My Dad LIVED each day to the fullest. He worked hard, played hard and always embraced new experiences, pursuits, and activities with gusto. From making and paddling his Austrian gondola, to diving into Baptiste Lake each summer morning (usually naked!), to choosing country life before it was fashionable, Dad packed a lot of living into his 82 years.

Dad LOVED people. He loved his wife, he loved his four children, nine grandchildren, and 2 step-grandchildren. He loved everyone associated with Ponacka.

Dad was also deeply connected to certain places in the world, the Amalfi Coast in Italy, the South Pacific island of Fiji, our family farm outside of Peterborough, and the water and forests of Baptiste Lake.

And, he loved the tastes of his European heritage -- well-aged cheese, liverwurst, and marzipan.

Dad never stopped LEARNING. Two weeks before he died, he was still learning how to use the internet to finish the Camp Ponacka Alumni Association web site. Six weeks before he died, he told me that he was planning to take a course in caning, so he could teach campers to make and repair canoe seats. Six months before he died, he took a woodcarving course, where he carved the lid to this box, containing his ashes. He learned to do magic tricks, make a mouse from a handkerchief, ride horses, ski, play squash, tennis and ping-pong, build boats and buildings, and perform in musicals. He wrote a Ph.D thesis, taught philosophy, served Canada as a soldier, and was a farmer. Wherever he traveled, he wanted to learn about local people, and how they lived.

Little did he know, when he arrived in Canada in 1940, that he would leave such a LEGACY. All the letters, emails, phone calls and visitors he received since his diagnosis with cancer two years ago, speak to the tremendous influence he has had on adults and young people alike.

The tangible legacies that he has left include the buildings and open spaces at his beloved Camp Ponacka, several totem poles carved with campers’ help, an Art Gallery building in Peterborough he helped raise money for, and a plaque in Oldenzaal, Holland to thank the town that helped him escape from Hitler.

Less tangible is the legacy of the lives that he touched or empowered. He helped many of us here today to conquer our fears, believe in ourselves, and to accomplish things in our lives that we never thought possible.

A letter that we recently received compared my father to a pebble, skipping across the water -- the ripples and waves keep on spreading outward.

Thank you, Dad, for being such a wonderful role model. Whether you realized it or not, you have taught us all "To live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy."