Tuesday, August 1, 2023
I knew Victor for over 20 years. I first met him in his shop which was one of his favourite places. After that first meeting, I decided he was the kind of person I wanted as a friend. So I kept going back until we developed a relationship that was truly a friendship. Several things attracted me to Victor.
First was his lifelong love of learning new things, many of which he did by studying books and trying repeatedly till he got it right. He bought a metal lathe and then a milling machine and taught himself how to use them to make parts he needed. He could fix anything from heavy equipment to farm tractors to old stationary engines which he displayed at fall fairs with his Old Flywheel buddies.
Second was his very dry sense of humour and wit. Once when pulled over by the police in his car he passed over the registration for an antique car still in pieces back in his yard. By the time the officer realized he had been tricked, he told Victor to “get out of here.” Or the time he was stopped in his dump truck with bald tires on the right and pulled over so close to the ditch that he knew the inspector would not crawl in the ditch to check.
Third was his willingness to teach me things I should have learned long before and do it with patience. He helped me make many repairs to my cars but always make me torque the nuts myself so if it fell off, it was my fault.
Fourthly, but not finally, his willingness to make replacement parts for others that, were no longer obtainable and fix broken farm equipment during critical seasons at prices that were always lower than any other options available. He could make new carburetor parts and could weld rusty farm metal like no other.
He entertained me often with stories of his escapades from the times before I met him. Like the time he drove through the locked gate on the Army Grounds in order to get home only to report to the Camp Gagetown carpentry shop for work the next morning and be asked to make a new gate. Or the time he purged the gas from a tank he removed from a vehicle by taking it into the open yard and adding a flame. He was amazed at how high the tank went in the air before coming down. Then it got welded and reinstalled. Many other stories that I forget or cannot tell.
It was better that I met him later in life because I could not have kept up with him as a young man.
I was in awe of how Victor managed to cope with his progressively debilitating disease after such an active life without becoming bitter. I know I would not have such courage.
I feel privileged to have called him friend and will miss him.
Neil Brodie
