Hi Everyone,
Thanks again for all of your love and support this year. Words can’t express what it means to me and my parents.
So we ventured out to Victoria in October for Randy’s burial ceremony. This was a private ceremony between my parents and I and Rev. Jenn the minister from Randy’s Life Celebration in Victoria.
You might wonder why we chose Victoria for his burial. The reason why is that Randy loved Victoria. He loved everything about Victoria except for maybe the one snow day a year that he had. It was in Victoria where he chose to build his adult life and developed his identity as an adult. Victoria is the place where he developed so many amazing friendships and made so many memories. It’s where he could roll down the street downtown and everyone knew his name.
It’s amazing even when we arrived at the Burial Park we selected – they already knew about Randy. People had already come to visit looking for Randy and the staff were familiar with his obituary.
It’s interesting the process of choosing a burial park. I picked up a tourist brochure when we arrived in the Victoria airport and since it was the week before Halloween all of the marketing was for Graveyard Tours. It just takes you to a place where based on movies and tv and Tim Burton that graveyards just seem like dark and scary places.
Randy would expect me to use this intro also as an excuse to segue into a ramble about his love of the movie Troll 2.
He would want you to watch the movie, here is the IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105643/
So in his honour and since the burial was around his favorite holiday Halloween. Here is Randy in his Goblin from Nilbog Troll 2 costume.
On the topic of scary animals that might live in graveyards I feel like Randy would make a joke about how if I am making that ramble that I could also segue into that there might be Cancer Bats living in the graveyard. Don’t think that this is going to lead to a Batman ramble instead the bats I am talking about, the Cancer Bats – was a band Randy really liked.
Here is a photo of Randy and Garrett with Liam the lead singer of the Cancer Bats right after he signed Randy’s shirt.
This is Garrett and Matt and him at the concert.
Randy captioned this photo as: Just how good was the band before the cancer bats?
This good
This photo was captioned: I was in full Randler mode as you can see
I think Randy would love the idea of someone playing Cancer Bats music at his spot.
Anyways back to Randy’s new hang out – just to confirm there are no goblins or trolls or bats that I am aware of. If you see them – take some photos and we can feature them on the blog. I am happy to confirm that Randy’s new hang out is not a dark or scary place it is quite the opposite. Randy’s now located in the Royal Oak Burial Park.
We wanted this place to be somewhere accessible that everyone could visit. We also wanted it to be as close to the University of Victoria and Randy’s favorite spots in Victoria. Also this park is closed at dusk which is when hundreds of deer from a nearby forest roam at night.
Deer? Yes hundreds of deer. So part of the fun of bringing Randy is a gift is that you have to pick out something that the deer won’t eat.
For example in our first try we started with this lovely collection for Randy:
The next morning we found this:
We learned in our first round that Birds of Paradise are too prickly for the deer. So then the next time I went all out and brought some sort of very prickly red thing and my parents brought more Birds of Paradise and it worked!
It’s located here: Royal Oak Burial Park, 4673 Falaise Drive, Victoria BC V8Y 1B4
Map here: http://www.robp.ca/contact-us/
It’s really amazing actually they have this service at the park and you can call and order anything to be delivered to Randy and then they will go out and get it (or you could mail it or have it delivered) and they’ll go deliver it to Randy and take a photo.
So if you are inspired to send him some pizza, a United Nations flag, something awesome from a trip you took, a rock, some flowers, a figurine, Stalin memorabilia, anything – the team there will deliver it or get it for you and send you a photo. We would ask since it’s so awesome if you could email us a photo too that would be greatly appreciated.
We wanted the space Randy was at to be an awesome place to visit. So he’s located near a really pretty water fountain which sounds lovely in the background.
Also we wanted it to be a place where you could hang out for awhile, watch a Rams game or some youtube videos, eat pizza or have a dance party, read him your thesis or listen to heavy metal music at full blast. So we have purchased a bench that will be placed in his little cove so you can sit if you want on the bench or bring a pillow and get comfy. It’s going to be installed in the spring.
