9, That's an amazing account...I'm sitting here with tears. You and you wife will forever share the deepest of love of for each other. Stay strong and encouraged, my friend. Your wife would want you to be.
here is the eulogy, delivered with her best friend. i wrote it while all my friends were here so mostly written in wee hours, didnt say all i wanted but i think it was ok.
good evening everyone, im here to try and speak about the most important person in my life for the last 20 years. I will ask her best friend K U, from thunder bay to help me with parts of this . To try and do Jen's life justice is quite simply impossible , she was a complex person. She is someone that cant be summed up within the confines of a eulogy. If i had to choose 2 words to get some insight into this beautiful woman, it would be "unbridled potential". It is readilly obvious how stunning Jen looked, to me she was the most beautiful woman in the world , period.(BTW i meant that) But she never unfortunatley got the chance to reach her potential. and that is a pity because she had so much more to offer and for some reason that we will never understand, she was not trusting in the person she was. you will see the many sides of her during this synopsis into her life that ended all too soon. I want to share some stories about her , about her relationships with friends and family. And for people to get a glimpse of what was inside that beautiful exterior because i will assure you, it was amazing.
JLR was born may 28, 1968 in thunder bay ontario to mom and dad last name. They were trully blessed to have had her in their later years as she kept them young. Conversely, she also sped up their aging process as she was not a girl to sit around the house. She kept them hopping.
They ran a tourist lodge in the north. Jen was a little girl and i recall a story about one tourist that asked her how she liked living in that small town with her parents. Jen stated she liked it here except Daddy swears and mommy farts. Her elequence with speach was something she kept.
Garnett absolutely treasured jen. I saw it. He always referred to her as her little dew drop or morning glory. Despite his busy schedule, he always found time to take her fishing or canoeing. I can picture him looking at her with pure love in his eyes. He remained a huge influence in her life right up to the time of his death.
If you have seen the slideshow, you probably noticed she had a great relationship with her mom. alice thought the world of jen.I found out early that you never mentioned a shortcoming of hers to alice as she fiercly defended jennifer and was always there for her. Despite the age difference, she instilled some amazing values in her. She raised a sensetive, compassionate person that was liked b everyone that got to know her. One example of her sensitivity was shown on a random sat morning. Our son alex was watching winnie the pooh and some minor character, a bird i think , was killed off in that episode. I heard her start to cry, relatively hard, i asked are you going to be okay honey, through tears she said, i will be, give me a moment.
Jennifer was blessed by a wonderful family. Her brother d, eas somebody she talked about often. Those of you that know him are aware with his prowess with cars. When jen was a teen, d, restored then gave her a gorgeaous red ss 66 chevy nova. Imagine jen's beauty coupled with that car. She was a force to be reckoned with. She had star power. D's significant other also played an important role, jen loved to watch d to crafts with our kids. She was alos a great confident and friend for her. Jen had a very intersting relationship with her bil bill. She loved him like a second father. From time to time they would butt heads but i know for a fact that she was always concerned about how you felt about her. Whenever the chips were down, she called on Willie for help. He was always there for her and helped us a great deal. Never forget that bill, you mattered to her alot.
She had two siblings but because of the age difference, she felt more like j and c were like her brother and sister than niece and nephew,
She tormented jason when they were kids. She admitted to me that she was jealous of him because jen was no longer the baby of the family and the full attention was taken from her. This passed and she grew to love him like a brother more than a nephew. She would often refer to him as cousin j. She commented often on how handsome he was and leaned on him for support. When j married G, jen became good friends with her as well. She adored their daughter S and often wished we could adopt her because she wanted a daughter to go along with our boys. I know you kids are young, but try and remember your great aunt jen for the warmth and love she showed you.
Her niece C, was somebody jen really hit it off with. She could not get enough of her rare sense of humour. Jennifer loved to laugh and cath was able to bring that out in her. |I asked cath what stood out the most about jennifer. She didnt hesitate. "Jen had a big laugh, that came from her toes on up. ihope cath you know how much she loved to be around you as you brought out so many belly laughs in her. it was wonderful to watch jen laugh. it was real and real big. it touched every part of her. i want everybody here to take a moment and reflect on a jen laugh episode. keep that image with you always.
