My Dad -- Part 2

(When he was in his 80s, my father wrote a short biography of his life -- 5 pages, double-spaced, typed on the typewriter by my mother. I will include some quotes from that so you will have it straight from him.)

Now, to continue...

My father and Madeleine had been married for about a year and a half, and they were expecting a baby. On January 27th, Meryl was born! She was beautiful and healthy, but Madeleine became very, very ill. I cannot begin to imagine what this must have been like for my father who was still such a very young man. All those many years later, he wrote just two short sentences, "[The] pastor was called and together we stood at the bedside as that dear one was committed to the keeping of Him Who sits upon the throne. She gave me a little daughter, but she herself went to be with the Lord."

There are four generations in this picture...William (my father's grandfather), Meryl (my sister), Cecil (my father), and Clarence (my father's father)

My father was an architectural draftsman; in fact, an office building for which he drew the plans stood for years in downtown Toronto and might still be there. He did beautiful printing and drawing.
Madeleine was buried early in February, and when Valentine's Day came, my Dad made this card for his little daughter...
Here he is with Meryl quite a few years later...

When I was growing up, I rarely heard my father speak about Madeleine. I do remember one time, though. When he first thought about being a foreign missionary, it seems that it was either marriage or missionary, not both. Many missionary societies at that time were not sending women to foreign countries because of the serious health risks from malaria and other illnesses. He told us about hearing a missionary speaker at a meeting he attended with Madeleine before they were married. After it was over, she said, "My, your heart was beating loudly tonight!" Deep down, he knew that God wanted him to be a missionary, but he told us, "I allowed my heart to beat in another direction." And so he married Madeleine.

He added this to his little biography:
"Standing in a bitter February blizzard, I saw the casket lowered into the grave - finally convinced that God had called me to be a missionary."

One little sentence sums up how my father chose to live --
"We stood at the bedside as that dear one was committed to the keeping of Him Who sits upon the throne."
...to the keeping of Him Who sits upon the throne.
My father committed everything to His keeping.

It is amazing to see how God weaves our lives together faithfully to make the sad and the happy into something that brings honor and glory to His name!
How thankful I am that His weaving brought me my sister Meryl and all her family!


(To be continued tomorrow...)