In addition we were really touched by the gorgeous red maple tree that was located right in his cove. Red was one of Randy’s favorite colours. The tree is located right beside where the bench will be installed. It’s really beautiful and it was really comforting to take home a couple of the leaves from the tree. I’m excited about how there will be new leaves each year. People also bring all sorts of decorations for trees in the park like wind chimes and bird feeders and things. So if you are inspired please feel free to bring something to decorate his tree.
I wrapped it in a red ribbon. I have to admit the tree also gives really good hugs and it’s very comforting. Randy would find it absolutely hilarious that now I hug a tree and am a tree hugger. I can hear him laughing whenever I hug the tree.
His burial ceremony was really touching. When working with Rev. Jenn she worked with us to make a custom ceremony. Instead of standing over him we laid out blankets and had sat on the ground around him. When she read out the line ‘from ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ instead of placing this little sand from a jar they provide which is called committal sand – we brought our own supplies. So Randy was buried in dirt from his home in Midnapore in Calgary, shells and sand from Pass A Grille & St. Pete beach and Marvin Key in Key West and some dirt from each of Randy’s University of Victoria Tower residences. Notably there is also some cheese dip from Panago but I’ll let you ask my Dad about that story, it’s a good one.
So after the ceremony we hung out as a family all afternoon with Randy. I bought a lot of supplies, Panago, Heineken, chocolate covered berries, Doritos and bunny crackers.
It was amazing. I can’t put into words how incredibly difficult yet comforting and therapeutic the experience was.
We actually hung out for so long that the staff (who thankfully didn’t look like the guys from Garden State as I had imagined) eventually came up and asked us if they could quickly fill in his spot since they needed to close.
One of my favorite moments was when an elderly couple was coming by to drop off some flowers and visit a relative down Randy’s row and I got this look from them and then I realized I was sitting above his urn chatting with him while openly drinking beer and eating Doritos and that I guess that’s not what people do in the burial park normally. I had a lot of laughs. I recommend you do the same it was an awesome experience.
Randy’s headstone isn’t installed yet. It’s actually interesting in Victoria they don’t install them in the winter since they have to pour concrete in the ground and with the rain it might lead the stone to be crooked. So Randy’s stone will be installed in the spring.
Notably they actually throw a big party in the burial park once a year for the summer solstice. The team said Randy’s area is actually located in the middle of the festivities. I think this is awesome and that our family will be attending this year.
http://www.robp.ca/news-and-events/ it looks like it’s annually in June.
So without Randy’s headstone you are probably wondering how to find him. Ah-ha I can tell you. Look here on the map for the red arrow by section T. You can download a map here: http://www.robp.ca/documents/robp_large_map.pdf
If you visit during Monday – Friday the office will be open before 4:30pm and they can tell you directly and give you a map. The office is closed after 4:30pm daily and on weekends.
Alternatively you can go on a little burial park adventure based on my instructions and I think you should be able to find him. We have had visitors both drive in and park their car and walk in. Randy is located in the lovely section T.
If you drive in you are going to stay on the road on the far left all the way up to the intersection where the water fountain is directly to the left of you. Then take a left and follow that road to the end and park.
If you are standing on that road at that intersection facing the water fountain at 12 o’clock the first or second tree on your right (2 o’clock) is Randy’s. The first row of graves is Randy’s row and he should be directly to you left at 11 o’clock. He’s facing the water fountain not the road. He’s the furthest on the right of this row.
This is the view facing away from the fountain while at Randy’s spot.
He has an American and Canadian flag in his little flower/stick/collection of awesome things urn.
His next door neighbor is a lovely lady named Estelle Cross. If this helps her stone looks like this.
Randy’s supposed to have a temp stone installed in the meantime this winter but incase it’s not in this is what the space looked like when my parents left.
The wood pieces and rocks were collected by my parents at Arbutus Cove. This is a small cove near the University where Randy’s gracious friends would carry him down and up 3 flights of stairs in the wilderness so he could join them on the beach. It’s a gorgeous place.
Here are some photos:
The last thing I wanted to share with you all is that Randy has awesome neighbors! Dad found a large grave on the top of the hill by Randy and the name is the same from one of the Godfather mafia guys. My favorite is Randy’s neighbor a couple of rows over whose stone says ‘It’s 5 o’clock somewhere’. I think they’ll be drinking buddies.
