us, and that we have tried to emulate, will give our children the same strong, confident start in life that Mum and Dad gave us.