Before his son scattered Jim Illingworth's ashes into Frahling Creek near Spillimacheen, I managed to choke out a few words about Jim, his life and the resilience and determination he showed in his fight with prostate cancer.
Jim was a man who never quit, I reminded his six grandchildren, he fought a good fight and did "not go gentle into that good night". Despite his illness, Jim still handily whipped us at golf. He did not stop learning, nor did he give up on using the skills and talents he developed over many years of building custom homes. Jim just kept on puttering, renovating a historic cabin and helping son Mike with other projects in Wilmer, BC.
Known as a patient man, in the 1960's and 70's Jim would spend hours teaching kids to water ski on Lake Windermere, calmly circling his boat back to floundered and frustrated beginners for as long as it took to get them back up and eventually skiing. Jim retired from the building industry in his early 50's and enjoyed more than a decade of freedom in retirement before a 'terminal' prognosis slammed our realities in late 1995.
Six years later, in August 2001, with recorded bag pipes playing a haunting Scottish lament, we, as a family, said good-bye and set Jim's ashes free for a long journey towards the ocean.
Over the years, Jim had occasionally remarked on an acquaintance from the Mess at the Mawata Armoury named 'Doc' Seaman, who despite great wealth and personal success remained completely grounded and unaffected. Doc passed away this January at the age of 86, also from prostate cancer. I could not help but admire the story of a man whose motto was "never retire". While scaling back from his many enterprises he remained focused on distributing his wealth to numerous charitable causes. An original franchise owner, Doc was also rumoured to have been at a Flames hockey game just a few days prior to his death. Paraphrasing from his obituary:
Doc "urged everyone to stay active and devote their time to helping others... as expressed in his recent biography 'Staying in the Game'."Developing an attitude that we should never retire does not arise only out of necessity during challenging economic times. It should be a conscious choice and philosopy instilling the idea that our work does not end at a pre-determined age, nor retirement begin with sufficient savings. No amount of money can replace the sense of achievement and fulfillment offered by work we care about and would choose to do, with skills and experience gathered throughout a lifetime.
There may be times we want to throw in the towel, sidelining dreams and possibilities of greater achievements. Rather, let's think about building a "never quit" work ethic. By sharing the ideals of these two men, who stuck it out and lived their visions, perhaps our beliefs may be reinforced and those of others challenged.
Within the business community, we should look closely at not carelessly discarding the valuable resources offered by people with lifetimes of experience. Let's also remember that in the end we are here to serve others, and money is only a means to serve more people in better ways. Quitting is not an option and the notion of retirement need not be self-evident.
