Sincerest condolences on the passing of your father, Edward, on behalf of Jennie (nee Mamela) Shields, her sons Ronald, Douglas (deceased) (Debi), Daniel (Glenda) and Thomas (Marilyn) and Jennie's 5 grandchildren.

Dad's Eulogy
 For those of you that don't know me, I am Ed's eldest son Gerry and on behalf of Dorothy, my sisters Sandra and Michele, my brother Tom, and all of the rest of the family, I would like to say a few words about the man for whom we have congregated together in order to pay our final respects, Edward Joseph Mamela or as he was often referred to Eddy.
 It is common knowledge that my dad was a man of very few words, so in his estimation this speech should be finished right about now.  However, I'm going to ask for his indulgence this one time and talk about a few aspects of my dad's life.
 My dad came from humble beginnings as a son to Polish emigrants (Joseph and Antonia) and spent his early life in the Beach road area along with his younger brother Hank.  If you grow up in that area, there is a good chance that you will become pretty prolific with a pool cue and that was true of my dad.  He may not have reached the notoriety of a Fast Eddy Felsden, but in some of the older pictures, he sure took on the persona of a pool shark.  It was also growing up in that area that he displayed his sense of loyalty as he developed long term friendships with buddies like Pauly Deredick and Rocky Adams, guys he ended up hanging around with through a large part of his life.  It was also at that time that dad established himself as a fashion trend setter, often spending much of his available cash accumulating the latest fashions from Gerry's Mens Shop where  he had custom designed clothes made based on the styles he observed when hitting the bars and honkytonks of the more shady districts of Buffalo.   That sense of avant-garde and slightly flamboyant style, belied his outward nature as a shy an introspective individual and was exhibited even in his choice of Christmas decorations that included the famous silver Christmas tree, ornated with gleaming blue bulbs and highlighted by a rotating tri-coloured spot light.  It was a sight to behold. Not all that festive mind you, but a sight to behold nonetheless.
 My dad took on the responsibilities of husband and father at an early age and so began his adult work career.  First a stint at the Ford Oakville plant to which he hitch hiked both to and from work as he was not driving at the time and then a little later at his father's employer, Dofasco, where he spent a total of 36 years within the Finishing Roll Grinding department steadily moving his was up to the ranks of General Foreman of his division.  He had a steady, hard nose to the grind stone approach to his work and rarely missed any shifts throughout all of his Dofasco tenure.  He was deemed by his fellow worker's to be a dedicated, hard working, straight and fair shooter, never asking his crew to do anything he was not prepared to do himself.  The guys he shared shift work with soon became a family unto themselves as they shared the same time off and dad extended his network of friends to the likes of  Jim Millar, Ruddy Tokarz, Paul Kelly, Steve Rafais as well as many others.  Although dad was never exposed to organized sports as a kid, he joined his fellow work buddies on the rink winning the 58-59 Dofasco Senior Hockey League Championship, which was no easy task in those days as it was a rough and tumble full contact league that generated deep bitter rivalries between the various departments and it wasn't uncommon to have a couple of hundred spectators at the Championship game and more than a few fisticuffs.  You may have seen the Spectator notice of the game on one of the display boards.   It was also at this time that my dad established himself as a high caliber bowler and accomplished a perfect game, throwing 12 strikes in a row, a feat that could be declared even more rare then a hole in one in golf.   
 My dad also displayed a quiet discernible tendency for generosity and community spirit, whether it was helping his younger brother Hank or sliding a $20 bill to his eldest daughter Sandy for straightening up his apartment.  In his early days he was member of the Moosehead Lodge where he socialized and worked with others to support worthwhile causes.  Later he took that same ideal and became a 20 years plus member of the Cope Town Lion's Club where he dedicated many hours volunteering as the head French fry maker, affectionately known as mister potato head, because of his expertise at the fryer and sharing enjoyable times with his fellow members.  We, as a family, attended and enjoyed many of the Lion's Clubs functions.  I want to thank the Lion's club for the special memorial service they performed for my dad yesterday.  
 I would be remiss if I didn't mention my dad's love of music and dancing.  He was a jazz aficionado accumulating an extraordinary array of classic and cutting edge jazz vinyl and the latest advanced stereo equipment to enjoy listening to the music on.  I have many fond memories of my dad and his buddies coming over to our Superior Street house to share a brew and “dig” the tunes.  I'm not sure if it was the Labatt's 50 they were drinking at the time, but I do believe it was at one of those get-togethers that my dad and his buddies concocted a plan to engineer an underground tunnel from our Superior St. house basement, under Parkdale Street and into the adjacent Brewer's Retail. The proximity to the Beer Store, is I believe, the reason why the home was purchased in the first place and if you go there, the pathway between the two destinations will still reveal the visible footprints of the many treks made back and forth to the store.  In fact you will be able to view both the house and the Brewer's retail store during our procession today.  The famous hockey legend and neighbor Pat Quinn attested to hearing of the underground tunnel plan and believed that it may in fact exist.  It was also with this infamous group that they and my dad, in the face of a major brewery strike, hatched a plan to brew their own beer, which in fact they did.  However their patience wore thin and they opened the bottles early and despite the fact that the beer was not properly fermented, they held their noses and drank it anyway.  
It was only natural that along with his love of music that my dad also had a penchant for dancing.  From the early days at the local Continental Club, through the legendary parties at our Superior St. house, where the furniture was moved back to allow for some freewheeling jiving or Cha-Cha, right up to square dancing at the Lion's club.  He always displayed impeccable balance, deft footwork and smooth motion.  He was the ladies first choice when they wanted to be spun around on the dance floor.  There is a particular picture that you may observed on the display boards, showing his magical steps with his youngest daughter Michele at her wedding.  The first date he took Dorothy on was, you guessed it, to a dance. 
 Another of my dad's great love was his appreciation for fine foods and the art of preparing it.  An initial indication of his interest in food, was when dad was a toddler, a visiting nurse indicated to Babja, his mother, that he should not be eating dill pickles, she retorted in her broken English “then you take it away from him”.  He approached cooking as a science, with meticulous precision and insistence for the perfect ingredients. His spaghetti and meatballs were a family favorite.  My brother Tom spoke of his experience with dad as a child and the degree to which my dad would go through even when creating a sub sandwich, carting Tom around the city to accumulate only the best combination of contents and exercising methodical steps to construct the sub masterpiece.      
After retiring from Dofasco, Dorothy insisted that Eddy develop a hobby to keep him busy.  While always a consummate Ticat and Blue-Jay's fan, one of his endeavors he took up at a later stage of life was to golf in the Dofasco retiree's league and for some unknown reason always having the very first starting tee time.  I remember, during an occasion when I was invited to play with him, pulling up before day break into the parking lot with my car lights still on and wondering how on earth we were going to see the ball.  I found out later that in a lot of cases, maybe it was better not see the flight of the ball. But he also had his creative flair and exercised it by first collecting an assortment of rocks and gems and then later incorporating them into jewellery.  Dorothy and my dad received notoriety from the grand children for attending many rock concerts.  Unbeknownst to the grand kids they were actually rock and gem shows.   Through the later years of his life dad took up wood carving and created some impressive pieces that were displayed during the visitation.  Again it was an activity that combined his creative flair along with his desire for precision.     
 When I look back and take store of all my dad's tendencies and characteristics, I can see now how much he has passed on to his children and grand children.  All of his grand children share his tendency for hard work effort.  Tim his oldest grandchild has inherited his ability for analytical thinking.  Darryl and Dennis are both musicians in their own right, while Jeff enjoys all genres of music and is considered the fashion guru of the family.  Pat has a deft insight for following sports while Jen and Dennis, a professional chef, incorporates dad's love of cooking.  Jen funny enough has an obsession with consumption of pickles same as her grandpa.  Gabby, his youngest grandchild, shares his creative flair for arts and crafts.  Whether by genetic design or by his parenting influence he lives on his children and now his grand children.  So although we are here to say good bye to our loved one, I know his presence will not be diminished as we only have to look at the newest generation and remember what of him we can see in all of them.  
 In closing, I want to convey how much this quiet, pensive and caring individual with the wry sense of humor has been loved, how much my dad will be missed by all of us.  But we also know that he is now free and unencumbered to once again turn up the music and glide across the dance floor and now every time it rains, we will know it is him dancing up a storm, he already started last night and that we will always fondly remember him, as he most recently stated at our last get together, as one of the “Cool Cats in Hats”.   See you later dad.

