Patrick Joseph Finnegan

I stood here 2 years and 3 months ago when my mom passed away and told all of you how proud I was to be speaking about her. And I stand here again today very proud to be speaking about my dad. He lived a really special life and experienced many amazing things over the course of his 70 years. I only hope that I convey to you this morning how special my dad was, how good he was to mom and I, and how much I love him and will miss him.

Dad was born Patrick Joseph Finnegan in Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, Ireland on November 28th, 1943. He was the oldest of 7 children and they lived in a two bedroom house with his parents, Peter and Katie, and their Aunt Mary, who they affectionately called Nana. Their house was located at a set of cross roads known as “Finnegan’s Cross” where he lived for 21 years before immigrating to Canada.

Dad was very proud of being Irish and loved to tell stories of growing up in Inniskeen. He helped his father on the family farm starting from when he was about 8 or 9 years old missing school when needed as his dad was sick many years and needed the help. At school his teacher was Master Duffy and he was not a big fan of dad. Dad would only be back in the classroom 5 minutes after being away on the farm and he would be stirring everyone up with his jokes and antics. He didn’t do his own homework, often getting his dad or his younger sister, Anna, to do it for him by paying her with marbles. He left school at the age of 12 to work on the farm full time but he loved it preferring to be in the fields than in the classroom.

He talked fondly of the times he spent with his father on the farm. His dad died in 1958 when he was 14 and then he worked with his Uncle Pete. He ploughed fields with horses, sowed seeds, trashed grains and stooped hay. He loved working with the family’s farm horses, first Dolly and then Bob. He also always had a dog (there was Rex and he had a few dogs he named Gip)

He later got a job working in Rourke’s flour mill and then got the opportunity to help with their deliveries and got to see the country side and up to Dublin. But he always had a side operation going on. He used his dogs to hunt rabbits, which they would sell. And when he was older he started a smuggling operation with his friend Sean Boyle where they smuggled pounds of butter on their bikes 2 or 3 times a week from Northern Ireland. They had a delivery route around the countryside and even had his mum selling it out of their house for them. Their operation came to an end after they had to abandon their bikes and butter supply in a field trying to get away from custom officers. Dad could still tell you exactly how much money they lost that day.

He always contributed money to the family, but did save some for himself. He first saved his money in a hole in the bedroom wall and when he thought his one of his brothers had found his hiding spot he started hiding his money in rabbit holes out in the field.

Dad’s time in Ireland wasn’t all work. He played Irish football and was the captain of the Inniskeen junior football team. He used to go into the village at night and watch T.V. in Benny’s hut watching America shows such as Perry Mason which was a pretty big thing in the late ‘50s early ‘60s as not everyone had access to TV. When he was a bit older he would take the bus with his friends and go around to different dance halls each week. He also got to see the Beatles play live in concert when they toured Ireland before making it big in America.

In September 1965, he immigrated to Canada. He first landed in New York and visited with his Aunt Mae and her family before flying to Vancouver and making his way to his Uncle James in Ocean Falls. He was a bit of a fish out of water as so many things were different here than in Ireland. He would still laugh about the first time he ordered a meal in Vancouver. At home in Ireland, when you would order a sandwich they would cut it into four triangles for you. So when he was in Vancouver, he ordered four ham sandwiches. He nearly died when the waitress brought him four full sandwiches that cost ½ of the money he brought to Canada with him!

When he got to Ocean Falls he worked in the paper mill and eventually made his way to Tahsis in 1967. His brother Frank joined him in Ocean Falls and in Tahsis, where they lived in the bunkhouse together. He really enjoyed his time living in the bunkhouse. He made friends for life there.

In 1968, Dad, his brother Frank and two other friends bought a 1963 Pontiac station wagon here in Campbell River and drove across Canada. They took a month stopping at the Calgary Stampede and more than a few pubs across the Prairies and Ontario eventually making their way to PEI. I’m sure I only heard a small selection of the many stories that happened on that trip!

From there, Dad and Frank flew to Ireland for their sister’s wedding and within a few weeks he met my mom, Teresa Doherty. It was August 15th, 1968, and Dad and his friend walked into the chip shop mom was working with her mom and sister Moria in Blackrock. He was a real smooth talker dressed in his cowboy shirt from the Calgary Stampede and wanted to know if they had a menu. Mom cheekily said “You’re looking at it, it’s on the blackboard”. Dad asked if she had any boyfriends and she said “I have lots boyfriends”. And he replied, “How about one more?” Mom couldn’t resist and said “Why not?!” They made arrangements for her and Moria to meet him and his friend at a dance later that week. As he left the chip chop, Dad told his friend, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I married that girl”. He told me recently he thought mom was the prettiest thing and knew right away he was in love. They met at the dance and the two men walked Mom and Moria home, but I have been told they didn’t get very far up the lane! Dad asked his sister, Anna, if he could bring mom as his date to her wedding. The wedding was only a week or so away and Anna said “No, you probably won’t be dating her next week”. But he proved her wrong and they were engaged on Valentine’s Day, 1969 and married on August 6, 1970. They were married for almost 42 years when she passed away in 2012.

