The funeral

I was on such a high at the end of the funeral. It was so wonderful. It was perfect. The speakers all perfectly represented Dad, they all spoke so well. Dad would have loved it.

The program for the funeral was as follows:
Welcome - Bishop Cowitz

Opening Hymn - 124 Be Still My Soul

Opening Prayer - Anna Voisard

Speaker - John Black

Speaker - John Tory

Musical Number – Families Can Be Together Forever
The Grandchildren

Speaker - Suzanne Bates

Speaker - Wendy Bacon

Speaker - Jonathan Bacon

Closing Remarks - Bishop Cowitz

Closing Hymn - 227 There is Sunshine

Closing Prayer - John Miller

Chorister - David Plumb

Organist - Ruth Plumb


Here are the talks.

John Black
On behalf of the Bacon family, I would like to say thanks for the prayers that have been said on their behalf and also for your presence here today. You should know that it is a great strength and comfort to the family to see you all here today.

I have been asked to say a few words about my love and friendship for Ted. My wife, Irene, and I have known the Bacon family for over thirty years. During that time, we have watched the children grow up and have observed Ted’s love for his family. During the last 7 or 8 years, Irene and I have been the family home teachers – this is a church program whereby we, as members, watch over each other and provide assistance, when necessary. Over that time, we have developed a great love and respect for the Bacon family.

Ruth was the great love of his life, followed very closely with his love for his children, Wendy, Suzanne, Jonathan and Andrew, and his grandchildren. To understand that love, all you had to do was enter the home and immediately you found yourself surrounded by numerous family pictures.

Ruth and Ted were obviously good parents, as exemplified by their children, who have grown up to be a credit to their parents’ positive influence. Wendy is married to Ken, who are the parents of Kate, Alice and Fiona. Suzanne married Matthew whose offspring are Isaac, Joseph, Thomas, Anna and Benjamin, while Jonathan is married to Michelle and their children are Marcus, Seth and Lovey. Andrew – well, we are still waiting. I know they are all continuing in the Bacon tradition of providing a warm and loving home – just as they were raised.

Over the years, I have developed many fond memories of Ted.

In some ways, Ted was larger than life and he entered into this world weighing 12 lbs – that’s quite a bouncing baby. Throughout his life, Ted was known for his enthusiasm and there is one story told about a trip to Anglesey in Britain. This is a seaside resort well known known for beautiful beaches and waters. Ted, caught up in his enthusiasm and the enticing scene before him, dashed into the sea only to discover the water temperature was just 50°F or about 13°Celsius. Impossible as it might seem, his exit was even quicker than his entrance.

It is customary in our Church to set aside one evening in the week, usually Monday when all Church activities are precluded. This night, called Family Home Evening, is the occasion when all of the family gather together for family prayer, an appropriate spiritual teaching, a fun activity and a closing prayer, followed by refreshments. The Bacon family diligently followed this practice. However children will be children and sometimes they would become a little boisterous, but Ted would bring order back to the Bacon Kingdom, by threatening to have Ruth offer the closing prayer. Ruth was famous for her meaningful but lengthy prayers. Order was immediately restored!

Once you got to know Ted, you would realize that he had a prodigious memory. Ted worked for Canada Post for many years and during that time he memorized every street in Toronto. If you ever needed to know a location in Toronto, Ted was the person to ask – he would name the cross street and surrounding streets, describe the buildings and sometime who occupied them – much better than any GPS. This often astounded me – who cannot remember my cell phone number.

Another example of his memory. One occasion when Ruth was sick, my wife and I offered to go grocery shopping for them at a Loblaws that was unfamiliar to us. Ted accompanied us with a shopping list. To cut down on the shopping time, we divided up the list. Ted would identify the aisle where the item was located and then the position in the aisle. He never once failed. Shopping, however, frequently came to a halt as Ted would chat to a store employee. In his usual friendly fashion, he would know their name and something about them.

After retiring from the Canada Post, Ted worked for a while as a crossing guard. Ted took this responsibly very seriously and I am sure he would have given his life to protect those children.  Woe betide any driver who did not heed Ted’s crossing sign. After his crossing duties were over, Ted would go into the school and ask if he could be of any assistance there and chat to anyone that would listen. He was loved by these children.

Ted was a stickler for the rules. Ted was given the assignment of hall monitor in this building. In our church, we have a main service in which all of the family participates.  Following the service, we break up into various classes for Sunday school. As you can imagine, this changeover interval is a bit of a social occasion with frequent small meetings taking place. As a result, the corridor gets very crowded and people would be late for class, until Ted was tasked with the responsibility of maintaining order. As a result, everybody was ushered into class, even if they had a seemingly legitimate reason for being in the hall. Give Ted a job to do and it would be done properly.

Ted had the most amazing collection of t-shirts.

