Gordon Edward Taylor

LAST MAN STANDING - August 13, 2025

Dear Dad:

You have friends and family waiting on you: Jerry Hindley, Roy Atkinson, Vern Robinson, Sisters Velma, Noreen and Olive. Norm Vincent, Grandma and Grandpa Taylor and they’re all saying, “Well Jeez Gord, THAT only took 96 YEARS!!!

You DID it Dad, you MADE it across the finish line. That any of us have made it THIS far in life is a miracle!

In life you can choose to make the decision OR, let the decision make you. YOU have made the decision Dad. You always have.

Growing up on the Saskatchewan Prairie was difficult. The Great Depression, the Dirty 30s, WWII. You had to make do with LESS. Our upbringing had nothing to do with the accumulation of things. It’s NOT what we didn’t have, but rather, what we DID have, what we shared and the dreams we shared.

A father teaches not just by being, but by doing.

The crack of the bat. The smell of musty baseball gloves. How you LOVED baseball and the roar of the crowd at major-league stadiums. You tied our first pairs of skates as we scarred frozen ponds and backyard hockey rinks. You chaperoned your daughter’s dances then welcomed their spouses into your life. You drove that yellow school bus which - unfortunately for us - meant “NO SNOW DAYS!!” You did that so WE could eat. You bridled the horses, cleaned the fish and lugged the drums. You always made time for us no matter how tired you were after a long day in the fields.

You wove stories and taught us that our words matter. We awoke to the crackling hiss of CBC radio as we peered out the dining room window seeing our own futures…in the distance.

Your ideological and political views shaped our young minds then challenged our adult beliefs.

When you looked out our back door you saw the world, not just the backyard fence. Always looking forward, always dreaming, yet planted in the present.

The hard work you did without ever complaining. You taught us that an honest days work was worth the effort. That the work itself was as rewarding as the result.

Piles of scrap iron became farm machinery, hockey nets and cultivators. You taught us to “see more” than what lay in front of us. It was possible, we just had to believe it…then have you build it.

The Snowplow that plowed winter roads cut a path so we could access life outside the farm was driven by a Dad. Our Dad.

The fabric of your very being was to help people, no matter how little you had. The fatted calf fed our hunger; brought to the table by the toil of your back and your hands.

The sparkle of combine lights dotting the Prairie night like diamonds in the dark,…the harvest ritual. Our Dad’s harvest ritual.

Your hope for sun, for rain, for a good crop, for a new day, for a new season, for a new year. Our Dad’s hopes.

Your joy when we arrived to the farm and the resignation of our goodbyes. The kitchen window waved a million goodbyes as our cars left the farm…disappearing one by one. Dad, it’s now your children waving goodbye to you…from that same kitchen window…one last time.

When the dust blows on prairie fields, that’s you whispering our names like you did when we were kids. When the wind dances in wheat fields, we see you standing in that field waving to us, reminding us where we’re from, from where we began. You’ll be singing and whistling along with Perry Como, Bing Crosby and the Lennon Sisters. “Wagon wheels, wagon wheels, carry me home.”

Our lives will never be the same without you. A child’s greatest fear is losing a parent. Yet, in the book of life this is yet another chapter. May you find peace in knowing you were the BEST Dad we could have EVER had. Carry that with you as you sleep this final night.

Your legacy as our father lives in each of us, in all that each of us remember about the man we called…Dad. Our Dad.

We know you’re tired Dad, and we know it’s time for you to sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day, a new day, a new journey and you have friends, sisters and parents waiting to welcome you home…the last man standing.

We’ll meet again Dad, at the kitchen window…..

Until then, our undying love, goodnight Dad.

Sincerely,

Adeline Lubianeski, Judy-Michael Cone, Cathy-Lori Cone, Jeffrey-Gordon Taylor, Randy-David Taylor and Glenna Marilyn Taylor. Horace Freeman Cone, Franklin Richard Zimmer, Norman Vincent, Sheri Ellen Briggs, Samantha Judy-Lynn Taylor, Collin Jeffrey Taylor and Catelyn Elizabeth Taylor.

Martens Warman Funeral Home is honoured to be entrusted with Mr. Gordon Taylor's care and arrangements.