I first met James fifty years ago last week. It was at my father's wake. I had met James's father and mother many times before. His father had gone to St. Dunstan's with my father and his brothers, but that was the first time they had brought James along. It was the beginning of our long relationship. A family of four girls took on "a sort of brother" with enthusiasm and our Kensington family taught us much. How they put up with two Smith girls and Johanna "helping them farm" is beyond me, but that's what often happened. Cavendish Picnics, music and more music, all sustained with Modder's cooking made a period in our lives ever memorable.

So, yesterday, it was a special honour to be with James's family to celebrate his life's work. No more wonderful tribute could be made to a man and his wife, Mary Claire than what I saw yesterday - a tribute by loving children and their children's children. The grand daughters' musical performance showed that the genes carry forth their talents to new levels. Children Susan, who lives in the house her father was born in, Billy from Calgary, Ann from St. Catherines and Special Paul, at home, all spoke of their love and it filled the room and I know must spread out from their lives, touching others, continuing that special world I first met fifty years ago.