From time to time you have heard me mention an Uncle of mine who lived in Innisfail, Alberta. A gentleman of whom I was extremely fond. We laid him to rest from a small chapel in the town yesterday afternoon. He would have been 92 next month. One thought kept reoccurring to me as I sat in that sanctuary. I kept wondering if the gentleman ever thought of himself as probably one of the most remarkable men who ever lived. Do you know that in all the years I knew him, I never heard him speak ill of anyone? Imagine that. I have never talked to anyone who didn’t like him. In that small town of Innisfail close to 200 people would show up at his birthday party. He served the town as Post Master for 41 years. He was a sportsman, musician, public servant, homesteader and husband and father. He did all these things with enthusiasm, devotion and dedication. Until the day of his death he could recall for his great grandchildren the time when he and his father walked from Calgary to Innisfail to take up their homestead. He remembered the coming of the railroad to Alberta and could relate true tales about the Indian bands that used to roam the slopes around the town. He never lost his zest for life. He was at the Calgary Stampede every year and wouldn’t miss a bull sale. When he was 90 years old he took our his fiddle that had long been laid away and started to play it again. He was the first one there when there was trouble and the last one to leave if he was needed. One gentleman remarked yesterday that here was a man who had everything in the world but money and of that he had no need. Citizens of Innisfail, who may be listening to me today, you have lost a great man. You cannot really ask more of life than 91 years and yet many tears were shed at his passing. The world will be poorer for his passing. James Edward Dodd will not go down in history but he has left a great mark on the town in which he lived and in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.
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