Parcourez la nécrologie de Howard Richard
Smith 2024 résidant dans la province Ontario pour le détail des funérailles.
Died of lung failure at Northumberland Hills Hospital on December 14. Much loved brother of Valerie and brother-in-law of Bill Kennedy of Campbellford, predeceased by loving parents Philip and Mavis Smith of Grafton.
My brother Howard was always a non-conformist.
Born in Montreal to British immigrants, Howard found ways to distinguish himself very early in life. At the age of about five, he was calling out rude English greetings to mostly Francophone commuters walking home from the train station on our small island. When our atheist father told him we couldn’t afford outdoor Christmas lights on our trees like so many of our neighbours had, Howard went around the island selectively removing lights and brought them home in a bag. Our dad then had to go door-to-door trying to return them. He also once almost flooded a neighbour’s basement putting a hose through a window he could reach. But no matter what Howard did, all of our mostly French-Canadian neighbours loved him. Realizing Howard’s parents couldn’t help much in matters of Canadian winters, they taught him to skate and play hockey, and even attempted to teach him to ski. Many of those neighbours remained life-long friends.
At 13, Howard and I were uprooted from our comfortable existence in Montreal when our father was transferred to Toronto. We lived in Toronto for about two years. Having moved from Quebec, Howard was called a frog by his new schoolmates, and a French teacher even asked him to stand up and sing Frère Jacques so the class hear a real Québec accent. As I recall, Howard didn’t complete that course.
Then all of a sudden, our parents moved us from the city to a farm in Grafton. Howard adjusted, barely flinching when his pet pig Arnold came home in brown butcher paper. But the isolation wore on him. As soon as he got his driver’s licence at 16, he bought his first car with money earned working on tobacco farms, and so began his love of driving and of all things motorized.
At 17, lying about his age and with the help of a family friend, Howard was able to join the Seafarers’ International Union and got a job with Canada Steamship Lines on a freighter for a couple of years. After that, he found another way to keep moving, joining the crew at McLean Chimney and travelling back and forth across Canada servicing smokestacks.
When he returned to Cobourg, he worked for many years selling cars, first at Quantrill and then at Thomas Motors. During that time, Howard discovered a favourite pastime, buying and selling houses. When he could afford it, he also had boats. When he travelled, his favourite destinations were Florida and Las Vegas.
After a relatively sedentary career in car sales, he took to the road again and started long-distance hauling. He and his driving partner travelled from Toronto to western Canada and then down to Texas and back every week. He loved the long drives, the wide-open spaces, and the sunsets. He almost always took a motel room during their brief stopover in Texas, where he befriended locals and consumed Mexican food with gusto.
Howard was happiest at work. He had to keep busy and loved making money. Health issues in recent years had made it difficult for him to work and he was giving up on finding a job he could do, when he got hired a few months ago by Cobourg Taxi. He really enjoyed driving a cab and said he wished he’d started doing it years before. He met lots of interesting people, saw an interesting cross-section of society, and really liked the tips.
Friendship and loyalty were all-important to Howard. He was generous and kind. He shared his wealth whenever he had it. He had a wonderful sense of humour. He cared about people and hated injustice. Despite doctors’ warnings, he continued to drink and smoke. He lived his life the way he wanted to. As a friend of his said to me the other day, Howard could never have been vanilla.
I loved him very much. His friends loved him. They recognized that under his prickly and gruff exterior he had a really warm heart and a really good soul.
He’ll be sorely missed by all of us, especially me.
If desired, donations may be made to the Northumberland Hills Hospital ICU.
2024
Décès pour la Ville:Cobourg, Province: Ontario
avis deces Howard Richard
Smith 2024
nécrologie Howard Richard
Smith 2024
Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Howard Richard
Smith 2024 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.