There is actually a book published by Dave Obee a local journalist and it’s a full history and guide to the park. You can find it online it’s called Royal Oak Burial Park: A History and Guide.
Since I know 99% of you aren’t going to buy and read the book I have provided a coles notes version below with some highlighted neighbours.
If you are interested in visiting some of these other graves you just need to ask where they are in the office.
- Warren Walls, Motorcycle Wizard. He was a fixture of Victoria’s motorcycle scene, known for his ability to build custom choppers that were among the best on the west coast. He passed away at the age of 28 on New Year’s Day. Annually on New Year’s Day a procession of motorcycles heads to his grave which is an elaborate stone featuring a motorcycle and this inscription: “Bounty Hunter forever.”
- George Pan Cosmatos a film director nominated in 1985 for a Golden Raspberry Award (Razzie – for the worst in film) for directing Rambo: First Blood Part II. He also the assistant to the director for Exodus in 1960 and later won praise for Tombstone in 1993.
- Thomas Walter Scott the first premier of Saskatchewan who is notably one of the most visited graves in the park.
- Nellie McClung author and activist best known as one of the Famous Five women’s leaders who campaigned for women’s suffrage. They established that women must be recognized as full persons under law in Canada. Also she was the first woman on the Board of Governors for the CBC. In 1938 she was a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations in Geneva.
- Harry Alexander Stewart a Barber to King George V and Sir WInston Churchill.
- Jack Winter a Harvard educated Hollywood screenwriter who wrote for The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, The Odd Couples and The Monkees. Winter was slightly eccentric and was said to have supported himself one year by placing bets on basketball games. He ran a business importing and selling Turkish rugs and collected frogs.
- Sir Charles Alfred Bell who served as a liason officer between the British government and the theocratic state of Tibet and the Himalayan states of Sikkim and Bhutan. During an audience with the Dalai Lama, he became the only foreigner to sit on a level with the exalted Buddhist priest and ruler of Tibet.
- Bruce Passmore who introduced the Volkswagen to Vancouver Island.
- Thomas Miller, Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor and publisher of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald.
- Hockey Legends Curtis and Frank Patrick Frank who brought the innovations of the post season playoff system, the forward pass, legalized puck kicking and the boarding penalty to the NHL.
- Brig. Gen. Henry Thoresby Hughes a monument engineer who was the chief engineer in the original of all Canadian First World War monuments in Europe including the Vimy Memorial in France.
- George Lloyd the Anglican Bishop from Saskatchewan which Lloydminster is named after.
- Sir James Outram a rocky mountaineer who made 28 first ascents in Banff National Park including Cascade Mountain and Mount Assiniboine.
- Thomas Alfred Greenwood a Klondike gold-seeker
- John Oliver the BC Premier who the town of Oliver in the Okanagan is named after.
- Dermod Owen-Flood a Supreme Court justice who was known for the style and sense of drama he brought to his cases when he was a lawyer.
- Michael Leachman known as ‘Hobo Mike’ was a member of the Victoria Shrine Club and Shrine Clown Unit. His nickname reflects his enthusiasm for the cause.
- Joseph Ryan who was a founder of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a member of the CFL Hall of Fame and helped to start the Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos. He was also the first CFL manager to import players from the USA.
- Arthur Joseph Sampson was one of the first Canadian Soldiers to go ashore in the battle to liberate Sicily in the Second World War. He was captured by Germans and sent to a prisoner of war camp, Stalag VIIA in mainland Italy. As the Allies pushed the Germans retreated, and Sampson had to go on some forced marches to other camps. During one of the marches, Sampson and two other men ran away. One of the other men was shot and killed. Sampson hid on a farm in Italy for several months until the area was liberated and it was safe to come out.
- Rowland Richard Louis Bourke who was awarded the Victorian Cross for his actions at Ostend, Belgium during the First World War. The Victorian Cross is the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
- Gordon McGregor Sloan a BC Chief of Justice who the day he died was described in the local paper as “unquestionably influenced the future of BC more than any other man in his generation.” He presided over some of the most important royal commissions in his era dealing with salmon fisheries, the forest industry and workers’ compensation. He was also a mediator in major labour disputes.
