In Memoriam ... Lloyd C. Priest:
April 10, 1920 - August 13, 2007
A war veteran, husband, father, granddad, great-granddad, brother, uncle, grand mason, square dance caller, barbershopper, friend and a much respected gentleman.
Lloyd passed away on Monday August 13, 2007 peacefully in his sleep. Lloyd was predeceased by his wife of 59 years, Vivian, by a mere 10 months, who passed away from complications of a stroke.
In February, 2006 space became available at the Tony Stacey Centre for Veterans in Scarborough that would accommodate both Lloyd and Viv in a double room. They were able to be back together again - something that made both of them very happy after being apart for almost 10 months when Viv was hospitalized for her stroke. Viv could receive the full care she required to survive and Lloyd could live his life with her and take advantage of the services the home offered to someone that was, for the most part, capable of taking care of himself.
Although Lloyd was not the social butterfly of the two of them, he certainly enjoyed sitting and talking with those who came to visit him. He enjoyed his meal times when he would sit at a table with other veterans in the dining hall and discuss current happenings and old times. Often when we went in he would be smiling or actually laughing with his meal companions. When my father smiled his whole face would light up. Lloyd enjoyed Sundaes on Tuesday. He would always help the staff prepare the fruit for the residents to enjoy with their ice cream sundaes every Tuesday.
Lloyd’s father owned a bicycle shop on the Danforth where he spent most his youth. He was known as Sonny to most of the customers and his dad’s friends. Lloyd enjoyed building and repairing the bicycles for the customers, something which I later enjoyed at my first after school job at Canadian Tire. His father also sold motorcycles in his store and my dad later raced Harley Davidson and Indian motorbikes as a hobby. When I got my first motorcycle my mother was nervous but my father said, “Son, there are two types of bikers; those that have fallen and those that are going to. If you are the latter…be prepared”. I never forgot that advice and several years (& bikes) later, when I was hit by a car on my bike, I was prepared, which most likely saved my life. ( thanks Dad!)
My dad’s father passed away at a very young age and as Lloyd was the oldest of three children he was taken out of school to help support the family. After his mother remarried, he felt it was time to go on his own, so he joined the army.
Lloyd served over seas during WWII for 4 ½ years. During the war my father learned how to box and became quite good. He taught my brother and I how to box as kids – the punching bag, the gloves, the whole bit. We also had our Friday night wrestle in the rec room before settling down to watch T.V. or go out for the evening, at least until my brother & I were big enough to beat him!
My dad enjoyed working with his hands and had several projects on the go around our house. Lloyd & Viv lived in the same house for 58 years until they moved to the Tony Stacey Centre for Veterans. My dad didn’t believe in buying anything he was capable of making himself. When we were kids he made our go carts, box scooters and trailers for our bicycles to carry the newspapers we delivered. We enjoyed home-made peanut butter, peanut brittle, ice cream, ginger beer, root beer and of course for the adults he made beer and wine. His wine was very popular with the square dancers at the many after parties hosted by him & Viv.
When I was younger I remember in the summer we would go to a tree farm and mark our trees to be sold at Christmas. In the fall we would rent a truck and my brother in law would drive us up to the tree farm and we would get our trees. We would bring them home and line them up around the yard to sell. For many years he also raised chinchillas in the basement.
My parents became involved in many things. Dad joined the East York Barbershop Chorus. He was a member of the Coronati Chapter of the Masonic Lodge and went through all the ranks. He was active in his local church, St Bede's Anglican, as a sides man and a greeter and he was also a D.J. for many years, but his true passion was square dance calling.
There were three couples on our street that square danced with Marg Hough. Each year they would ask Viv to talk Lloyd into going to the open house. Each year she would ask & he would say, “No.. end of discussion!” Then finally one year he said yes, followed by… “I will go this once and I don’t want to hear another word about it”. They went and he seemed to have a good time. There was no discussion that evening or in the days to follow about their dancing experience. The next week Lloyd got up from the dinner table and went to read his newspaper as he did each day, then at 7:15 he stood up, went to the door and asked Viv if she was ready. She said, “For what?” He said, “To go square dancing”. That was the start of a 43 year love. That was in 1959, in 1961 they started their first club and grew from there. Lloyd became a full time traveling caller and was well known around the country and parts of the USA. Their lives became engulfed in square and round dancing. For over 20 years they served in various capacities on the T & D Executive and Convention Committees, holding offices which included Presidents and Convention Chaircouple. Lloyd served on several committees in CALLERLAB and was a recipient of his 25 year calling certificate from that organization. They had received several awards over the years for their consistent involvement in local festivities like July 1st, the CNE, and local school programs. Lloyd was also active in the training of other callers, both one on one and in conjunction with the T&D Sunday Clinic run years ago. MY calling career started with my father’s coaching however he always maintained that he taught me everything I know – but not everything he knew!
Lloyd & Viv had the pleasure of leading several dance tours to various parts of the world and, of course, there were all those great bus tours they took to many festivals. They enjoyed dancing and over the years had the privilege of teaching over 2200 individuals how to square and round dance. During his calling career Lloyd (and Viv) had the largest clubs in the area. Their club membership exceeded 75 squares on a weekly basis for many years. Yup, that is correct! They called and cued to over 600 people each week in their own home clubs. They had four clubs from Basic to A-2, one of which (Dude’s ’n Dolls A2) is still active today, called and cued by me & Andrea. As a caller, Lloyd had clubs for 39 years and ran a class every year until he retired in 2000.
It would be impossible to calculate the number of lives my parents have touched in all the activities they have been involved in but I know it is in the many of thousands. Both of my parents where leaders all there lives, they instilled great values in their children and I am proud to be able to say I was raised and loved by them.
I know that since my mom’s passing, my dad has missed her terribly and I believe felt lost without her. He is now back with her where he belongs and I’m sure they are dancing again and enjoying that big square dance festival up above.
One of Lloyd’s favourite sayings was, “I was put on this earth to accomplish so many things and I am so far behind, I will live forever!” It looks like he finally got caught up but will certainly live eternally in our hearts!
Dad, you will be missed greatly! Your memories will be held dear forever.
Love,
Jeff