Issue #1195
Dedicated To

Uncle Russ

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Hi Everyone. As most of you know, Uncle Russ, our Brubacher family patriarch and the glue that held the extended family, and the readers of this letter, together, passed away on Monday, April 14. This issue is dedicated to Russ.

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From Rosemary

Judy told me about Russell's passing. I am so very saddened by this news. What a cool guy Russell was. I really only got to know him through the Squamidian, other than a few Brubacher reunions over the years.

He emailed me on Saturday, taking me up on my offer to forward his submission for the next Squid to you and then sent one more saying he would send it on Thursday, April 17. I think it was the next day, Sunday, that he died.

I thought I'd send his email, because he says in there what his Easter story was to be for this coming Saturday's edition. I see it as Russell's cheery voice coming from wherever he is now. No doubt he is entertaining all the souls gathered around him.

Rosemary

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Hi Rosy, thanks for the offer to forward my article(s) to Doug for the weekly Squamidian. It's been a bummer trying to get a repair person to fix my old computer. My son, Greg is convinced there is nothing wrong with my computer and I have a "sneaking suspicion" he has told the repair guy the same thing (Greg has his and Bettie's computer serviced by him, and Greg has taken mine to him for several clean-ups, etc. over the years) Greg doesn't want me to spend a bunch on a new computer as I'm on the way out.

I have a cute story about why we have Easter Bunnies, and not Easter chickens - after-all, chickens lay eggs! The story turned out to be fairly lengthy and I wanted it to appear in next Saturday's Squamidain as April 20th is Easter Sunday. Shall I send it to you next week?

Thanks again,

Russ.🙂😉😘

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From Nova Scotia Sus

I remember Uncle Russell as a policeman. Many years ago he would stop in at Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit. Us kids would ask to sit in the back seat of the police car. He gladly would let us in and we suddenly realized there were no door handles and no way out.

Another memory was when my parents were celebrating their 50 years of marriage. A dinner was planned at my house and all my Dad's brothers and sister and their spouses were secretly arriving. Russell and Barbara arrived first and were so delighted that they got the best room in the house. Evelyn and Ed got the laundry room and Lorne and Vivyan got the sun room. And Russell kept rubbing it in to his siblings about their room all in jest of course.

I have lots of great memories and so grateful that Russell wrote in his books about his life. We will miss him so much.

Sus

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From Gary

Dear uncle Russ will be missed by all. He was an amazing person. He took the ‘Brubacher wit and humor’ to a whole new level. RIP dear uncle. On a lighter note, the weather is slowly getting better. My renovation is going ok but much slower than I hoped. Evy left 4 weeks ago last Sunday and I’ve already lost 3lb. Partly due to being active with life and of course not being fed healthy meals 2x a day. I am the one that makes breakfast most of the time. Stay safe everyone.

Gary

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From Doug

As is so true for most of us, I didn’t really get to know Russ very well at all until well into my adult years. In fact, just like with Rosemary, I’ve come to know him best through his writings in this letter. He had become the glue that was holding this letter and it’s readers together. In fact, it was Russ who convinced me to ‘keep it going’ after we had hit the 1,000 mark a few years ago. We are now jut shy of 1,200 and Russ would have been thrilled to be part of that milestone. Sadly, he won’t be but the rest of us can.

As kids we all liked Russ, but he was a bit mysterious as we seldom say him and when we did he was usually in his policeman uniform. He would be just dropping in at his parents for a few minutes while on duty. As he moved on and we grew older, there were many years when we didn’t see him at all. Then once he had retired and was living in Cambridge along the river he was so familiar with, he became more accessible and we all began to ‘know’ him more. This was of course the time in our lives that we were all busy with life and so the years went by. Russ surfaced again (from my perspective) at his one time cottage and now his home up on the shores of Lake Huron. This is when we got to know him, again, and best. This is when he became involved in our newsletter and his wit and sense of humor became so obvious to all of us. Once Lorne was gone, Russ took on the roll of Brubacher Family Patriarch and wore that badge very well.

I know that over the past few years I’ve looked up to Russ in ways that I’ve never looked up to anyone. Through his books and his stories he has touched us all, educated us all, and entertained us all. Thank you, Uncle Russ.

Doug

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Have a Good One
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.