Gerry, Francine and family:  Sending my deepest condolences in the passing of your father.   Janice Naraine

My sincere condolences to you and your family. Andy Wilsack

On behalf of Debby and myself, our condolences to the family. Debby Marshall and Tom Millar.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

Mike and Lisa Moseley and family

Hey Michele and Rick and Family, MY prayers go out to your Family at this difficult time..God Bless. Pete Carlin and Family.

We are saddened to hear of Ed's passing.
We both enjoyed working with him at the different Lions events. Our thoughts are with the family at this time.

OUR TOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU RIP HAMPSON FAMILY

Ed was a quiet and gentle man. We will always remember him when we "take the scenic route through the Botanical Gardens"   RIP Ed
Bill and Sue Hockridge

Dear Michele and Sandy and family:  So very sorry to hear of your loss.  Our condolences to you.  Love Brian and Sandy.

RIP.Eddie. Thanks for the memories and four wonderful children.

My thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of grief.  May your memories bring you comfort.

My heart is heavy with sadness. Sandra, Gerry, Michele and Tommy Joe know that my Dad along with Babcia and Dzia Dzia were there to welcome him home. 

Love,  Kim Mamela Griffin

OBITUARIO

Mr. Edward Mamela

9 enero, 1933 – 8 agosto, 2013

Markey-Dermody Funeral Home

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