Thank you all for being here. It's good to see you all for support and to celebrate the life of Tom.

The family members thought that a little pre Hillsburgh history might be of interest. It appears from the number of people here that we as family members have a lot of Hillsburgh history to hear about that we don't know and that will be a pleasure to hear from one of dad's neighbors to give us that perspective. Jim is going to address a little of that.

So dad�s history starts in Australia in Daceyville a suburb of Sydney. His mom Elsie was a smaller women but feisty. His father Maurice was a bigger man for his day and also a feisty guy. (A boxer among other things) Dad's only had one sibling, a demonstrative and feisty brother named Frank.

So do we see any commonalities here for those of you who know us boys? Nigel/Kevin, Colin, Philip and myself.

His photographer side has given us as a family a pretty good chronology as the years went by. It has in fact has been a consistent "Maher" tradition. Many of Tom's children and grandchildren have embraced this love of photography.

The photographic side was actually cultivated by his brother Frank. Dad knew the theory behind picture taking & the developing of the film. (His reading was already paying of) Frank knew how to make a buck. This was all pre air force. Tom and Frank always had some scheme of entrepreneurship happening. This explains dads preclude choice of being a navigator/photographer/spark during the Second World War. Dads final commission was warrant officer I believe.

Tom first came to Canada with the Australian air force during the Second World War. It was in Winnipeg undergoing submarine training that Tom met his Paula. They corresponded & he came to Canada to pick up the relationship. When it was decided they�d marry they had a few choices of where to live. Canada was 2nd or 3rd of if I remember correctly. The commonwealth offered officers a commission to immigrate to Canada. Mom already had friends here so it became top billing.

They married in Toronto in 1947.
They lived on Silverbirch Ave in Toronto when first married & moved into their first home just before the birth of Me. 277 Warden Ave. A mirror image of dad's home in Daceyville.

Dad's connections always helped us through. As you all know, he was a good net worker. I think he invented it way before "Bill Gates."

He had mates who started a club for X pats in Toronto called, "The Australian & New Zealanders Club." One of the members knew a guy who had started a photographic studio on Church Street almost besides the old CBC building; "Hugh Robertson" was the guy. (I tell you this only because I was proud I remembered his name.)

The studio symbol was a Panda bear because the type setter was asked to do a Koala bear & used a Panda bear instead. It stuck. Panda Photographic gave dad the job that allowed him to express his talents & kept him learning as he photographed:

The first Honda motor car to come to Canada
The first hover craft lawnmowers
The first hover crafts for recreational use
The Ampha car - that goes in water
The first Jiggers which are now called Argos
The Bombardier snow cats
The top secret models that were bids for the Toronto City Hall
The CN tower
The new buildings that were being built down town

Many notorieties - I remember Emmett Kelly as a special one. (Because of the local to CBC)
New home construction material
New homes
New housing developments, & of course us boys.

A book Sign of the times commemorates Dads & Hugh�s Architectural photos over the years. Dad was invited but never went to a gala event in Toronto put on by the Mirvish family celebrating early photographs of Toronto.

The second last item in my list of is important because that�s how we came to live in Scarborough.Dad was doing work for a large construction company named Wimpy. One of the projects was a new sub division named Curran Hall Park. Dad did some networking & we had a new home. It was the perfect place for boys. Acres & acres of forest space. A dead end street that in those days was a catch all for a tonne of snow.

The house was a back split so dads workshop was always visible from the yard. Dad spent hours fixing, building, redesigning something. I received an email from Will Lambert. The son of neighbors across the street and a friend of Kevin, Colin & Philips. In Wills email he was commenting that one of his memories of dad was that dad always had a soldering iron in his hand. That wasn�t far off the truth. Dad learned from his dad & he passed on to us all about greasing, threading things, gluing stuff & for me music, fine audio, ham radio, & radio repair. All of us have an interest in photography. Dad & I spent a few hours in the darkroom & Panda at our home in Wallenstein.

Dad & Moms love of gardening really flourished at Copping Rd. Talk at the dinner table or after dinner as they sat in the living room was about the re-digging of the rose garden. Not enough light on something. The name of some species � usually books came out & the Latin pronunciation argument pursued. Then soil talk & moms next trip to pick up cow/horse manure. Another heated discussion about which one was best. Then the next day dad would be hauling in the wheel barrow, cutting out another piece of sod, pruning. I�m sure they went but I don�t recall to many trips to garden centres. Mostly stuff from others or deserted farms in the country.

Dad always worked in the photographic industry some how.

Firstly & most importantly Panda Photographic.
Chromalloy Photographic�where he managed a team of people shooting babies Then Star Photolabs-A chain of 1 hour photo stores. Dad did the whole process in the store.
Alex Clark � a distributor for the equipment used in the film industry.
His final place of employment.

As you all know it�s the gardening connection that was the passion that made Hillsburgh a final choice of residence when it was time to leave Scarborough in 1987.
I�m sure there are other reasons but the location was close to Philip and myself & easy to travel to Colin & Kevin in Welland.

It wasn�t a bad drive to the cottage but dad wasn�t as keen to go. I really never knew why. Perhaps the mom thing. Her being sick & in a wheelchair. Anyway Hillsburgh offered a reasonable property at an affordable price because the house needed fixing up. Perfect for dad.

And for mom lots of space to garden. Lots of sun. �No damn trees� - my mother would say. No neighbor�s fence�s to paint. Heck who are we kidding, no immediate neighbors. Mom had a special connection to suburban neighbors � as bugs bunny says in a cartoon, �shootem now or shootem later.�

Mom had a stroke soon after they arrived in Hillsburgh. As other complications arose mom was hospitalized & moved to Hamilton. Then diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Dad drove nightly from work at Alex Clarks in Etobicoke to Hamilton every day for over 2 years. I don�t know how he held it together. Mom died in 1991.

I�m not going to even try to talk about life here as you all have way more stories and information. That�s I hope some of you will share with us.

Suffice to say the neighbors were a he part of Hillsburgh & that the internet which was a lifeline for him was a staple to many of you. It was also a great connection for him to us his sons & his grandchildren.

It was also a way to share pictures of the events that he felt he couldn�t attend as he got older.
Notably � Meagan & Charlie�s wedding & Nathan & Vickie�s wedding last year. Personally to you all I know he appreciated every thing people did & spoke of you often. I talked to him almost every day & it was always a new story. Sounds like we should move to Hillsburgh.

Thanks one and all.