Roy Parker Brockelbank

Roy Parker Brockelbank was known as many things to many people. He was a loved one, a friend, and someone special. To family and friends who knew him best, Roy Parker will be remembered as a very exceptional person.

      Roy Parker was born on July 4, 1939 at the Brockelbank Homestead in Gordon Township, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He was the son of Edward Christopher (Ted) and Sarah Jane (Sadie). Roy Parker grew up in in the same house he was born in on Manitoulin Island.

      Roy Parker was raised with two siblings. He had younger sister Mary Elizabeth who resides in Naughton Ontario today and a younger brother Joseph Edward who preceeded him in death. Roy Parker was usually involved in all sorts of activities with his siblings. He and his siblings experienced rivalries typical of a growing family, but they shared many life experiences over the years.

      As a young boy, Roy Parker had a number of interests. Like most children, he enjoyed playing and making up games. He was curious about the world around him and was often eager to explore it. Roy Parker was an active child who attended #4 school in Gordon Township and participated in school spors and other activities. He also enjoyed skating on ponds and later in the arena as well as swimming in the lake in the summer. As a child he spent most of his time on the family farm and was particularly fascinated by any type of machinery. He often related a story about driving to Sudbury in his dad's truck when he was 14. Roy Parker's memorable achievements included. However, to Roy Parker, the most fun to be had was simply playing and spending time with his friends.

      A typical teenager, Roy Parker had a fairly happy high school experience, making that critical transition from adolescence to adulthood. Marie in Novemeber of 1956. He enjoyed some classes more than others, having favorite subjects and teachers. He played the lead role in a high scholl play that won the Manitoulin festival that year. He also participated in Young Peoples where he enjoyed his friends and singing with his guitar. The first song Maxine ever remembers him singing was "The Cat Came Back".

      Always considered a “good” friend to those he knew, Roy Parker enjoyed a broad group of acquaintances and several very close friends during his lifetime. While growing up,Roy was part of the 17 Gordon kids that included Gerald Donaldson, Clare Bracken, Chalid, Edward, Ben, Lawrence, Murray and his sister Mary. Together they had lots of fun. Roy was a man of many friends as he progressed through life - had frieds related to work, music,Ham radio, model airplanes and Boy Scouts just to name a few. Although he gained many friend throughout his life he never lost any.

      On August 13, 1960 Roy Parker exchanged wedding vows with Mildred Maxine Wright at United Church of Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island. Empathic and loyal, Roy Parker was committed to making his new family happy.

      Roy Parker worked hard to be a good father to his children and he did his best to fulfill their needs. Roy Parker was blessed with three children, a daugter, Leeanne Dawn and two sons Neil Parker and Max Christopher (Dawn, Parker and Chris). Another blessing for Roy Parker was the gift of five grandchildren, Neil, Joshua, Cameron, Eric, Libby and a step grand daughter Nikki.

      Fortunately, Roy Parker enjoyed what he did for a living. Showing a strong work ethic, Roy Parker worked diligently and did his best to succeed in his career. His primary occupation was as a Partsman. He was very well known and respected in Sault Ste. Marie for his years of experience and knowledge. He was employed in 2 different Ford Garages that had several name changes throughout his career. He officially retired from Eagle Engine after being a partsman for 48 years, but as we all know retirement was just a word as he returned many times after that to help out at Eagle Engine. Roy Parker always sought to be a team player, doing what was necessary in order to get the job done.

      Roy Parker enjoyed his leisure time by taking part in various hobbies. He had many insterests and passions. His true passion was music. He learned to play guitar and began singing when he was young and continued that throughout his life. His passion for music was so great that the first thing he bought when he began to earn money was a turntable followed by many many records. (all Country of course - as that is the only music there is). After retirement he volunteer to sing and entertain at 6 different nursing homes and did that until shortly before his death. He also loved to build and fly model airplanes. One of the most memorable for his children was a green plane called Sneaky Snake. He also enjoyed Boy Scouts, Ham radio (he had a dedicated radio room in the basement and was licensed in both Canada and the US), cutting grass (in retirement was the caretaker for the laird Fairgrounds, Laird Cemetery and the Park), Curling, Scottish dancing and of course his family and grandchildren. He was content to enjoy his favorite pastimes alone but was also willing to share his interests with others.