And her dear sister sandy who jen loved and honoured so much. Because of the 23 year age difference, she played a dual role in her life. She was her sister but was looked on as a mother figure for many years. Jen would often visit bill and sandy from thunder bay to manitoulin island. Jen told me that it was some of the fondest memories of her life. How she felt like part of the family and how she wanted to be like her beautiful sister. She even asked sandy on a few occasions if she could live with them as she enjoyed their family that much.
Sandy, please take comfort in knowing that jennifer loved you so much and always valued your opinion, right to the end. When she was compared to you, she took that as a compliment and knew you always be there for her.
She recently became familiar with some of her relatives through the funerals of her parents. I cant mention all but she looked forward to the visits of those crazy french girls from St ablert and her relatives from the north.
Jennifer also had a slew of wonderful friends from work and around town. How could you not like jen when you met her? she never believed that she was popular, she just couldnt accept that. but it is obvious from this turnout that she was wrong about that, very wrong. i couldnt possibly know how many people would attend this but i suspected it would be overflowing and it is. Again , it would take hours to go over every friend she had so i will mention only a few.
she treasured her relationship with PV, who was like a sister to her. they shared so much of their lives together and counted on one another to get through the tough times. Jc and michelle b that always stood beside her no matter what. but nobody new jen like her best friend from thunder bay, i will turn this over to Care bear as she called her, friends since kindergarten.
(at this point she went over jens early years, about their time at school and how jen was so beautiful and tough to be around as the boys were crazy for her, it was well done, then i finished up )
I just want to conclude with some stories that i believe best exemplified her personality.
It was abundently obvious how beautiful she was. I remember when i first moved here 20 years ago, when i saw her for the first time i knew she was the one. Her nephew jason was a student of mine, yes i am that old, and at the time hinted that his aunt was available. i was 27, jay was 18, i figured his aunt must be in her late 30's which i figured back then was old so i told him i wasnt interestd. he never bothered to tell me she was only 23. I asked his sister cath who was in grade 10 at the time if her mother would chaperone an overnight track trip as i was the head coach. She said her mother was busy but her aunt was available. i thought , again with the aunt, but when i saw her i was smitten right away. That was the aunt? I thought, ok , im teaching on an island and now i know why.
Beyond her beauty was her kindness and sense of humour.
I was so pleased when we went to my home town where she met my friends that are more family then friends. It was like she knew them all her life and she fit right in. everyone was so complimentary about her beauty and how nice she was. if i had a dollar everytime somebody made a comment on that i would have been a mutlimillionarie.
I was the happiest man alive when she accepted my proposal for marriage and before that movie, " my big fat greek wedding" came out, she lived it. she was baptized in a wading pool wearting a bathing suit and didnt complain. When we got married, What a bride!!!!!!!! She was stunning and broke the mould for future brides. On our honeymoon she displayed her incredible good nature. Despite the language barrier in Greece, she won over the hearts of my relatives and even lead some of the dances at afew of the festivles we went to. i spent most of my life trying to learn those dances and she picked it up effortlessly, she was a better greek than me. my cousins adored her.
She was funny. She would do the most amazing pee wee herman impersonation. i couldnt believe that laugh coming out of her was a perfect pee wee. She was also impulsive to a fault, that was good and bad but it was never boring i can tell you that. the night before we got married, i went into one of those first choice hair cut places to get my haircut for the wedding. i had a mullet at the time. so it was a no frills haircut for me. i looked in the mirror as i was getting it cut and noticed the person behind me also getting a cut looked like jen. and it was. She got her hair trimmed, her bangs. when we got out of the shop, she was so upset and that was the first time i witnessed the famous robinson temper. She started to bang the dashboard of her car and tug at her bangs to get them longer i guessed. i just said, dont worry you will look great tommrrow. to this day i ll never know why she did that as she had an appointment the next day to do her hair for the wedding. it didnt matter, her hair was fabulous. it was impossible to stay mad at jen no matter what she did. She just had this way about her.
