Dad was a man of vision, business talent and persistence. He had some, what I call, lucky breaks and an escape from bankruptcy in his career. To Dad, there was no chance but the Lord’s guidance. Fortunately, most of his business ideas were successful. By his mid-forties, he freed up a portion of his time for charitable projects, starting with his Dad’s charitable foundation. He was not obsessed with accumulating more wealth as many successful people are. He will be remembered for his legacy of charity associations and not his office buildings or apartments. He took time off from business for church and charitable activities. He enjoyed two months at Thetis Island most summers with only a few day trips into Vancouver for business related meetings. Dad’s talent was to look at a piece of land and with an architect's input, envision a new building. He was impulsive at times, making decisions quickly and then jumping to a better opportunity soon after. He was just as quick to judge a person’s character with only a few encounters. Surprisingly, his instincts were usually right. He got the most joy during the startup phases of a new project and not its running. Chemainus Theatre and Honeymoon Bay Lodge & Retreat Centre were exceptions, taking years of active involvement and financial support before they became sustainable. Due to his long life, there came a point where he could no longer direct his charities. Around Dad’s eightieth birthday, he announced to the family that he was going to give all his money away. He accomplished this last mission and rested. In the last year of his life, he enjoyed a ninetieth birthday party, a month at Thetis Island and a sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. Although he was losing his faculties, he was in peaceful acceptance. After his transfer from hospital to Blenheim Lodge, I observed a decline on each visit as the “breakers of his brain” were switched off. His passing to what he called the “Great Banquet Feast” was a blessing. Dad had a good run at life and his time had come. I can only hope to do as well.
You may have heard about how dad was a kind, gracious, humble, generous, spiritual, enthusiastic and optimistic man in his public life. Well, he was actually all of those things in his family life as well. He was a gentle father, slow to anger, encouraging and fun loving. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I might have seen him angry. He led by example, not by preaching, although he did do Bible reading and devotionals every day after dinner. Being fairly normal kids and teenagers, we did not always appreciate it at the time.
What was it like growing up as his children? Well, for one, it was difficult to describe what he did for a living. It is hard for a young child to understand business or property development. When I was asked what my dad did, I would usually shrug and say “I don’t know, he just makes money”. Later, as teenagers, we would sometimes be embarrassed to say that our dad was a property developer, as that would make him one of those people who “paved paradise and put up a parking lot”, or building in his case. Not the thing to boast about in the 70’s! I should just add here that not all of his projects were successful. He did say that he had to walk away from, and learn from some failures.
It has been stressed about how generous dad was with his money. Well, growing up with him, we all learned to be frugal. His financial strategy was to always live within your means and don’t spend money frivolously. Some of his closest friends and family might have actually called him “cheap” at times, but we’ll say frugal today. Why bother buying your own tool when your neighbour has a perfectly good one that you could borrow? When shopping, he was always looking for sales and bargains, and wanted to get his money’s worth. He loved hotel rooms that had breakfast included and of course when you were at an “all you can eat” buffet, you needed to sample everything there! Mom said that he would walk several blocks in order to save paying for parking. Nowadays, we call that being healthy! When we were teenagers, we always had old, rather practical vehicles, usually a station wagon. I remember when I’d take the family car out, not worrying about leaving it unlocked. If it got stolen, it would be a blessing, and maybe we’d get a new car. No such luck! Mom and dad never had a new car until we all left home. Maybe that’s practical advice.
Dad and mom liked to travel a lot. When we were young, they sometimes took trips for 2-3 weeks at a time, leaving us with grandmothers or babysitters. When we were older, they took us with them. Their philosophy for travelling was that it would be educational. However, we as children did notice that mom and dad’s idea of education was somewhat different. When I was 14, we did a 6 wk. summer trip to Europe, of course following the guidebook called “Europe on $5/day”. Dad liked to go to castles, on excursions, and visit people, but mom did get her way with educating us at many art galleries and museums as well. Later, we each got to do a trip on our own with either mom, or dad, or both of them, once we were out of school. Graham’s best memory of father/son times was when they went on a snorkeling trip together in Micronesia, just the two of them.
5 years ago, instead of mom and dad going on a trip of their own for their 60th wedding anniversary, they chartered a large boat in the summer time and took the whole family on a cruise up in Desolation Sound. Everyone had a great time, with lots of swimming, but Dad’s mobility was already declining by then, so he was assisted in and out of the water and had to wear a life jacket along with his great grandson, Monty.