      Roy Parker found pleasure in sports. Roy Parker was also something of a sports fan and enjoyed following his favorite events whenever he had the chance to do so. Enjoyed watching NASCAR racing, cheering for Junior.

      Throughout his life, Roy Parker was a doer and was always actively involved in professional and community organizations. In high school, Roy Parker was a member of the Young Peoples group in Gordon township. Throughout his later years, Roy Parker was an active member of Boy Scouts where he was Akela and participated in the Group Committee in various roles. He was an active member of the Ham radio club where he also held many offices. He also participated in both the Echo Bay and Laird Emergency Management Organization as a communications representative.

      Roy Parker was a man who took pride in upholding his beliefs. So it is little wonder that he took an active role in his community, He served on the Fair Board / North shore Agricultural Society in various roles as well as the organizational groups of the Great Northern Opry and the Northern Ontario Country Music Hall of Fame. He also served on the Laird Centennial planning committee.

      Roy Parker’s faith was important to him. He was a member of the Gordon Township United Church growing up and later a member of The Knox Presbyterian Church in Bar River.

      Though he never set out to gain individual recognition, Roy Parker was given accolades for his many and varied accomplishments throughout his life. He earned many awards in recognition of his years of service to his community. He was recognized for more that 40 years in Scouting and recognized many times for his service to Laird township and to the town of Echo Bay. He was recognized twice with the Bill Haight award and twice with the Rene McFarland award through the Great northern Opry and was a member of the Northern Ontario Country Music Hall of Fame.

      Roy Parker enjoyed traveling and time away on vacations. It was a chance for him to renew and relax, to visit new places and experience new things. Roy always said he enjoyed both trips and vacations. Vacations were those excursions where you just got to go and relax for a week like Mexico or Cuba and trips were the excursions that you travelled the world and saw all of the sights (which usually involved LOTS of walking). Of all of his travels he was most impressed by Rome. He was very fascinated by the architecture and the 'technology' of the time.

      Roy Parker was a lover of animals and cherished his pets. One of his favorites was a dog named Max that he had while growing up. He also had a fondness for cats - especially Scooter a blond fur ball and Jake a Tabby cat.

      When Roy Parker’s retirement finally arrived in in 2004, but never really retired, he was well prepared. In retirement, he found more pleasure in serving his community and being involved in many of his hobbies. Even in retirement, Roy Parker continued to stay in touch with his old friends while making plenty of new acquaintances. Roy Parker was active in his new community and felt fulfilled with the opportunities retirement offered him.

      Roy Parker passed away on November 17, 2012 at Sault Area Hospital. After multiple surgeries and many health challenges in the last couple of years he was diagnosed with lung cancer on Sept 29, 2012. He endured radiation and chemotherapy and fought a tremendous battle, but in the end died peacefully with his family at his side on November 17, 2012. He is survived by his wife Maxine, his children Dawn (Randy), Parker (Heather) and Chris. By his sister Mary and by his grandchildren Neil, Joshua (who preceded him in death), Cameron (Brooke), Eric, Libby and his step granddaughter Nikki. Services were held in the chapel at Arthur Funeral Home in Sault Ste. Marie. Roy Parker was laid to rest in Laird Cemetery in Laird Township Ontario.

      Simply stated, Roy Parker was a good and kind person, an individual who will for all time be remembered by his family and friends as being a caring and giving person, someone who was a vital part of their lives. Roy Parker leaves behind him a legacy of life-long friendships and many cherished memories. Everyone whose life he touched will always remember Roy Parker Brockelbank.

