HAROLD FRANCIS ROBINSON

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HAROLD FRANCIS ROBINSON February 7, 1911 - May 11, 2005 Born in Winnipeg, Harold slipped peacefully away in Victoria, BC after a brief and sudden decline. He was a good man, of strict honesty and intense spirituality. Always a loyal and devoted son, brother, husband, father and citizen, he was an anchor for his wife, Mary, as well as her best dance partner. They could clear the floor at the Winnipeg Beach Dance Pavilion or else he would whirl around with his tiny daughter, Mary, balanced on his feet. They also square danced with the Winnipeg Whirlapegs. Harold had a sharp mind and keen eye for detail, which he applied with typical rigour to his profession as Chief Inspector of Aircraft at Air Canada and before that, Trans Canada Airways. He was one of the founding engineers at TCA in 1938 and his almost perfect certification exam results on newly introduced aircraft would be adopted as the subsequent standard of reference. He was serious minded about service to society, through his work and through the Masons and Shriners. A snappy dresser yet shy and introspective, he found a surprising niche as a toy soldier clown with the Winnipeg Khartoum Komedians who entertained sick children in hospital. He was a meditative man with a confident and robust sense of the continuity of life. Like the jet plane con-trails he loved to see surging and dissolving into the clear blue prairie skies, we celebrate his reunion with his family and friends and his dear wife, Mary. He leaves his beloved sister Audrey and family in New Zealand, his daughter Mary, son-in-law John, godson and daughter Bob and Linda and grand-dog Flora. We say farewell to our dear friend, Harold. As you always did for us, Harold, we hold loving thoughts for you now. You often said at times like this, let there be no loss and no separation . We'll meet again. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 20, 2005