Stanton's Eulogy

  

Since the day Roderick was born he was a risk taker.  At the young age of probably nine he had a little 50cc Honda dirt bike.  We found a perfect spot at the farm, we took our bikes over Victor and Joni’s driveway over and over just jumping up and down, over and over all day, he’d crash, he’d fall down, you could tell it hurt, he’d scratch his knees up, scratch his arms up, but he was tough, he was the toughest.  He’d never let me see him cry.

   Roderick loved hockey he was proud of his teammates, and appreciative of his coaches.  Almost every time he came back from practice he’d tell me of the goal he scored during a drill or the locker room jokes and pranks they pulled.  He began making iced tea before every game just recently.  It helped him have a good game so he thought.  A few weeks ago he ran out of iced tee just before a game and just a couple minutes before, well an hour before the game started he dropped by our place, he swung by and saw Trevor, he asked us if we had any iced tee left, he needed some for the game.  We didn’t have any.  He still played well.

   Roderick knew what it was to be a friend.  He took time for the people he cared about.  He noticed what his friends were passionate about, caught on and became just as excited about it.  He found ways to turn frowns into smiles, always knew how to make people happy, just seeing him walk into the room, you could tell the whole atmosphere had right away changed.

   He was a hero to his younger cousins, a leader to his peers, and a blessing to his elders.

   Roderick was always a strong competitor, whether it was track and field, winning ribbons; hockey, winning medals or back yard wrestling matches, he would always fight hard and give it his best shot until the very end. 

   You won the race buddy, you did well, I’ll meet you at the finish line when I get there. 

   Stanton was Roderick’s hero right from the start.  My sister married Jake’s brother and their oldest son; Stanton was three years older then Roderick. Roderick was nine when Stanton’s family moved to Mexico, it was only then that Roderick started hanging out with other friends before that it was all about Stanton.  But Stanton and Roderick always stayed close.  In the summer of 2014 Stanton came to live with us so he could play football.  That bonded the two cousins even more.  After Stanton left at the end of the football season Roderick wrote, “we are no longer relatives, this summer we became brothers”.   In June of 2015 Stanton and his family moved back to Winnipeg and the two boys hung out many nights, throwing the football, or playing NHL on the Xbox.  Every time Stanton comes into the house a small part of Roderick comes in with him.  He’s such a pleasure to have.