Roy’s Eulogy

Anne Cranston (Sister-in-law)

Well my first thought when I was asked to give Roy’s eulogy were “OH My” then I felt honoured that I had been asked. Looking up ‘eulogy’ in the dictionary was my next step (my kids can relate to that).

Eulogy means to give A SPOKEN OR WRITTEN PIECE OF HIGH PRAISE especially when delivered publicly. My fear now is I don’t deliver the praise Roy deserves.

To me and my family Roy or Uncle Roy was a quiet man of few words, family man, man of tradition (his cowboy boots, I had nicknamed Roy Boots years ago and his blue jeans), dependable, reliable, hardworking honest community minded man with a sense of humour and had many passions: family-music-Ham radio- and planes.

I have used the word man several times because that is what Roy truly is: a ‘genuine man’

I have known Roy practically my entire life, he is my 5th brother. I remember waiting for Roy and Maxine to arrive home from the Soo many a Christmas eve and if there wasn’t too many people around (cause Roy was very shy back then- lucky for all those who have enjoyed his music since that he got over that). Roy would bring in his guitar and sing- that was the best. Mom would always wait for him to sing “The Streets of Baltimore”. When I was at school in Toronto he sang to me several times over the phone.

I babysat Dawn her first summer. You could always count on Roy to be home 35 minutes after work with a newspaper, a loaf of bread and a jug of milk, eat his supper; have a 15 minute power nap and be off to a meeting. I don’t think that changed over the years except to add more meetings. And on the weekend if he wasn’t playing we would have a game of Password.

Roy enjoyed a good joke always...with did you hear the one about and lately he would have jokes printed off his computer. I came home from Toronto for Christmas and I had beautiful light blonde hair. I think I heard every blond joke of the day.

When Roy started something he never quit as you can see from his long time service awards and long time career as a parts man I might add he was the best parts man in the business and won many competition and was known throughout.

His family was his first priority Roy followed Maxine to the Soo in 1956 and has never left her side. I only know of one disagreement they had and that was when Roy was not at the bus stop in Michigan when Maxine got off the bus.

Dawn was never able to do anything wrong in her dad’s eyes and there was regular visits to Indian over the years so he and Maxine could share Dawn and Randy’s achievement and watch Libby and Eric grow (and if you have seen Eric they sure do grow in Indiana). Dawn I think you had to share the twinkle in your Dad’s eye with Libby.

He helped Parker with the building of his house and could always be found Thursday night at LIR when Parker was racing. With Heather, one dog is not enough. He was always quick to see the new additions and give them all a scratch behind the ear. Neil and Cam are very aware of their Grandfathers’ love for them in his many actions even when he called them a “Bunch of Dummies”. He may not have agreed with all the decisions his children and grandchildren made, but he was always there to support them.

Chris is changing careers and his dad could not be more proud of what Chris has accomplished these past months. This past summer was spent living with his Mom and Dad and I am sure he is thankful for all the new memories.

In his community he served on several committees and the other members knew he could be counted on to attend, participate and contribute. He was not there just to fill a chair. As a neighbour or volunteer he was always ready with a helping hand to those who asked and to those who didn’t.

Dawn arranged a cruise to celebrate Roy and Maxine’s 50th wedding anniversary in June 2010. She could only book a 5 day cruise not a 7 day one because Roy couldn’t leave the grass at the Fairgrounds or any of the other areas he cut for any longer than 5 days, and that was a stretch. Looking after the Fairgrounds became his new career after he retired from Eagle Engine (where he continued to do relief work). He was still making sure that all was well at the Fairgrounds, until he went into the Hospital on November 12th, just another example of his reliability, dependability and work ethic.

My kids know Uncle Roy as the quiet man with a guitar who sang ‘Sneaky Snake’ to them when they were younger and ‘Johnny B. Goode and Kaw - Liga as they got older. He had an antenna farm at his house and talked to people all over the world on his Ham radio and then later on his computer and “you didn’t touch anything in his computer room”

My grandchildren know Uncle Roy as the man with the pool (and even though Aunt Maxine would say no splashing there would be lots of splashing he would have started). The man with the cool fish pond with fish they can feed, and an awesome train that seemed to always have had something new added.