    One of my favorites was “If you don’t like bacon – you’re wrong”

    Another one reads “Over the hill? What hill? I don’t remember any hill!”

    Another one –“Powered by Bacon”


I believe these t-shirts were provided by his children and Ted loved them.

As many of you know, Ted spent about nine months in hospital after hip replacement surgery that was supposed to take only four days. He spent a lot of time in the intensive care unit, suffered serious infections and was quarantined for a lengthy time. During that stay, his daughter, Wendy, had a baby and it was arranged that the baby would be blessed in the chapel at the hospital so that Ted could participate. Ted was so happy.   This meant so much to him.

Throughout his stay, Ted maintained his cheery, chatty outlook with visitors, but when he had had enough, Ted would say “Thanks for coming” and you knew that was the signal to leave. The only time I heard Ted upset was when a certain doctor’s name was mentioned, and then Ted would bristle.

As you all know, Ted was very friendly and outgoing. Wherever he went, Ted always seemed to make friends. I know they will miss his cheery greetings, as will I.

Ted, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to know you. I know you are now free from your infirmities and are happily making new friends and enjoying old ones.

So long old friend, until we meet again. In the name of Jesus Christ – amen.

John Tory
Good morning. My name is John Tory and I am proud to be the nephew of Ted Bacon and his wife Ruth, cousin to their children, and son of Ted's sister Liz.

It is truly an honour for me to have been asked to say a few words at Ted's funeral and may I begin by expressing sincere condolences on behalf of our entire family to Ruth and to my cousins, Wendy, Suzanne, Jonathan, Andrew members of their large, wonderful family.

To know Ted Bacon was to love him. That doesn't just apply to family. It applies to everyone who ever met him.

To this day I still run into people he worked with at Canada Post who remember him so fondly. Neighbours who lived near him on O'Connor Drive. Members of the church who couldn't come up to me fast enough to tell me that the knew Ted. I even had a woman who served him in the local McDonald's approach me to tell me how much she loved my Uncle Ted Bacon.

Ted was a special Uncle for all of us, both because he had special challenges but also because he had special gifts. I was close enough to him in age to have played sixties records with him in the boathouse at Lake Simcoe, to have attended hockey games together and to have been an usher at his wedding to Ruth, something I will say more about in a moment.

While he knew how to express displeasure, especially if he saw someone being unkind, the vast, vast majority of the time he was a man of incredible good cheer. When he saw you, the greeting was as warm and enthusiastic as anyone you would ever get... a big 'Hello Nephew' followed by a big bear hug... He just made you feel good. He knew hot to laugh, including at himself, and had a wonderful sense of humour and playfulness which added to the joy of being with him.

You know, we often think of people who face some special challenges as people who need us to bring joy into their lives. That was never true of Ted Bacon...In face, more often than not, he was the one encouraging other people, commenting on how you looked or on something you had done.

Notwithstanding the tender loving care of my Grandfather and especially my beloved Grandmother, Helen Bacon Hemmings, I can't imagine the earliest years of Ted's life were less than challenging and we all know the final years of his life were also very trying and throughout that time he showed great courage and stamina.

But all the rest of the years of his life were very happy and that's because of family, first and foremost, friends, and faith.

As I mentioned earlier, Ted made friends everywhere he went, but that was especially true at work and in his community activity, including his many years long service to the Junior Board of Trade, the Jaycees and Kinsmen.

Faith came to play an important role in Ted's life and here too he made many friends, was extended respect and affection and I am sure this too contributed to the happy man that was Ted Bacon.

But friends and faith, important as they may have been in his life, did not compare to the importance of family.

As happens with many men, especially when they get to a certain age, you begin to conclude they may not marry and have a family of their own. I think many people thought that was where Ted was headed...nothing wrong with that, it's just what most people would have thought likely.

And then along came Ruth Miller, someone we all came to know, at it was the kind of thing that would make you a believer... they got to know each other through mutual family friends, marry, and have four wonderful children.

They are children of accomplishment of whom he was extremely proud, as I know they were proud of Ted and everything he was as a father and as a human being. Once you got past that occasional and usually justified irritability, you had a person who was loving beyond description. And the love was returned in a family where I am quite certain the great caring for each other was partially faith inspired.

But the real devotion that was so deep and for so long, came of course from Ruth. How lucky Ted was, how lucky we were, that they found each other and that Ruth had the heart and the devotion to care for him and to provide that special support and love to raise your wonderful family which of course now includes eleven grandchildren. For that Ruth, you have the everlasting gratitude of our entire family, and I am sure many people in this church and beyond.

Ted Bacon was a remarkable man. He was filled with love and whatever room was left over was taken up with incredibly honest, down to earth common sense. That is why people loved him so much. Because he was so joyful when he could have been discouraged. Because he was so encouraging of others including me. Because he was so honest and sensible. And because he so genuinely cared about other people way ahead of himself.