- Percy Leonard James the architect for the swimming pool at the Chateau Lake Louise.
- Kjell Eirckson who died in a car crash at 14. His tombstone has 51 words on it to sum up a life that ended too soon.
- Prince Nikita and Princess Blanche Eva Marion Galitzine, members of the Russian royal family.
- Dianne (Narvik) Hall-Carruthers a trail blazer for female executives in the Calgary oilpatch. She rose from Executive Assistant to the President at Nova Corp to the Senior Vice-President.
- Amin Hilmy an Egyptian Diplomat who was in charge of the Anglo-Egyptian Evacuation Treaty from the Suez Canal Region. He was a member of Egypt’s foreign service and in 1964 was appointed the ambassador to the UN, followed by the ambassador to Nepal, Vietnam and lastly back with the UN in 1979.
- Gilbert Paul Jordan, “The boozing barber” who ran a barbership in Abbotsford and was notorious for plying women with deadly doses of alcohol. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1988 when I woman was discovered dead with a blood alcohol level of 0.91. (I mention this one since Randy loved the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
- Propser Askew, a Catholic priest who used to work as a new programmer at Vatican radio in Rome.
- Doris Charnock Thomson Gravlin, Murder victim and ghost. Gravlin was strangled by her estranged husband on Victoria Golf Club Links in 1936. There have been several reports that she has been seen on the course.
- Edythe May Hembroff-Schleicher an artist, friend and biographer of painter Emily Carr. Under the signature Edythe Hembroff Brand her portrait of Emily is in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
- Nancy Hodges the first female speaker of the legislature in BC and in the British Commonwealth who was named to the Senate in 1953.
- Mabel Helen Fortune Driscoll, Titanic survivor.
- Monica Hughes, the first science fiction writer for children in Canada. She published 35 novels in 10 languages, was a 2 time winner of the Governor General’s Award, and received the Order of Canada and Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal.
- Douglas Millar Johnston, University Professor. A emeritus professor at UofVic he wrote more then 30 books and 90 articles on the theory and history of international law, law of the sea, marine and environmental policy studies, comparative law, modern Chinese studies and public policy issues. He was founding chair in Asia-Pacific Relations at the UofVic.
- Prince Nicholas and Princess Peggy Abkhazi of Georgia, founders of Victoria’s Abkhazi garden.
- Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong, husband to Madam Melba an Australian singer that had Peach Melba and Melba Toast named after her.
- Edwin Alonzo Boyd, one of Canada’s most notorious bank robbers who was Canada’s Public Enemy Number One when captured in 1952. He was a Second World War veteran who drove a street car until he decided that robbing banks might be an easier way to make a living.
- Jennie and Robert Butchart, Butchart Gardens founders who started the garden to hide the ugliness of a cement pit excavation close to their home.
- Joseph Badenoch Clearihue, soldier, politician, judge and the leading force behind the creation of UofVic. He became UofVic’s first chancellor and first chairman of the board of governors. The first building erected on the Gordon Head campus bears his name.
- Jeffree Aiken Cunningham a College educator who received the first honorary LLD degree from UofVic in 1964 and the Cunningham Building is named after him.
- Thomas Shanks McPherson a businessman who built a small fortune and gave it all away after he died. His name is on the library building at UofVic and the McPherson Playhouse.
- George Salier Willis Nicholson, Prohibition rum-rummer.
As the holiday season is upon us if you are looking for a way to remember Randy I would recommend the hilarious readings of The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton. I gave this book to Randy last Christmas and he spent the day wandering around the house reciting these twisted stories. Alternatively on Christmas Day we played Cards Against Humanity. It was the best as you can see from the photo below of Randy laughing. I have also included the set he was laughing about as well since it’s awesome.
The game is free and (and described as a free party game for horrible people) you can download it here: http://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/index2.html
For other photos of the cards we laughed at and Randy during the holiday season last year you should be able to view my facebook album through this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152314082000444.935066.534425443&type=1&l=db126cd510
Much Love,
Allison
ramblinrandle 