The following are notes for comments by Anne Cullihall, Don Dennison’s daughter, at the celebration of Don’s life on July 17, 2015 at Gallery 78 in Fredericton. Anne has kindly agreed to share her comments here. The image above shows the view from Don and Gail’s cottage at Glass Point looking out to the Bay of Fundy.
Things I’ve learned from Dad
Good evening, Bienvenue. I’m Don’s daughter Anne.
In starting – on behalf of my family, I would like to thank all of you – family, friends and colleagues – for being here on this beautiful evening to honour my father, who would be very pleased with how we are celebrating him today.
My Dad is a quiet leader who led by example. The way he lived was admirable.
Jim will give a wonderful, witty account of his life following this opening [see his comments here].
I’d like to leave you with some things to take away with you in the hope that if anything resonates with you, you might adopt it as a practice and together, we can continue to lead by example. As one of Dad’s good friends Al Ruben said, “The world needs more Don Dennisons.”
I’m sharing with you 10 things I’ve learned from my father, who has my heart for always.
I had the opportunity to share these thoughts with Dad in the last few weeks and he wholeheartedly agreed with the messages.
1. Care about your family, your neighbourhood, your community, your province, your country and then do something about what you care most about.
2. Listen first.
3. Think before you speak and choose your message carefully.
4. Learn as much as you can – read, take courses, study, listen and enjoy the learning process.
Un des apprentissages dont mon père était le plus fier, c’était d’avoir appris le français et que ses filles et petites filles sont bilingues.
5. Recognize beautiful moments and share your experience of them with others.
6. Always present yourself well. (Many of you who visited him in palliative care know that he was dressed to the nines every day until his last and his home was painted, his grass cut, his desk tidy…things taken care of).
7. Nurture your relationships and recognize each one for what it brings.
8. Being a civil servant is an important job and something to be proud of (particularly important for me as I make my way in the civil service).
9. Lead with modesty, without the need for praise or recognition.
10. And as he inscribed in the front of Tess’ copy of his memoir,
“Life is great – be great too!”
Big shoes for Christie and me to fill but the most beautiful part is that for Dad, we were already enough.
And a quote from Maya Angelou that you may know but it works here,
“A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.”
And now Don’s cousin Jim will say a few words.[Available here.]
