John, Michelle and myself on my 1981 visit. Yikes!
Growing up in an armed forces family and moving from spot to spot every few years means that I really don't have a home base. It also means that my parents, brother and sister also don't have a home base. The result is we have drifted all over the place for a number of years.Both my brother and sister have been living on Vancouver Island since the 70's. I had taken a trip out there to see about living there back in 1981. I love British Colombia, and had lived up in Smithers back in the 70's. My wife was from new York, and she felt that the distance would be too much, as we visited New York and all the relatives at least once a year.
Well, my brother John had a kid, and my sister Michelle had 2, and they've had kids. My niece Joanne got married a few years back, and I tried to get out for the wedding. Could not swing it, and have felt bad since. Am making up for it by coming out to visit everyone for a few weeks.
Luck for me, it's the Easter weekend and my sister is planning both a family dinner and a photograph session. It will be an emotional time for me. I have seen Michelle a lot, as she comes down to PEI to visit Mom almost annually. My brother John, I haven't seen for more than 25 years. We have just started emailing each other after quite a long pause, arguing the finer points of spirituality. He is a new-born and I am probably the polar opposite. The emails have been invigorating and stimulating. The live argument ought to convince people to give us some space.
I now have grand-nieces (Yikes!) to go along with nieces and a nephew. To say that I am looking forward to meeting them would be quite the understatement.
Bruce
3 comments:
Live argument? ain't gonna happen big brother. you're wrong and you'll have to just deal with it. and what's this about "new" born. twenty years i've been putting up with pagans, athiests and darwinians. that makes be an old born i'd say. besides, the term is "born again", as i have repeatedly told you in our emails. why can't you get anything spiritual straight?
anyway, as fun as supporting your flimsey blog is, i'll have to reitterate that we won't be arguing anything....you'll pray at supper, read the bible first thing in the morning and wipe your evil feet before you enter MY house.
nuf said.
your loving, righteous brother (not in Christ mind)....jon
Hi Bruce, Hope things are going well. Sorry to add such a downer comment but I thought you might want to know. Jack used to live directly across the alley behing my house in the Hydrostones.
Cheers,
Greg
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/613611.html
Well-known bike shop owner Jack Nauss dies
By KRISTEN LIPSCOMBE Staff Reporter
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Jack Rodney Nauss was such a trusting man, he mailed bike parts to customers across the continent before they had even been paid for.
"Dad felt everyone was honest," his youngest child, Lloyd Nauss, remembered Friday evening, just hours after his 79-year-old father died. "He never judged people.
"He had people who would write him a note from Alaska or the Yukon saying ‘I need a part for this’ and he would send it off and say, ‘Drop a cheque in the mail and don’t worry about it.’
Perhaps that’s why Mr. Nauss’s influence stretched around the world and why loyal customers kept coming back to his welcoming shop on Halifax’s Agricola Street.
Mr. Nauss, owner and manager of Jack Nauss Bicycle Shop Ltd., died of a heart attack Friday morning at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Centre’s Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building in Halifax.
"Dad would always stick his neck out for anyone," Lloyd Nauss, a Maders Cove resident, said. "It didn’t matter who you were."
Born and raised in Halifax, Jack Nauss opened up his legendary shop in 1969 after several years of learning the business at Colquhoun’s Bicycle Shop, which was also in the heart of the city’s historic north end.
"When his boss died, Dad decided that he would go out on his own," oldest son, David Nauss, the shop’s head mechanic, said Friday. "I guess it’s just the lifetime passion of the exercise of it and the enjoyment of cycling," the Halifax man explained.
"When he first started, he was basically the only one in the city, so we had a clientele. . . . They’ve become loyal friends and customers."
Even as his health started to fail in his later years, Mr. Nauss remained dedicated to the thriving business, David recalled.
"He never wanted to give it up," David said. Up until suffering a stroke about a year ago, "he was still there . . . waiting on customers and greeting people as they were coming into the door."
Indeed, according to his obituary, "if Jack didn’t remember your name, he always remembered your face and always your bicycle."
But bicycles certainly weren’t Mr. Nauss’s only passion.
"My Dad was a great family man," Lloyd said. "He supported us all. He taught us a lot of civility."
For instance, when Lloyd decided he’d rather attend the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design than go into the bicycle business, Mr. Nauss encouraged his son to follow his dreams.
"He encouraged us to do whatever we wanted to do," Lloyd said. "So there was that great support there."
David agreed that their Dad was extremely family-oriented, but said he immersed himself more so in his business after his wife Stella Gem (Sanford) Nauss died in September 1990.
Mr. Nauss is predeceased by his wife and two brothers. He is survived by children David, Charles, Susan, Paul and Lloyd; nine grandchildren, several nieces and nephews; his in-laws and many friends.
Mr. Nauss participated in the Queen Elizabeth High School Air Cadets, was an enthusiastic scoutmaster who enjoyed camping and was a member of the Halifax Motorcycle Club, his obituary says.
"Jack and his wife, Stella, went on their honeymoon using their motorcycle as their means of transportation," the obituary reads.
J.A. Snow Funeral Home will hold visitation this Sunday and Monday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral service starts at 11 a.m. Tuesday at United Memorial Church, with burial in Fairview Lawn Cemetery.
Donations in Mr. Nauss’s name can be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Cancer Society or any other charity of choice.
( klipscombe@herald.ca)
blather...we speak the same language then ;)
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