My Eulogy for John by Tina Megahey
Thursday October 19, 2023
The Celtic Club
Ajax, Ontario
Note this is a long version.
I am forever grateful to Danny and Trish Henry for hosting this Celebration Of Life for John.
Danny has been my inspiration and continues to provide guidance throughout this very difficult time.
Steven Henry had stepped up to looking after the Pine Hills Condolences website, a big heartfelt thanks to him. Well done. You did John proud!
Johnny and I (and John!) are so thankful that you are here on this day, with us, we are truly blessed.
I wanted to capture some precious moments I have with John to share with you, to know how he lived life.
Johnny and I would like you to know that John often talked about the Megahey side of the family and stories of his childhood in Belfast.
*John's stories he talked about...
.His childhood growing up in Belfast, I heard it all. (Wink wink). I kept telling John to write it down. No way he'd say!
.He told me about all those warm, fun, family get togethers with cousins Molly, Geraldine, Rhona, Barry, at his Aunt Vera and Uncle Tommy's
.All those precious times that he had with his brother Desi with his cars. I believe it was Desi who got John so interested in cars. Desi used to work for a car lot in Belfast, if I recall, and brought different cars home at times. And, when John was a wee boy, we used to polish up the neighbors car, acting like it was "His". Lol.
.He loved the fact when he got here to Canada, he drove his mom and Trsh to shopping in the Vega - all without a licence.
.Loved his nephews Danny, Steven and Michael. Watched them grow up. Often spoke of them with good memories. John looked similar to the magician Doug Henning back when the kids were small. He convinced Michael he was that magician and pulled some magic tricks on him, LOL.
*His Brother Desi:
.When he lost Desi, God Bless Desi, he was so heart broken. John was quiet and couldn't speak of Desi for a long time. He said It was just too painful.
But he'd remind me every year on his anniversary of passing. Now they are together with our Lord.
*How we met:
Cars were John's thing. As you all know.
That's how we met. HOW IRONIC. We were both driving and seemed to stop beside each other at the lights for about 6 blocks. We made eye contact every time. I heard him shout over to me hi, and the next lights he said, "do you want to go for a coffee?" and for some reason I just felt compelled to say sure! and the rest is history.
For about a month after that we'd we meet at a coffee shop and talk till the wee hours of the morning. He was very polite, well dressed and such a gentleman.
*Next chapter
We moved in together and went on our journey. Turns out we both love to travel. John love to drive so we spend a lot of time going on day trips up north, overnight trips when we went to Buffalo for smokes and gas (remember those days LOL?), we spent a lot of time going down to the eastern coast of the United States and traveling to NASCAR races near Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Clearwater. These were our favs. He always took all the back roads up and down going through the States. John would rather go off on an adventure, take side roads, through dirt roads through small towns and up and down through West Virginia through all the mountains and all those crazy scary hairpin turn roads on one lane - I don't know how he did it, cause we never used a map when we were on those beaten tracks. John just drove where he wanted to go and everything was fine.
*Music was a big part of John's life. He loved Bruce Springsteen. We've been to about 6 concerts. Although we like different genres of music we always rocked on together. Going to concerts became a staple in our lives. We've seen Dire Straights, John Cougar, The Verve - to name a few.
*He loved Cats and they loved him.
*Then....being blessed
Along Came Little John. By this time we had bought a house in Scarborough which was supposed to be our starter house and we're still here to this day. Johnny's 25 now and as you know, John was really proud of him we did everything with Johnny, those were the days.
*Precious moments
.We spent a lot of our Christmases with Trish and Danny and we are so grateful for those times. John looked so forward to Trish's cooking then, it wasn't even funny! I think he was drooling the day before. It was one big Irish family allright - Steven and Danny and Michael , then with Steven's kids, Ryan, Jeffrey and Katy. Johnny grew up with the cousins - so it was very precious to us at Christmastime and John really treasured that and often spoke about that - those are very memorable moments and John loved being with his sister.
.Another good memory ... Whenever I told John I was taking Johnny over to Chuck E Cheese, John would always come with us because he looked forward to playing the arcade games with Johnny. That was way before Xbox, Internet etc etc and God, we'd spend hours in Chuck E Cheese while those two played all the race car video games racing each other, hog the machines, I'd be the one cheering them on. And yelling at me "hurry up put in the coins" oh my God these guys would race each other and compete to beat the band! Those were good times and I have a nice picture that I took of them.
.We always had a laugh visiting my mom and dad up north in Lakefield, at their summer holiday trailer. We enjoyed Fresh fish fries and camp fires.
I remember we went out on my bother-in-laws, Jim Dadson's, boat. One time, my mom was doing this whistle thing and John thought it was an alarm on the boat! He called out "I can't swim". He had a life vest on tho. We all laughed so hard that day! My mom loved John like a son and often asked his advice on matters.
.Another family thing we did was rent a cottage on the Trent River in Campbellville for a couple of summers just a few years back. John loved it. But remember he couldn't swim, but really found he enjoyed taking out the kayak - with lifevest on of course. Johnny was in the other kayak. He was a stargazer as well, up till the wee hours of the morning, often catching the Sunrise - and watching the Storks land just a few feet from him to graze grass.
*It’s all in the timing...
But I have to add to that I think everybody in the family probably heard and knows that we were always LATE to get to Trishes. Danny saying every year: "for frek sake.. What time you call this?! LOL" John was never one to be on time.
Including appointments and concerts.
He did everything on his time, whether he was ready or not. The clock meant nothing to him I think even when he was working for Canada Post all those years he was, you know, " I'll get there when I get there " so that was his attitude and that's how he was all his life everybody knows that.
That's what made John, John.
*In closing ...
We have a lot of good memories with John and they'll always be with us.
I am his loving wife forever.
I hope my few stories I've said here of how we, (he) lived life brings a smile to your heart. I have a million more.
And, I'm sure all of you have a memory with John that you can remember and share.
Remember John on his Birthday, September 11/1957 and on the day he left us to walk with our Lord, September 3, 2023. 🙏❤️
