Part Two of Dad's Eulogy: written by my brother

And here is the other half of my father's eulogy, written by my big brother. Some may know that before we closed Dad's casket, I put my graduation ring from Western University in with him. What is less known is that my brother's first Tae Kwon Do black belt, embroidered with Gary Ramon Aguto, also went to rest with Dad...

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Some of you know him as Ray, Ramon, Uncle Ramon, Mr. Aguto, Master Aguto, or Lolo. I had the honour of knowing him as Dad. 

As you all know, my dad battled cancer. He fought hard. And boy, did he fight. He fought to the end and never complained. He never turned his back to the Lord. The strength in my faith comes from my dad. He never once renounced the Lord or questioned His will. Even after seeing our #fcancer hashtags on our posts, he told us to not say that anymore. He said “God gave me cancer and God has the power to take it away. So, from now on change the hashtag to #faithovercancer.”

I’ll miss him playing the guitar and singing. I’ll miss him calling me over to help tie the boat up in the garage or his famous words when I was in trouble “Gary! Come here. I wanna show you something.” I remember hanging out with my friends downstairs and when we were too loud, we heard his feet hit the floor upstairs and make their way towards us, so we ran down to the basement and hid in my room. 

My dad also worked hard. Before coming to Canada, he received a letter from my mother who had already been living here, saying that if he wanted to get married and start a life here, she would sponsor him to come to the country. My dad jumped for the opportunity but worried how he would make a living in a country where he wasn’t strong in the language and was a minority. She said Canada pays for hard work- if you work hard in this country, they will pay, where sometimes in Batanes, you can work all day and not get anything but a fish or bag of rice to take home to your family for supper. So, my dad came. My dad landed in Canada on a Thursday and started working at Kaufman Footwear the following Monday and never missed a day in over 20 years. 

My dad, one year in high school, had me work the afternoon shift with him for 3 months. Oh, I hated it. Going to school all day and then working 3 to 11 sucked. At the end of the 3 months he asked me what I thought. I said I didn’t like the work at all. He said “Good! I don’t ever want to see you in a factory again! Go do something better with your life!” That’s what my parents did. They came to a foreign country and busted their butts to give us a life and a chance to do well. And for that dad, I thank you. And we love you. 

So please, let’s not think of how he fought and suffered. But let’s remember how he touched all our lives while he lived. Thank you for celebrating his life with us. We know he appreciates each and everyone of you for coming.