All know Roy as a man to be respected as is evident today and yesterday by all his friends, colleagues and admirers that have come to show their respect to Roy and Condolences to his family.

Mom being Roy’s biggest fan, I am sure she is enjoying the beautiful music Roy and Josh are making now.

Well, Roy you rest in peace now as you have stated over the last couple of years this growing older is sure not for Sissy’s! You fought a good fight.

We will take care of CHICK for you and every once and a while we will put some grass on the mat or toast crumbs on the counter.

Hello. I’m Tom Thomson, Roy’s friend and for the last few years the other half of Roy’s “flying circus”

When I was asked if I could say a few words today and I agreed panic set in almost immediately. Where does even start, what would I say, am I going to say the right things, is this what I’m supposed to say. As I sat on the porch reflecting on this(actually panicking) something that I had learnt as a cub and Akela(Roy) had always said to his cubs popped into my head clear as a bell “DO YOUR BEST” That’s all Roy would have asked for. So here goes.

I first met Roy and Maxine at the Desbarats arena in 1992 where we were all curling in the same league. We must have hit it off pretty good because Roy asked me later that winter to curl with him in a bonspiel. We stayed in touch over the next few years. A ham and bean supper here spaghetti supper there and the odd dance. In 1999 my son was old enough to join cubs. So one Monday night off we went to Laird Hall to meet the cub people.

Guess who the Akela for the 1st Bar River cub pack was? You guessed it Roy Brockelbank. After couple of months of waiting in the kitchen and helping out a here and there I found myself as “Baloo” trusted side kick to Akela and Raksha and we were off to the races.

There were sleepovers in the hall, hikes on the weekends, camping at Tower Lake, Thayer’s acres and a host of other places where we had camped and hiked. This is when I found out that Akela’s tent wasn’t made by Woods but by FORD.

I remember one campout we were having we were at the Elk’s club in Echo Bay. This was before it was enclosed. It had a roof but all the sides were open. It was a nasty night it was windy, cold, damp and raining. We had strung up some tarps to try and keep the tents from getting wet because the rain was coming down sideways and soaking the tents. So, as we finally get all the cubs tucked in and I’m ready to retire myself I noticed an extension cord running from an outlet into the back of the FORD HOTEL. Someone was nice and cozy and dry for the night. I gave him a bit of a ribbing for that for the better part of the next day.

As we progressed through the years with cubs it became apparent to me that there was an event during the cub year that Roy had patiently waited for all year. KUB KAR RACES. Now being a new “Baloo” and a rookie as well when I first joined, I had to watch and learn the proper way to set up and test a Kub Kar. Out would come the trusty balance scale, the box of all different shape and sized sinkers and the calibration bag( to this day I still don’t know what was in that bag) and away we’d go weighing every Kub Kar and adding or taking away weight as necessary.

I mostly ran the glue gun (Roy and the glue gun didn’t see eye to eye on a number of occasions if you know what I mean) then came the Pak race off, lots of cheering and shouting and Roy in the centre as race marshal. When all was said and done it was off to the Sault, 4 Kars and 1 back-up for the big race. Set up in front of Shoppers Drug Mart,

2 tracks, stock and super stock 40+ Kars in each. Roy’s PA system all set up and after a round of “O CANADA”, lead by Roy, racing began, Roy grinning from ear to ear especially at the end of the day when the Super Stock Trophy was finding it’s way back to the 1st Bar River cub pack again. Yes, the little pack from the country did know how to race.

Another event that Roy liked to participate in was Cuboree. He was always so proud of the cubs and on numerous occasions 1st Bar River has won awards for being the best campsite among others. There are numerous tales to be told about goings on at the various cuboree’s while Roy was Akela of the 1st Bar river pack and I’m sure they will be reminisced for years and years to come.

