Going through pictures I hadn't seen for what seems like decades was a ripper at best - but the goldmine was in finding the Eulogy that former 630 CHED Editorialist Eddie Keen delivered at Dad's funeral in September of 1981.
Nobody captured my Father better than Eddie - and I proudly let you read about "my Dad."
The last line alone I will never forget.
Sept. 28, 1981
Life gives us many opportunities...sometimes we take them, sometimes we fail to see them, and sometime we ignore them.
All of us here are very lucky, we were given an opportunity and we seized it.
We are lucky because we all have the common bond of having known Jerry Forbes...our emotional loss should be mixed with joy today, because unfortunate are those who did not have the good fortune of knowing Jerry....which of us who knew him can say he did not touch our lives?
Jerry knew the rich and powerful, but he never abused power.
He knew the poor and humble, he recognized their common humanity and dignity.
The janitors at CHED were are important to Jerry as the skilled group of professionals he gathered around him to build a number one radio station.
There is a lot of talk in radio circles about CHED, about the strange imponderable that seems to set it apart from other stations...there is a quality that makes it much more than just another commercial operations.
Well, the mystique that has been CHED was...Jerry Forbes.
In the high pressure world of ratings and budgets and rock music, Jerry brought heart, soul and most of all emotion to work with him.
Jerry was a man's man in a sense...tall, straight, handsome, he had dignity and he loved to philosophize.
Yet, he was unlike many men, and specially men in seats of authority and power...you see Jerry was not ashamed to cry.
At our annual Xmas parties his voice would tremble, he would wipe away the tears and he'd say:
"do you all know how much I love you?" and 'oh' what a sense of humour.
He was a practical joker par excellence, nothing that hurt anyone, simply comic departures from routine days.
The flamingoes on Bill Sysaks roof, the popcorn in Larry Sterns convertible...the list of escapades is endless.
But while he was emotional and full of fun, Jerry liked a challenge, was not afraid of a good fight.
I recall a rather difficult week when clients were upset because we had revealed some truth they would rather have had remain secret, and we were hearing from more lawyers than usual.
I went to Jerry's office and he had just hung up on our lawyer in Winnipeg.
"Damn it Keen, I don't feel like David Sarnoff, I feel like Perry Mason."
Then he reached for his pipe and told me to go to it.
We were either going to be fearless and not intimidated, or he would pack it in.
As I walked back to the newsroom what Jerry had just done suddenly hit me...he was putting his job on the line for the sake of honesty and truth.
(Editors note: Dad lost two very close friends due to the discovery of several car dealers rolling back their odometers on used vehicles. He was given the choice to air it or not...and he did as Eddie notes here)
And of course he had his weaknesses...by admitting them, by not hiding them, he showed himself to others as a human being.
He gathered us around him with our weaknesses and he said...
"we're all in this together and together we can make it."
How lucky we are to have had our lives touched by Jerry. How lucky are his children for having had him as their Dad. How proud they must be of his many accomplishments...but more than that, how proud to have had as a Father such a sensitive man...a man who cared, and what more can we ask of any man but caring?
Jerry wrote this a few years ago, it seems prophetic:
I used to love to go to parties
But I don't any more.
I used to like to buy new clothes
Now I don't; Like before
I used to think my life comp;late
If a noted person spoke to me on the street
And at three in the morning
I was still on m feet.
I'm not any more.
Now, I like to fireside spot
And where the gaiety is
I am not.
New clothes? What's wrong with the ones
I've got.
It's not like before.
In the world of society, include me out.
I couldn't care less what it's all about
In this year's "Who's Who" I place little store.
Not any more.
My both say, "Father you're slowing up."
Well, maybe so. I'm sure no pup.
but my idle hours are much too few.
To spend on something I don't want to do.
For the gay, gay life, I have no heart.
Am I getting old?
Or getting smart?
There are many visions of Jerry we will carry. I forever will see one.
I see Jerry sitting in a big armchair watching the party about him...suddenly he places his pipe in the ashtray, uncurls to his full height, and with scotch in hand, I see him break into a chorus of Bye Bye Blackbird.
Jerry, the music you made, the joy you brought, is all around you now.
You will be with us in many ways, Santas Anonymous is a tribute from those you didn't even know.
The cruelties and unfairness of life that so hurt you can hurt you no more.
Goodbye dear friend!
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Reference: www.santasanonymous.ca - *now delivers over 25,000 toys annually
Reference: jerryforbescentre.ca *Opens this fall.
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