Celebration of Life

I would like to welcome everyone to our celebration of the life of My Dad, Allen Gustin Willsie.

Allen was born the forth child of Wilfred Russel Willsie and Edith Ellen Gustin in the upstairs bedroom of the house he was raised in.  Allen was the younger brother to George, Mary and Pearl (Pearly Gates).  He lived on the same farm his whole life, never residing more than a few hundred feet from that small room.

Allen grew up on the farm and was one of the founding members of the Potato Marketing Board. He was known as a potato farmer even years after he had stopped growing potatoes. He was a proud farmer all his life.  Dad attended Bosanquet S.S # 3 where he graduated with a grade 8 education. 
He lived as a bachelor until he was 25 when he caught a beautiful young lady’s eye at Young Peoples.  This much younger lady was Mary Doreen Fisher.  Daughter of Ina Maude McCracken and John (Jack) Wesley Fisher, youngest sister to Harold and Betty.  A romance began.  They were married on May 21st 1955.

Young People's was held at the United Church.  She fell head over heels for him, and although there were others very interested in her, and she dated some of them, she only ever wanted Dad. He was a little reluctant to be involved with her at first, perhaps because of the age difference, but as you know, Mary was very determined when she wanted something. 

Farmers know that no matter what happens in your life the farm is always your first priority.  At the time of their wedding farming disaster was running through the bog where the family corn was just showing its early signs of growth.  The army worm was sweeping its way across the bog.  Before any kind of future was going to take place, Dad had to hop on the tractor and Spray around his corn crop to ensure everything was done to save the crop.

Dad liked to be well known but did not like to be centered out.  So before leaving on his honeymoon in his new 1955 green Chevy he made sure the just married sign and decorations were removed from the car.  Allen then moved his new bride in the modest three room apartment above the garage a hundred feet from his birth place.  At this time a new invention was sweeping across the country.  Mary and Allen were very happy to be one of the first in the area to have one.  They went out and bought a brand new black and white Television.  This caused much friction however between Dad and his new bride who was also very proud to have a new television.  The reason being, Dad decided to keep this amazing new invention in his Mom and Dad's living room rather than their own.  If they wanted to watch it they had to run next door to the in-laws.  We have heard this story many times from our mother.  By the way the corn crop was great that year.

A year after they celebrated their nuptials a pregnant Mary lost her father to a sudden heart attack in 1956.  Garry Allen was born shortly after.  Then Mary was off to teachers college.  Spending two years away.  After she graduated and began teaching the family moved into the big house.  Grandma Willsie was afraid Garry would fall off the balcony at the back of the small apartment when he started walking.  Mary soon found herself pregnant with her second son Jack Russel.   Edith and Wilfred moved into what we affectionately now call the grandparents house.

At that time if you needed to buy any sort of equipment or parts for the farm machinery and sprayers a trip to Sarnia was necessary.  On one trip the man running the store Max Propaz mentioned to Allen that he would be doing him a real favour if he could open a sprayer sales office in the Thedford area.  This casual comment changed the lives of Mary and Allen forever.  Allen took this idea and ran with it.  They started a modest company in the garage that began as their first home.  Their small apartment became an office with Mary as the secretary and Willsie Sprayer Sales was born.  This business was very successful for the young couple.  As their family grew so did the business.  They had four more children Ina Ellen, Douglas Harold, Doreen Mae then Brenda Louise completed their happy family. 

After a few more years the business outgrew the small garage.  They erected a large green and orange building across the road and changed the name of the company to Willsie Sunnyview Farms.  The business continued to be successful and they thought it was time to build onto their house.  They chose to make the garage and house one big house.  A large swimming pool was dug in the middle of the driveway and the house and garage were connected right over it.
This was the time the rumours started around the neighbourhood.  They Willsies have won the lottery.  This was a big joke for all of us.

Dad was always a man that did everything in a big way.  This did not matter if he was grocery shopping or planning his business or even his family.  Dad never bought a can of soup or box of cookies but a case.  We remember the ice cream man Fred who would deliver four gallon tubs of ice cream to the house on a regular basis or the bread man who delivered a freezer full of bread at a time.  This was normal for our family.  It is a habit I find myself having to break as my family is much smaller than my dad's.

Our Family was well known in the area for the gladioli.  This was a yearly tradition for the Willsie family.  Every spring we planted the bulbs and every fall we dug them up.  These beautiful flowers we sold on the side of the road.