When it came time to having a family, Dad only wanted to have one child and I am very lucky to be their daughter. We were a close family that got along really well. Our home was always filled with laughter. Dad said he could always make mom laugh no matter how mad he made her..and he could make her really mad!

But without a doubt he was a very hard worker and provider for his family. He was also very generous. When he was young he would often bring home squares of chocolates home from the village to share with Nana. And mom and I never went without the best of anything. I didn’t really have a choice about going to university. I was going and he was paying, no if, ands, or buts.

He took great pride in his work and loved going to the mill every day. In Tahsis, he pulled on the green chain for over 10 years and when he hurt his back he became a grapple operator on the boom loading logs into the mill which we worked on for 25 years until he retired. He was always thinking of production and how he can fill up both A mill and C mill with the right logs and not let them run empty. When I was in high school, I was very proud to work in the same mill he did. Although I worked on the weekends, there were a few times where we both worked the Friday afternoon shift and we went in early so I could go up and see what his machine was like, and how much it shook! I have a picture on my desk at work of the two of us going to work together with our steel toed boots and hard hats. It’s one of my favorite pictures.

Even though he didn’t finish school formally, he was the smartest man I knew. He liked to say that he went to the University of Drummond Hill, and for those of you who don’t know Drummond Hill is part of the land his family farmed in Ireland. He could do math in his head faster than I can use my calculator. He would often do my taxes in his head and be pretty darn close. He watched history and nature TV shows all the time, which used to drive me crazy when I was a kid and we only had one TV.

He loved his hair. When he was younger he spent hours combing his hair and looking in mirrors to check that his Elvis like do was sitting just right. In later years, he started wearing a cap which became his signature look. But when he took the cap off, he was still checking how his hair was even though there was not much of it left.

Dad was well known and liked around Tahsis. Everybody called him Paddy and he chatted with everyone. He used to be a regular for the morning coffee with the guys at the coffee shop and he would stop in later in the afternoon at the pub for a beer..or two. He also loved playing in the Tahsis hockey pools, especially when he was winning.

Mom and dad were known for their garden and spent hours and hours in their yard planting flowers and vegetables and would often come home to someone walking around their yard or taking pictures like it was Bouchard Gardens.

But I think where he will really be missed in Tahsis will be riding his bike around town. He would ride his bike around his regular route – around the valley, into the trailer court, out the road and back home. Mom and dad used to go for bike rides together and he carried on after she passed away, but I know it wasn’t the same for him.

Dad took care of mom when she was sick. Although it was a role reversal for them, Dad did a very good job. He gave her chemo medication and walked her down to the treatment center every day. He would make them lunch and start dinner each day before I got home from work. And when her treatment was done he took her back home to Tahsis and courageously called the ambulance when he knew that she needed to go into the hospital.

Dad and I were always good friends and we spent a lot of time together after mom passed away. When he was in Tahsis, we talked on the phone all the time. He came and stayed with me in Vancouver the last two winters and again this spring after he was in the hospital. When stayed with me, we had our weekly pizza night, visited with horses on a local farm and watched English murder mystery TV shows together. We also recently visited the B.C. farm museum where he held the wooden handles of a plough in his hands one more time.

My dad had a good life, but I know he was brokenhearted these last two years after mom passed away. I am devastated that they are both gone, but there is some comfort knowing that they are together again. I had the two best parents and they will both be forever in my heart. My dad was very special man and I will certainly miss him.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam, which is Gaelic for “May he rest in peace”.

By Jennifer Finnegan, Daughter

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Patrick Joseph Finnegan

November 28, 1943 to August 18, 2014

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our father, brother, uncle and friend at the age of 70 years. Patrick was born in Inniskeen, County Monaghan, Ireland and immigrated to Canada in 1965. He first worked in the paper mill in Ocean Falls, B.C. and moved to Tahsis, B.C. in 1967 to work in the saw mill where he worked until he retired. In 1968, he returned to Ireland for his first visit home where he met the love of his life, Teresa. They were married on August 6, 1970 and lived together in Tahsis where they raised their daughter Jennifer together among family and friends. He will be remembered for his vegetable and flower garden, love of hockey pools and riding his bike around town.

Patrick was predeceased by his father Peter (1958), Aunt Mary “Nana” (1971), mother Katie (1993), sister in-law Mary (2004), brother Peadar (2007), nephew Seamus (2009) and his beloved wife Teresa in 2012. Patrick leaves behind his daughter Jennifer, sister Anna (John), brothers Frank, Seamus (Nora), Brendan and Michael, and extended family. Patrick will be forever loved and missed by his family and friends and everyone in Tahsis, but we take comfort in knowing that he is with his Teresa once again.

A Prayer Service will be held at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, 34 South Alder Street, Campbell River on Monday, August 25th at 7 pm followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, August 26th at 11 am and interment at Elk Falls Cemetery. Online condolences may be made at www.suttonsfuneralhome.com

Arrangements under the direction of Sutton's Campbell River Funeral Home, Campbell River, BC.