No one told me it was going to be like this: no more graduation ceremonies and parties. No more engagement announcements, christenings and celebrations. Gone are promotions to a higher position. Not even any retirement gatherings.
At the age of four score and three, there’s doctor appointments, sessions with physiotherapists, visiting frail old friends at long-term care facilities, attendance at ‘celebrations of life’ (that’s a euphemism for ‘funeral parlour gatherings’), and following a hearse to the cemetery.
On Friday July 26th, we visited Sigrid ‘Siggi’ Kube. As I left, I said, “Good-bye, see you later…” to her in her bed at Maxville Manor. She was being given gentle care by the attentive staff. Her needs were certainly being met.
On Sunday we were informed she had died that evening, the eve of her 84th birthday.
In 1996, as a reporter with the Standard-Freeholder, I met Siggi while covering a story about the Newington Fair. She and her late husband Claus operated a horse farm and riding stable near Finch. That was the start of a strengthening, enduring and rewarding relationship. Through Siggi, I was able to write articles about the fair, horses and photography. Later, I followed her chance purchase of a box of letters that contained a Canadian soldier’s WW II correspondence, as it was eventually reunited with the descendants of the original recipients, in Montreal.
Through Siggi, my wife and I were adopted into her friends’ German Club. It featured sumptuous dinners, jolly barbecues, long chats and stories about the early days. As my grasp of German is very feeble, I would often smile, and mutter “Ich versteh es nicht.”
No gathering was ever complete without the near-ceremonial presentation of one of her luscious cheesecakes. There was always some extra to be taken home. A week or two later she would drop by with an 8 x 10 framed photograph of the occasion. Dear Siggi was also the ad hoc photographer at our June 7, 2014 wedding. A week later, we were given some 8 x 10s, framed, of course.
On Sunday August 11 a group of her friends gathered at the Ingleside home of Manfred and Erika Brehmer (previous owners of the Kubes’ rural property). We reminisced, shared old photographs and popped some champagne corks in a toast to Siggi. She was one of a kind.
Of course, we had a … you guessed it, a cheesecake, an absolutely superb one from Ingleside’s bakery, which goes, not surprisingly, by the name of, ‘Ingleside Bakery’. It was so good that we could be led to believe that it came directly from Heaven – created by you-know-who.
