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| Gerry Charron: A man of high achievement |
When he was still at a very
tender age, Gerry took over the family business after his father died. Later,
by dint of dedication and a keen work ethic, he earned his stripes as a
materials manager for the Ford Motor Company. He was respected and trusted
gentleman.
But there can be no doubt
what Gerry Charron would consider the greatest of his many achievements: a
successful marriage that would have marked the beginning of its 62nd
year this Valentine’s Day; and, with the help of his wife and partner Mollie,
raising six children. Moreover, he sent all six of those kids out into the
world armed with an education and, perhaps even more important, a set of values
that each of them today continues to instill in their own children and
grandchildren — and that the rest of us who knew him would do well to emulate.
Gerry was also a God-fearing
man, a Christian, and a faithful Catholic. Anyone who slipped into a church pew
at St. Anne’s in Walkerville or St. Joseph the Worker would have heard his
melodious baritone giving voice to the most heavenly hymns. He devoted himself
to the church choir just as he devoted himself to his faith.
Adapting the tenets of one’s
faith to the evolving values of one’s own conscience, values that can be tested
by your own family, might prove difficult for some people. Not for Gerry. He
was a man of boundless love and great compassion, two qualities at the core of
both his faith and his values.
His daughter Vicki well remembers
the time she learned she was pregnant with her first child, Carson. For Vicki,
it was the fulfillment of a long-held dream. Still, she worried how her father,
this man she adored so unreservedly, would take to the news. After all, at the
time she was still single and living with a man who had been married before.
How would her dad react to this news?
Vicki needn’t have worried.
When she finally screwed up the courage to share her news, she looked up into
his eyes and said, “Daddy, I’m going to have a baby.” He returned her gaze, an
eyebrow ever so slightly arched, and then a smile came across his face. “Are
you?” he said. “Honey, that’s wonderful.”
And really, that is just but
one example of the beneficence and unconditional love Gerry continually showed
his children, and the families that they in turn would raise. He was often
heard to say family always came first, and it has been one of the more valuable
lessons many of us have learned at his knee.
It is at times like this we
often pause and reflect on our own lives and how miserably some of us fail to
measure up in comparison to this man. In that regard, Gerry set the bar pretty
high. He was extraordinary, and blessed with many gifts that he never hesitated
to share, be it with his family or with the wider world.
And now, each member of that
family is left to make their way in this world without him. But, thank God,
they will not be without his guiding hand. For all of them will go out into
that world equipped with those gifts he shared so selflessly: his compassion,
his capacity for forgiveness, his fondness for laughter and a good meal, and
his unbounded ability to both love and to accept love. And each of them, and
all of us, will go on from here comforted by the knowledge that love is the
answer. Love is always the answer, no matter the question.
Gerry Charron taught us that.