Perhaps her greatest legacy was her children, Alex and Zack. Boys, she loved you guys more than words could ever convey. (BTW, they were holding each other through out, i couldnt look at them much cause i thought i would lose it so that was the first time i glanced at them) I could go on forever. She loved being pregnant with you guys, which was a win win situation for me. anybody that saw the pregant version of jennifer needed sunglasses because she glowed like the sun. it was incredible.
She made every holiday wonderful for guys, especially Christmas and Halloween. The costumes she created were outstanding , perhaps you noticed the freddy kruger and jack sparrow ones that were shown in the slideshow. i want to leave you boys one memorable stroy about your mom.
alex' she was so nervous when you were a baby but came through with flying colors. i know you remember whe you wanted the new wii system when it came out a few years ago. She could not fine one anywhere but she was obsessed with finding one for you as she always wanted your Christmas to be the best. She finally found 10 in stock in Sudbury at a future shop, but they wouldnt hold them for her. one thing i knw about jen, when she wanted something she got it. despite working a 12 hour night shift and it was snowing pretty hard, she drove the 1 .5 hours to sudbury and got it. you need to know she absolutely hated to drive in the snow. i had to go to work and also said to her, if he doesnt get it for christmas, we can get it later but she was determined. ill never forget that and words cant express how much i admired her for that.
(im going to post this in case i lose it, i will finish it though)
BITS M-46 W-42 M-16y T-19 y s10 s15 BombDec.19/09 Sep-F16/10 Sep Papers signed by W- June 30/10 Recon July 5/10 PA foundOut- Oct 30/10 Mental HospNov/10 moved out Nov/10 Leg Sep Mar 15/11
|zack; she adored everything about you. The way you loved to eat as a baby and especially how hard you tried at everything you did, sports for instance. this year she wanted to see your finals in a sudbury tournament. Despite another 12 hour shift, she decided to forgo sleep and drove to sudbury to cheer you on in the championship game. i could hear her cheering you on and was so proud when you skated around with the banner. your mom didnt like sports, trust me i know, but any sport you played, she became an uber fan for awhile.
i will close by saying this about the sweetest woman i had the priviledge of being married to for 18 years.
Honey, i know you had your struggles here on earth and we cant even begin to understand the pain you endured day in day out. You kept it in check for so long and you were an outstanding person no matter what you thought.
People loved you , you were an amazing family member, a great wife and a mother any child would dream of.
We that are gathered here are confident that you are at peace with the heavinly father, looking down on your loved ones. Your family, especially your children will keep you deep in their hearts forever.
although you wont physically dance at their weddings like we talked about so much, i know that i will feel you there on those special days and like the butterfly in which you loved, i will feel lighter that day as will our boys.
Goodbye my sweet sweet angel.
( the last part i wasnt able to deliver without crying, the rest i somehow managed to be strong for her and i felt her really close to me throughout)
BITS M-46 W-42 M-16y T-19 y s10 s15 BombDec.19/09 Sep-F16/10 Sep Papers signed by W- June 30/10 Recon July 5/10 PA foundOut- Oct 30/10 Mental HospNov/10 moved out Nov/10 Leg Sep Mar 15/11
That was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I was crying as I read it. I hope your W was there, during the service, so she could see how much she was loved by everyone.
God bless you and your beautiful children. Thank you for sharing such a personal story with us.
"Everyone you meet has baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack." ¤Formerly DelinquentGurl¤
9 I have no words. What a beautiful tribute to your W. Take care my friend.
BITS Me-51, WAS-52 Kids 2 M-26yrs, H.left 2009, 2 more Bomb drops, Reconnection spring 2013 Change is inevitable, personal growth is a choice. Love is a action and choice you make, every day.
