Obituary of Jean Namur

B I O G R A P H Y NAMUR: Jean Louis Victor Namur passed away in his home, Calgary, Alberta on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the age of 88 years. The funeral service for Jean was conducted from the McCaw Funeral Chapel, Lloydminster, Alberta on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 2:00 P.M. with Pastor Ta Tumu officiating. A tribute was given by David Namur. A piano solo "How Great Thou Art," was played by Alissa Namur. A guitar solo "Amazing Grace," was played by Norman Namur. Active pallbearers were: David Namur, Norman Namur, Marc Namur, Evan Namur, Dallin Namur and Logan Namur. Interment was held in the Lloydminster City Cemetery on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 2:00 P.M. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster administered the funeral arrangements. A Tribute to Dad I would like to share with you a quote of Helen Keller's words, "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose, all that we deeply love becomes a part of us." We will be reminded of Dad and the joy that he brought knowing how much he loved food, cooking and especially growing his own herbs in the garden back home. As well we will always remember his evening rituals of watching the news or weather channel until Jeopardy came on followed by Wheel of Fortune. We made a lot of money over the years as a family watching. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized the older I was getting, that "hey" you know I really don't know much about my father's upbringing or how he ended up with the career path he had chosen or what his favorite color was. Thanks to Bethany we now know. Going through school one reads about the historical content of era's such as the "Dirty 30's", "WW1", WW2" or "Prisoners of War." You get a real good appreciation and honest perspective on those topics when you can hear first hand from someone who actually participated in some of those events. I was beginning to realize that my Dad had a very interesting life with lots to contribute. Soon the pieces of his life starting falling into place, creating a biography that might one day be told. For starters, Dad was born in 1918 in the country of France. He was among the eldest of several brothers and sisters working in the vineyards for his parents. It's hard to grasp that at the young age of 13 he was forced to leave home to learn the trade of butchering. When he was 22 years old he was drafted by the French Army. During his time in the army, he and some other soldiers were required to ride horses for about 40 miles a day. I'm not exactly sure of the reason why this took place. 1 year later he was taken by the Germans and placed in a working POW camp. For 5 years the Germans constantly moved the prisoners around to various campsites to not be caught by the allies. In 1952 at the age of 32 he arrived in Canada looking for work. Over the next 7 years he performed several cooking jobs and even 1 mining job at a copper mine in Newfoundland. He even worked for a stint in Nassau, Bahamas. After meeting the love of his life in Montreal, he married this girl (known today as Mom), and moved back to Paris to get married. How Storybookish. The rest is pretty much history - 4 kids later creates a whole lot of stories and 4 different perspectives on who was to blame and why. In his later years, Dad's health precipitated the need to be closer to his family and thus the move to Calgary in the summer of 2004. It was during this time that I realized the need to start accumulating little bits and pieces of familial trivia. Most of this research came from questions arising during outings and vacation time trying to relate his life experiences to our's. It was nice to see Dad bond with his grandchildren over the years. His sense of humor and quick witty comments always kept Bethany and Logan on their toes. It felt good to see him develop closeness with his grandchildren. He never seemed to mind how many hugs he received. I think deep down he enjoyed all the attention he got especially when Bethany and Logan would fight over who was going to push Grandpa in the wheelchair throughout Butchart Gardens or in West Edmonton Mall. His claim to fame would certainly have to include the following 3 things. His "Fuzzy Hair" as Bethany would say His infinite knowledge for doing crossword puzzles His utter dispisement of anything grape flavored There is probably so much more I didn't find out about Dad and that is certainly a regret I will live with for a long time. I am thankful to God for giving me the strength and ability to look after Dad and mom in the short time that he was here. Donations in memory of Jean may be made to the Lloydminster Rescue Squad.