All of that should come as a special source of pride to his children as I know it is for Ruth and for all of us who are his family. His was a life well lived.


Suzanne Bates
Thank you for coming to celebrate the life of our father, Ted Bacon. We all loved him so much. I have had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude since his death - I’m grateful that he was my father. I’m grateful that I got to learn from him, and especially that I got to be loved by him. He had the power to love unconditionally. He made his children and grandchildren feel extraordinary. It was a gift.

He gave me my love of current events, of being involved in my community. Back before it was cool to recycle, he volunteered at the recycling depot every week, sorting the materials. He took me to football games and baseball games, and he patiently taught me the rules and the best cheers. I loved spending time with my dad. I loved watching him with my children, too. He remembered things about them, things that were important to them. He took time to make sure each of them felt special.

I just want to tell you a couple of quick stories about my dad. I remember once, coming home from a church dance with my friend Sue Robertson and two boys. We decided to go for a swim in our pool, it was probably a little after midnight. All of a sudden I saw my dad’s face peeking through the curtains upstairs. I got out of the pool and went to the back door, where I was met by my father. All he said was, “Don’t wake up your mother,” and then he went off to bed.

My dad adored our mother, and she adored him. Every marriage has its ups and downs, but our parents taught us a great deal about loving and respecting your partner, and about giving each other grace and room to not be perfect. There’s was an unlikely love story, it was hard to explain to others, but it was beautiful. And I just want to say thank you to my mother for taking such good care of dad, for serving him tirelessly these past eight years. It was hard work, and she sacrificed a great deal. It was an incredible example of love that is a legacy for me and my siblings, and also for our children - your grandchildren - as well.

Jonathan Bacon

It’s been a bitter/sweet week this week. It was really hard watching him deteriorate the past few years, even though I only saw it in snippets of time. I am happy that his suffering has come to an end.

One thing that’s made it sweet is the thought of my dad doing cartwheels once he got to the other side of the veil.

Picturing him having happy and amazing reunions with his mom and dad, sisters and many other relatives is also a joyous thought that’s lifted me up during an otherwise sorrowful time.

I told my mother-in-law about him doing cartwheels and she told me I might not be that far off. She read me this quote from a funeral service by Brigham Young, who served as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.

He said,  “We shall turn round and look upon it (the valley of death) and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a state of existence, where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body.

My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my heavenly father.”

OK, it doesn’t mention cartwheels, but that’s what I picture cause of him being freed from his body that had been ailing him and not working properly for so long.

I wanted to briefly touch on some things I learned from my dad.

Things he taught me vs what he didn’t teach me. He didn’t teach me how to: Ride a bike, Hit a ball, Kick a ball, Swim – could tell about how he swam, Read, Math.

He did teach me: Drive with a lead foot ☺, Vacation with family – he loved our annual trips, even if we drove for days to get to the destinations. How to pinch the bum of your loved ones. How to interpret foreign languages – I’ve coined the name of my dad’s mumbling: Canadian Cajun. We all spoke it, which is why I think understanding accents has rarely been a challenge in my life, and I’d argue any of our lives. How to support and cheer for my kids whatever it is they’re doing. How to put priorities first. How to be kind to everyone, no matter who they were. If you ever went grocery shopping with him you saw this first hand. To laugh at yourself and don’t take everything so seriously. He also taught me how to hide candy around the kitchen—cause I think I got my sweet tooth from him—which is perhaps also why I married a dentist’s daughter. Most of all he taught me devotion to spouse – he was fiercely loyal to my mom. I saw that, and even bore the brunt of it, on several occasions. He supported her come what may and always put her first before us kids or anything else.

I’m going to miss talking to him about my family, sports his extended family he was so proud of, and even the weather. He was the king of small talk, and Ioved it.

Love you dad. I’m glad you made it home OK. I’m better for having known you.

The bishop spoke briefly at the end of the funeral. He said that he went to go visit Dad on Friday. He said it was really difficult to understand him. But then for a few minutes he was able to have a clear conversation with Dad. Dad asked him if he was all right with God, and the bishop was able to reassure him, that yes indeed, he was all right with God. We - all of us kids - none of us had heard this before, I don't think Mom had either, and it choked us all up. It was hard to know what Dad did and didn't understand. He had faith, but what exactly did that mean to him? It was such a tender mercy for Dad that the bishop was there to reassure him. It was a tender mercy for us, to hear about this special conversation that Bishop Cowitz was able to have with Dad.

After the funeral service, we drove to the cemetery. The Bishop said a few words, and then Jon dedicated his grave. They lowered the coffin into the ground, and Alice cried and cried.

Then we went back to the church for the reception. There were a few people still there, and there was food. Everyone did so much to help take care of us. We all felt so grateful and thankful, so many blessings in the midst of our loss.