Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Life is made up of a series of memories---and for some reason I have many that include my dear friend Jay. I will never forget my first meeting with our man. We were having another of our legendary Western parties on Stanley street in London--and as usual the town cops had shut the street down. It was always best to avoid interaction with them. I was standing in the living room and watched a bedroom window open from the outside and this young lad jump through---hand extended, big smile on his face, and introduced himself.."I'm JD Walker" ! we welcomed into our house under siege---he was empty handed of course, and quickly handed him a beer. We became fast friends, how could you not, what a charmer! It didn't take long for us to include him in our exclusive friend group--the Jackson's. We were only four at that time and he was the perfect fifth! He was smart, well read, a conversationalist and fancied himself as a ladies man. Perfect fit! He introduced us to the Berg clan---a perfect foil for the Western guys. They were huge sports fans, very athletic and extremely competitive....for some reason they always seemed to win at everything game played . We have some great memories of those days so long ago in London. Life moved on and Jay would visit us in Toronto in the Beach (was living on our couch for a bit! Ha)-We even worked together in the early days of Del metals in an office in Willowdale. He was a very good salesperson! He met the love of his life Tanya..and again we will never forget the wedding weekend in Timmins. I was honored that he asked me to present a reading in that beautiful wooden church.
We all started families, life got very busy, and it was more difficult to see each other--however he always had time to initiate a phone call to catch up, talk some business and let us know how the family was doing. We are very proud of both his career and the ladies he raised. It was a thrill to visit the camp on Star lake at 20 degrees below! It seemed our bro was in a good space and Timmins was the right place for him as well. We have a special memory of Jay/Tanya and Elliot visiting Muldrew circa 2015....Vicentina meat's porchetta and Alioli became a staple in our home after that visit. Jay was an excellent chef. We got to see more of Jay and the ladies when we were living downtown -pre covid. A chance to get to know Elliot and Paitra as young adults--What amazing kids--Nurtured by their amazing mom--Tanya.
A special thank to to my wife Sheila for going the extra mile and doing anything she could for her beloved friend in the last few years --the hard times did not define his life---he will always be that personal, jovial, intelligent person I love.
Godspeed to you brother, I miss you so much.
Sheila and Camille
