We are sharing the news of the passing of Howard Joseph McIver, so of Emmett and Caroline McIver. Nicknamed “Buck”, he passed away on February 13, 2023 in Sarnia, Ontario. Buck’s obituary can be found here. We have also updated Buck’s information in the Electronic Family Tree.
Uncle Buck was my dad’s oldest brother. He was an opinionated man (much like myself!) with a hilarious sense of humour. I have a funny story to tell in that regard.
One day, in the fall of my grade 9 high school year, my dad and Uncle Buck had gone golfing. While they were gone, and later on that morning, my middle sister and I got into an argument (not an unusual occurrence). My big sister decided to intervene and play “referee” in the argument. She came up from behind me, and not desiring her intervention, I turned around and pushed her away. Well, she ended up going through a (closed) door. Mom got angry at that and kicked me out of the house until Dad came home.
It was Thanksgiving Monday.
Well, at about 4pm in the afternoon, Dad and Uncle Buck pull into the driveway. Seeing me sitting on the front step, Dad comes up and asks what I was doing there. I told him in brief words what had happened. Dad promptly went inside to hear the “other side of the story.”
While waiting for Dad to come back outside to say goodbye, Uncle Buck approached me, and calmly asked, “What did you do that has you sitting out here?” I replied, “Pushed Stef through a door.”
“Yup, that would do it!” Uncle Buck replied. “But look at it this way. It’s a warm October day. Had you done this at Christmas, you’d be sitting out here in the cold.” He then walked away to continue unpacking Dad’s golf clubs.
I couldn’t help but to chuckle. Silver linings.