Frederick Charles "Tom" Tapley

On behalf of my mother, my brothers, my sisters and the rest of our family, I want to express our sincere thanks to each one of you who have taken the time to come this afternoon to celebrate the life of our Husband, Dad, and Grandpa, Tom Tapley. My Dad would be humbled by your presence here today. Your thoughts and prayers as well as from those who are not in attendance are truly appreciated.

As I stand up here, I find it interesting that my brother Mark gets to do the weddings in the family and I get the funerals. It must be my demeanor. I am honoured however to be able to do this.

One of our Dad’s last requests that he repeated a number of times was that he wanted a simple funeral. The last thing he wanted was a number of people extolling the virtues of the deceased and the people in attendance wondering whose funeral they were at.

I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that with our Dad.

Tom Tapley was a man of great integrity who always wanted to do the right thing whether it was popular or not. Many of you here today would have experienced that whether it was during his years at the Manitoba Securities Commission or in his day-to-day interactions on a personal level. One memory I have was when I was attending the University of Winnipeg and would meet my Dad at his office at the Woodsworth building to get a ride home. One afternoon as I was riding up the elevator, a gentleman who I did not recognize seemed to know that I was Tom Tapley’s son. The first comment he made to me was that if I had half the integrity of my “old man”, I would do OK in life. He was bang on!

As many of you are aware, our Dad had a way with words. Many of his sayings were usually quite amusing, some of which are not repeatable here. As mentioned in his obituary he enjoyed gardening, starting plants from seed, most of which he would give away. He always supplied plants to his family & friends and occasionally when he would come by our home for a visit, the first thing he would do is stick his finger in our potted plants that he supplied. If they were dry, he would be sure to let me know that these plants were “drier than a popcorn fart”, one of his famous Tom Tapleyism’s that other family members were well familiar with. I also recall in my younger days playing minor hockey hearing a yell from the stands on a regular basis ”more mustard on the kielbasa”, another of his famous sayings that my former teammates would be familiar with as well. Dad also enjoyed a good debate and was quite comfortable in taking either side. There was many a time where he didn’t agree with his side of the debate but you would never know during the interaction.

Our Dad was a very caring and giving person as many of you have well-experienced. As previously mentioned, he loved to garden, starting plants from seed whether it was geraniums, bogognas, inpatients or other types of flowers. I was always amazed at how many plants he would have on the go (at times over 500) and what was more amazing is how many he would give away and not want a nickel in return. I know my Mom would cringe sometimes when Dad would decide to get the “soup pot” going and takeover her kitchen, leaving quite a mess. Again there was many an ice cream bucket of soup that was prepared and most of it was given away. For a number of years, he would make soup for Agape Table on a weekly basis to serve to the patrons there. He would occasionally make soup for Siloam Mission to serve to their patrons and think nothing of it. During the last number of years, his favorite area of service, along with my Mom, was that of volunteering at the Riverview Health Centre on Sunday mornings helping the residents to attend the Sunday morning church service. Without fail, both he and my Mom would be there on a weekly basis as well as doing some visitations during the week. The Riverview Health Centre became their “church” and I think the two ministers officiating at this service can well attest to their help in providing an encouraging environment for the residents to worship. I know over the past year or two, when Dad’s mobility was restricted, the highlight of his week was going to Riverview on a Sunday morning to attend church and visit with the residents.

Our Dad was also a man of great faith who loved his family. He was never afraid to tell people how blessed he was by the good Lord and was never shy about expressing his love to his family. He especially cherished the Sunday evening family suppers as well as the visits from his grandchildren & great grandchildren. At times he would state how guilty he felt as he considered his job more important than his family. I know that the only reason that he felt this way was that he wanted to be a good provider for his family. I know I can speak for my brothers and my sisters that we were never left wanting and we were well provided for. As you can see in some of the family photos on the Memorial table, we were well fed. By the way, I think my brothers and sisters along with myself would appreciate if you don’t look too closely at some of those pictures.

In closing, I just want to express on behalf of my Mom and siblings how blessed we felt over the last few days. While these were difficult times with many tears shed, we experienced God’s goodness in being able to come together as a family and have the opportunity to properly say good-bye. Dad was coherent to the end and was able to express himself thoughtfully and clearly with his usual wit. Our family was blessed to have that opportunity and our Dad was comfortable and without pain when left this earth to be with his heavenly father.

Donations could be made Riverview Health Centre, 1 Morley Ave East, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2P4.

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FREDERICK CHARLES (TOM) TAPLEY

Peacefully on April 28, 2010, surrounded by his family, our Dad passed into the loving arms of the Lord. He will be fondly remembered by his loving and faithful wife of 54 years, Margaret, his precious children; Eric (Helene) Tapley, Phyllis Tapley, Mark (Kim) Tapley, Marion (Bryan) Tronrud, Max (Angie Bruce) Tapley, his grandchildren; Mark (Rhonda) Page, Scott (Brooke) Page, Melissa Tapley, Megan Tapley, Brea and Brittany Bourgeois, Timothy Tronrud, Sara Tronrud, Mackaila Bruce-Tapley, his great grandchildren; Madison, Rylee and Janell Page, as well as many relatives and friends.

Dad was a very proud but humble man who always shared exactly what was on his mind, right to his passing.

Dad was born on January 24, 1931 in Radisson, Saskatchewan. After finishing high school, Dad began his career serving 12 years with the Canadian Bank of Commerce in various locations, followed by 31 years as a civil servant with the Public Utilities Board and Manitoba Securities Commission, where he retired as Director in 1991. His retirement years were spent enjoying his passions of cooking, nursing various kinds of plants from seed to flower to decorate his yard. During his later years he enjoyed sitting in his comfy red chair keeping up to date on world affairs and cherishing the company of his family and friends. He especially enjoyed when his grandchildren would come to visit.

He had great satisfaction serving people. Ministries such as Agape Table and Riverview Health Centre were close to his heart.

We would like to extend a very grateful thank you to his longtime family physician Dr. P.G. Mehta, and the St. Boniface Hospital Emergency, Intensive Care and Palliative Care Units.

A memorial service will take place on Friday, April 30th at 2:00 pm at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Riverview Health Centre, 1 Morley Ave East, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2P4