Our Father was a great cook and took pride in cooking Sunday dinner every week.  It always included scalloped potatoes and whatever kind of meat he threw on top.  My favourite was ham.  This was prepared before Church each Sunday after Dad had cooked us all a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.  It was in the oven during the service.  It was always cooked to perfection for us and whoever Mom and Dad thought to invite over for dinner after the service.

Dad was also the king of the deep fryer we had many meals of French fries and Dads famous corn fritters.  Each winter we enjoyed home made ice cream with one of us smaller kids standing on top of the ice cream maker holding onto the rafters for dear life in the basement as Dad or one of the older boys cranked and cranked.  It took forever but it was worth it when we were enjoying our much anticipated treat.  Later Dad became known for his scrumptious devilled eggs.

Dad always went out of the way to make his family, friends and customers happy whether it was his wonderful dry sense of humour or having just the thing you were looking for.  He would go to sales and buy up equipment.  Often people would say to him "why don't you get rid of some of that junk you have around the yard".  Dad's answer was some poor guy could be looking all around the country for some special part and here it is right here.  Dad loved to be the go-to-it man.  One of his favourite lines was, have I got the thing for you or I may have just what you need.

The business continued to be successful and Allen thought to expand it more.  He built a produce plant behind the shop and opened Thedford Produce.  This expanded his potato production into delivering produce ready for the restaurant industry, peeled vegetables.  He chopped, sliced and diced.  Produce was delivered on a nightly or weekly basis to London, Sarnia, Kitchener Hamilton and Toronto.  This meant hiring a large staff and Truck Drivers a whole new set of headaches for all.  Many times our drivers would call in an hour before the truck was to leave for Toronto to say he could not go.  Dad however always kept his composure.  He would say "things always have a way of working themselves out".  Sure enough someone would stop in at the shop and mention they were on their way to Toronto and offer to take the load for him.  This could also mean that one of us kids or Dad himself would need to make the necessary delivery. 

In 1987 Dad was on his way home from Watford one day.  He was stopped at a stop sign checking traffic when a car barrelled into the back of his delivery van.  Dad’s seat broke right off the floor of the van.  He was thrown right into the back of the van, out the back door and onto the hood of the car behind.  Dad was badly hurt and pain caused from this accident never left him.  Dad’s comments about the other driver were surprising.  He said, “He was just an old guy like me who wasn’t paying attention for just a second.”

Dad’s business Thedford Produce did not take off they way he had hoped and we all found ourselves working long hours to just have the company break even.  Then tragedy struck the plant in November of 1991 when a fire broke out late one night.  Mary and Allen were in Florida trying to get a great deal on carrots when the fire took place.  It was three days before we could get the bad news to them. This was a turning point for them.
 
The banks that had been so good to them in the past turned on them and foreclosed demanding total payment on all loans and with the plant no longer running the shop was unable to carry the cost of the little more than a decade old business.  This sent the family into an unknown world of lawyers, insurance and bankers.  The lawyers my parents hired seemed to be on the side of the banks and they felt they hit a brick wall at every turn.  One day an anonymous letter arrived for them.  It was from a very concerned woman who heard through the grapevine the trouble they were having.  The letter sympathized with their plight saying they had been there too and suggested the name of a lawyer who would end up being the saving grace for the farm.  Although they did lose a small portion of the farm, Ted Oldfield our own personal angel allowed them to save most of it.  Garry and Doug stepped up and took over.  Garry who had run Willsie Sunnyview Farms for a number of years took over that portion and Doug took over the farming portion.

Mary and Allen should have been able to retire at this time but they could have none of that. They expanded their roadside business to include fruits and vegetables. Trips to Leamington became their new normal keeping their fruit stand well stocked.

Dad and Mom were very involved in the community.   If any service group needed potatoes or onions peeled, sliced, and diced if coleslaw needed chopping Dad was the one to volunteer.  When the plant was running this was an easy job.  It was much more work after the fire when it was done in the kitchen but they were happy to do it.  Dad would often say things like “anyone want to help us peel and slice fifty pounds of onions tomorrow”.

By 2005 Mom and Dad had settled into their idea of retirement which included joining any service group they could from the Optimists and Legion to the Seniors and mom was a red hatter.  Their fourteenth grandchild, Daniel was born in August of that year.  They played cards and attended lunches and dinners.  Their social life took off.  They had their six kids all grown up with families of their own.  They were now the proud grandparents of 14 grandkids. 