One evening in early spring we were all in the kitchen at the hall doing a craft or something when Akela walks in and says he has something to show us in the main hall and there it was. . . a brand new KADET LT 40 remote controlled airplane. Do you know how to fly one of these I asked? Not yet was the answer I got with a twinkle in his eye. Where do you think we should try he asked. Having no knowledge of this stuff at all I said let’s head to the cement pads at the race track. It soon became apparent that we needed way more room. To the parking lot. Now the only thing in the way of Roy’s LT 40 and my Apache were 2 baseball back stops, 2 sets of bleachers, a tall fence in the middle and a wack of trees.

So we started slow and careful and through sheer persistence we eventually hit or crashed into everything within the immediate area of the parking lot. Through trees and into fences, laughing and cursing all the way. It’s a good thing that Roy had the keys to the fairground we even had to go in there a few times to retrieve a wounded airplane.

One time I was bent over fuelling my airplane while Roy was flying circuits and I heard this awful crash. I looked up... what happened? I don’t know was the answer, its way over there. So off we go in search of this plane but it’s nowhere to be found. As we are backtracking our way out I happen to look up in a tree and low an behold there’s the plane. So, onto a 45 gallon drum then on to the roof of a building then into a tree and a short climb and we have the airplane back and surprisingly no damage even with all that noise.

Flying had become a passion with Roy. He had been bitten by the RC bug in a big way. On one occasion after a trip to Indiana to visit Dawn and Randy and the grand kids he calls me up to come over and see this Spitfire that somehow had followed him out of the store. Learning to fly took a bit of practice though and on many occasion the airplanes went back home as Roy would say IN KIT FORM. But another quick trip to the hardware store for some 5 minute epoxy and I usually got a call later that night saying we’re ready to go again. Eventually after doing every aerobatic manoeuvre known to man and a few extra’s thrown in for good measure Roy got the hang of this flying stuff and he even found out that the airplane could turn to the right.

We also found that our flying time was also our chat time. Sitting on the tail gate of hangar 1 (Roy’s FORD tent also doubled as a Hangar) and just contemplated life. Here we would exchange ideas and would get updates on the goings on in our families. Roy loved his family so much. I would get an update on Eric’s knee, how Mary was doing down in Naughton, when Neil was going to start as a fireman for the city. How Chris was doing in school and how he was getting excellent marks. He was so proud of all of you and of his greatest love, the woman he followed all the way from Manitoulin Island, Maxine. As I draw to a close I find myself questioning the future and how it will unfold. One part of me knows that “time heals all” but a big part of me is really going to miss Roy. The evening calls to discuss what each other is watching or buying on ebay or when our next flight will be or why can’t JR win a race or that Jimmy Johnson is cheating. I looked forward to being with Roy. That’s what good friendship means to me. Maxine, Dawn, Parker, Chris I want to thank you for sharing Roy with me for all these years and for letting me grieve with you at this time of great loss and pain. And to you Roy.

REST WELL OLD WOLF STAY 3 MISTAKES HIGH

Thanks

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BROCKELBANK, Roy Parker - Passed away peacefully with his family by his side on Saturday, November 17, 2012 in his 74th year. Beloved husband of Maxine for 52 years. Father of Dawn (Randy), Parker (Heather) and Chris. Proud Grandfather of Neil, late Josh, Cameron (Brooke), Eric and Libby. Dear brother of Mary Bell (late Ron) and the late Joe. Brother in law of Harry Wright (Velma), Arthur Wright (Edna), Alec Wright (Nancy), Anne Cranston (Henry) and Herb Wright. Uncle to many nieces and nephews. His generosity to the community and his gift of music will be sadly missed. Friends may call at the Arthur Funeral Home & Cremation Centre on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 from 6 – 9 pm. Funeral service to be held in the chapel on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 1 pm. Rev. Rolly MacLean officiating. Memorial contributions to the SAH Cancer Care Fund or ARCH would be appreciated. Expressions of sympathy may be offered at www.arthurfuneralhome.com