But the best family times of all, whether with children, grandchildren, or even great grandchildren, were our times spent at Thetis island. When we were very young, dad would take 2-3 weeks holidays in the summer to go to Thetis. At first we were just camping, but then dad gradually built the cottage over several years, doing most of the work himself. Once the cottage was completed, Mom and us kids would spend all summer there while dad traveled back and forth. If dad needed to contact anyone in Vancouver, he had to walk a mile up the road to a pay phone. As the years went by, he eventually got a phone at the cottage, and then became quite modernized with a fax machine. After that, he could spend most of the whole summer there with all of us, as he was now connected to his business in Vancouver.
Once the cottage was done, he and his friend, Fred Lindsey, embarked on building a natural tidal swimming pool in the rocks. Every summer from then on, they could be found renovating and maintaining this pool. It was also at Thetis where we saw dad involved in many recreational activities, some of which we did with him. He enjoyed swimming, boating, walking, gardening, painting, and reading. In the evenings, dad loved to play games with whoever was visiting. He was known to be quite competitive, which spurred us all on to try to beat him. In the last few summers at Thetis, dad continued to play “Upwords”, which is a form of scrabble, or a numbers game, almost every night with mom. Mom said that she would usually beat him at the numbers game, but he would usually beat her at the word game. Even this past July, dad was still able to beat me at “Upwords”.
I want to share a little bit of dad’s last few years of life. His body was gradually failing him, causing him to lose more and more hearing, vision, mobility, and energy. He never complained, though, and thankfully, was not in pain. Often, when he said goodbye to family or friends, he would say “if I don’t see you again, I’ll see you at the great banquet”. In the last few months, however, he did admit that he was “struggling”, so I think he was tired of his earthly body getting weaker and weaker.
However, he was a man that liked to complete tasks. He was looking forward to his 90th birthday, which he celebrated in June. A few days later came the 25th anniversary of Chemainus theatre, which he was able to attend. He was also able to be at Thetis for about 5 weeks this summer, where my siblings and I had the privilege of caring for him. He would sleep a good part of each day, and by the end, he could not walk outside the cottage. Over the summer, almost all his grandchildren and all his great grandchildren were able to visit with him. Graham brought him home from Thetis at the end of July, after which he was admitted to St . Paul’s hospital. He stayed in the hospital for about one month, and then spent the last 2 and a half months of his life at Blenheim Lodge. Three days before he died, he celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary, having an ice cream party with mom, Sharon and Stuart, but had difficulty staying awake. So I think that he went peacefully to be in a better place, after completing all the goals he had set for himself. He had no regrets and had certainly “fought the good fight”.
Sometimes, it was tough growing up in the shadow of Ken Smith. Certainly, we 3 children have lived much quieter, private lives. But our lives have been so shaped and enriched by being in his family, and we will forever be proud to be known as Ken Smith’s son or daughter.
Ken was the best father in law I could ever have hoped for. He was a great encourager and always supported whatever goals we set for ourselves. Shortly after we were married Sharon and I decided to spend a year travelling in SE Asia. From a career advancement perspective this was not a smart way to spend a year but Ken never criticized our decisions. He was always upbeat, optimistic, and enthusiastic about life, about his family, and about whatever project he was working on at the time. He treated others with the utmost respect even when he disagreed with them. Underpinning all of this was his unshakeable faith in God, that God was good, that even though there might be severe trials in life, that God was with him and was working in him and through him. His faith in God never wavered even though he sometimes had many sleepless nights wondering what to do about a particular project that was rapidly losing money. His bible has many scribbles in the margins of places and dates of when God spoke to him using a verse to encourage him to persevere.
When Sharon suffered a severe brain aneurysm on July 1st, 2000 at the age of 40 I had to call Ken and Ruth in the middle of the night to tell them that her condition was critical and that she might not survive. They were at their cottage on Thetis Island and couldn’t get off the island until the first ferry at 7am. Ken decided that it would be faster if they got in their speedboat at first light and so they travelled down to Victoria and came directly to the hospital. Despite being shaken at seeing his youngest daughter in the ICU clinging to life and with multiple tubes and wires he remained strong in his faith. He shared with me a verse from Isaiah 41:10 which says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” That was a great encouragement to me and I realized that even in the face of the greatest challenges that God is real and cares for us. Sharon made a full recovery over the following several months for which the girls and I were so thankful.
One of his last projects was building the Honeymoon Bay Lodge & Retreat Centre. It struggled financially and even after 5 years it was not breaking even and was really straining the resources of the Oswald Smith Foundation. Ken as always looked to the scriptures and found comfort in Psalm 107:27-28 which says, “They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.” Ken felt at his wits end but knew where to turn when that happened.
Ken led by example. He was not one to lecture but rather he modeled how to live in peace and harmony with others. I will be forever grateful for the love and friendship, for the support and encouragement that he gave.
My Dad - What will I miss………
His presence at our family gatherings.Dad taught me how to live and how to die. He always had a hope in his future resting place.
I will always be proud to be Ken Smith’s daughter.