No obituary can truly express the loss to the family and the community when an amazing person like our father passes. He was first and foremost a family man. While some husbands and wives would take long exotic trips on their own, our parents had more enjoyment carting all of their five kids all the way from Barrie to Victoria and back in a 1976 Buick Estate woody wagon that fell apart on the long trip home or down to Florida every March, fighting floods in Kentucky en route. Not many kids can say they were lucky enough to have lunch every day with their dad. He however would race home every day while we were in school so he could have lunch with his wife and kids. My dad was a brilliant doctor, a scientist, a manager who was responsible for all the labs in Simcoe County. We were glad when Quincy came on TV because explaining an autopsy before then was not quite met by admiration amongst our childhood friends ... imagine if we would've had CSI back then. However, one day when my sister corrected a friend who called dad "Mr. Walsh" instead of "Dr." ... there was a heavy price to pay when she got home because my dad would not put up with us putting on airs in any way.
The doctors, nurses and lab technicians who visited his room in the Palliative Care unit of the RVH over the past 2 weeks would tell us that he was the first person to welcome a new face in the staff lounge or act as a mentor. He truly enjoyed his lunch visits with colleagues in the doctors lounge the last several years while he was officially retired. They also talked about his work on behalf of patients' rights or on the ethics committee – dad had an opinion or two and was never shy in expressing them. There is a reason why his kids are outspoken – dinner at our house was noisy and interesting.
My dad made friends wherever he went. He was interested in our lives and our friends ... extremely interested in the boyfriends and girlfriends of his kids. He spent hours life-guarding us by the pool and took us to Barrie Flyers hockey games where he had great seats because he was the team doctor for 10 years (and put up with jokes about the team doctor being a pathologist).
My father was also the most devoted husband you could ever hope to meet. My mother, Bernadette Walsh was and always will be the great love of his life as he will always be hers. As recently as two weeks ago, Dad was talking to me about Mom, her cheerfulness and bravery despite her poor health. The look in his eyes when he spoke of her was more caring than any actor in a girl movie could ever hope to try to depict. We knew every day that they loved each other and that they loved and continue to love us. As we will always love them.