 Then Mary found she had a bad heart and diabetes.    She had needed to have heart surgery.  She had valve replacement surgery in 2006.  After returning home from the hospital she began to have major complications with her diabetes which took most of her eyesight.  It came to the point where they were unable to take care of each other and Mom was to move to Chateau Gardens in Parkhill.   Dad visited her everyday as well as keeping up with the fruit stand.

This past year Dad was finding it hard to keep up with his busy life.  He should have been slowing down his pace but refused to do so.  In May Dad caught pneumonia and was unable to fight it off.  Dad saw the arrival of his first great grandchild a beautiful girl Eryn-Lynn and was able to give his youngest daughter away in marriage in Petawawa on May 31st of this year.   Dad continued to not feel well and last Wednesday. he became very sick.  He was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.  Strathroy Hospital did all they could for him but his kidneys had shut down.  He was sent to London Health Sciences Center  Victoria Campus on Friday.  By Saturday he was looking a little better and we all had our hopes up.  Saturday night he had a steady stream of visitors the last leaving at 10pm.  Everyone thought he was coming out of it.

Then around 11pm we got a call from the hospital.  They were calling the family in.  With fear we all rushed to his side.  The doctor informed us that dad had tried to get out of bed and fell.  He suffered a massive heart attack and they spent 25 minutes trying to revive him but he had flat lined for too long.  They finally pronounced him dead.  They had just finished the paperwork when the monitors began, his heart had started again.  They then called us in.  We each were able have our final word then he was to be taken to the Critical Care Unit.  As they loaded him into the elevator he suffered a seizure.  The doctor said because he had been down for so long the brain may be damaged,  he could continue to seize all night.  This terrified all of us and we decided to let him go.  We were in a frantic condition at that time and very unprepared to let him go.  He was given medication to calm him and we waited with him. 

When we arrived down in the Critical Care Unit with Dad we were concerned that our youngest sister Brenda would never make it in time to say her goodbyes to him.  The doctor had a phone brought to his bedside.  He allowed us to call her and we held the phone to his ear.  Brenda was eight hours away in Petawawa but this allowed her to have the peace of mind we all felt we needed with some last comforting words to Dad before her family jumped into their van to make the long journey home.

We all recited the Lords Prayer as stood by his bedside.  We called for the hospital minister who arrived at around five that morning.  We felt comforted by his kind works and prayers.

At 6:00am with the minister and all his family at his side. Dad’s heart finally slowed and stopped.  We then saw the flat line on the screen for ourselves.   

When it was over and they had pronounced him dead again.  The minister said his goodbyes we thanked him and he left us to our grief. Some of us left to catch our thoughts and a few of us stayed unable to leave his side.  A few minutes later his heart slowly began to beat again.  The nurses had never seen anyone come back once let alone twice.  I think Dad wanted to make medical history.  At this time we thought maybe he was waiting for something before he left us. 

We arranged for transportation to get mom to the hospital.  The only people willing to do this amazing service for us on such short notice was to be Hoffman’s Transport Service in Dashwood.  Once the arrangements were made, Ina leaned over Dad and whispered in his ear.  It's ok Dad we will get Mom here.  You can say Goodbye to her too.  Mary is on her way.  Dad gave a small nod, the only movement he had made all night.  At 7:30am just minutes after Ina's whisper he slowly drifted off and passed.  We all waited a full half hour before leaving the room this time.  We cancelled the transport for Mom.  Finished up the loose ends at the hospital then headed for Parkhill to tell Mom the sad news.  Alice, our moms' dearest friend joined us for support at the nursing home.

Spending that long night at the hospital for us was a night like no other.  You really think you know everything about the people in your family.  We spent the night talking, reminiscing, crying and laughing.  We found out things about each other, remembered things, we found a deeper bond than we had ever had.  This was Dad's gift to us.  By morning we were all used to the idea of Dad's passing.  We had had a whole night to adjust.

Mom told me that Sunday night she already knew Dad was gone long before anyone had told her.  She said Dad had come to visit her last night to let her know everything was good.

You may not believe in the after life, or in the what happens when there is no more 'here'.  The Willsie family has been comforted.  We know, we ARE able to say good bye to Dad.  He has showed us there will be more for us than just 'this'.

Doreen Beierling