L e a n n e   V e r k l e y

Easton is 16!   He has matured so much in the last year and even has facial hair now.  I love watching him play hockey, or listening to him on his guitar, and he is so adventurous and loves to run.  Camp and Ontario Youth Parliament (OYP) are some of his favourite things.  I can't believe he spent a month at camp this year and is now on the executive for OYP.  He cuts the lawn on the regular, I think he may want his licence soon. This morning I surprised him with birthday balloons in the shape of 16, pancakes for breakfast in the shape of 16 and after school because of the rain in the morning, I put out lawn signs that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY to greet him coming home from school.  His cake is inspired by his love of archery, so a fun target shaped cake.                                                                    We went out for dinner at Chucks Roadhouse.  His LAN party weekend with his friends is scheduled for later in the month.  So I guess it will be a month of celebrating this pretty awesome kid!  
Easton is still skinny at 148 lbs, up from 145 last year, and now just shy of 6 feet up from 5'11' last year.  Still growing, just a little slower.  He loves to sing in the shower and he will even give me a hug from time to time.   I love this kid!

Back to school, second year of post secondary for Hadley and grade 11 for Easton.  They both seem older this year.  While they are off to school, I am noticing my garden maturing with cherry tomatoes, beef steak tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, cucumber, banana peppers, and jalapeños this year, with one honeydew melon that really is trying, but it is currently the size of a tennis ball.  The sunflowers have come and gone.  My sedums in the front garden are changing colour and my hibiscus flowers are showing off.  We had what was probably the final campfire of the season after cutting up some trees for firewood.  
I made my way over to the Dorsay community centre for the Ernie Coombs exhibit.  He played Mr. Dress Up on CBC when I was a kid along with two puppets: Casey and Finnagan.  Their puppets were also at the exhibit.  They had his favourite spider costume, the tickle trunk full of costumes, his favourite places in Pickering as that is where he lived and raised his kids.  A story on how he was American, but when he became a Canadian Icon, felt he should become Canadian.  
Community members have left messages for him and I was surprised by a message that said someone from Listowel remembered him coming to Paddyfest, as I have that same memory.  I wish I knew who wrote this?
I visited my dad for a few days and we went out for lunch with Brian's mom, and my sister's husband's (Jason's) mom.  When you live in a small town, your dad, mother in law and sisters mother in law all know each other and lunch out, just makes sense...so we went to Anna Maes in Milbank and had a lovely lunch, followed by a visit to Brian's uncle Phil's new store just around the corner.  It's called White Carriage House.  Beautiful!  
Easton and I went to the University fair in Toronto, to get his feet wet with information on the future.  We came home with reading material to digest.  We had a lovely day out together.  
While the month seemed to go by so very quickly, I managed to get in a few visits with different friends, including one to the Scarborough Bluffs which I had never been to.  It was such a lovely day for a walk too.  
I can't believe September went by so fast!

Remembering My Great-Uncle Dave

Today we celebrated the life of my Great-Uncle Dave—my grandma (my mom's mom) Connie's brother passed away on September 14, 2026.  He was 83, a happy man, a jokester and an entrepreneur. Always a smile on his face at least in my memory.  He founded the trucking company DROH, a name created from his own initials: David Reginald Osman Hall. For 50 years, Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan, along with their two sons, ran Droh Inc., a trucking business in Cambridge, Ontario.

Uncle Dave was the husband of my Great-Aunt Susan for 61 years. A true team.  He cared deeply for both his immediate and extended family, and his warmth could always be felt.  I loved hearing his stories and I was proud of him this past year when he shared that The Great Lakes Truck Club did a magazine story on his company.  

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the Christmas gatherings that Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan hosted for our extended family. Their home would be filled with a big tree, decor, home made food that smelled amazing, relatives filling every corner, little bowls of nuts complete with nutcrackers and so much love. They gave us a place where we could come together and experience the joy of truly belonging to a family.  While the adults talked, the kids usually played hide and seek running up and down and around their house, or played pool on the table in the basement and sometimes if we stayed late enough we would get to try out the organ in their house.  

I also remember our summer family picnics in Listowel. The great-aunts and great-uncles made those days so much fun, with baseball games, relay races, participaction walks around the Maitland River, feeding the ducks, climbing the big rock, going to the big park, tag around the pavilion, and plenty of connection. Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to grow up surrounded by that kind of love.

Uncle Dave was also a man of faith—a faith I am sure was passed down from his parents, my great grandparents, and carried forward through his own life. After a health scare a few years ago, he suggested that God wasn’t finished with him on this earth yet. That simple statement revealed something important about him: his trust in God, his sense of purpose and his gratitude for the life he had been given.

When I think of my Great-Uncle Dave, I think of happiness, humour, hard work, faith and family. I think of Christmases filled with love and summer picnics filled with fun. Most of all, I think of a man who helped create precious memories that will remain.

What a wonderful legacy to leave behind.

Today we will celebrate the life of Brian's uncle Joe.  We just saw him two weeks ago at the Verkley summer party.  There was a team of eleven, and now we have lost him—the second born. After decades of being a part of this family, he was very much part of my family too.  He lived down the road from my own dad once he moved into town.

He was quiet—a farmer who loved sharing his latest discovery like the well water information from our home that he framed and gave to us just because he could, or precipitation charts for Dawson City where Brian's sister Lisa lives dating all the way back to the gold rush or showing us something he had built. A farm accident during childhood that took part of his right hand never stopped him from following in his dad’s footsteps and creating beautiful things with his hands.

For our wedding, he built Brian and I a beautiful table using pieces of wood from the family farm, amongst 1800 or so other small blocks of wood.  It was the same farm where he helped care for all the children born there. He never had children of his own, but they were his in all the ways that mattered.

When my children were young, he made school-bus picture frames so we could display their class photos on our wall. After we returned from the Netherlands, he built a sjoelbak game for Brian’s birthday and one Christmas, he gave us a completely handcrafted Shut the Box game.

Treasures—all of them.

His home was a treasure too. Over the past two years, he hosted some of the milestone birthday celebrations including his own 75th birthday. His pool table was always a favourite, and his games room—with its hand-cut hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs—was unmistakably his. Even his display of small stuffed animals gave everyone something to smile about and love.  He even hosted my baby shower all those years ago.  

He was my husband’s godfather, and I think that was a perfect fit.  Neither of you super religious, but deeply rooted in good.

Quietly, creatively and generously, he made things that brought people together. He built more than tables, frames and games—he built memories. Those memories, from throwing baseballs, and building skating rinks, to finding kittens, and birthing calves as well as the treasures he left in our hands and in our hearts, will always be part of our family.  He helped raise my husband and was there to watch our kids grow. I am thankful.  We will miss you Uncle Joe.  

https://www.brennemanfuneralhome.ca/post/joseph-verkley