Obituary of Adam Gedies

Following a stroke a year ago, and a number of other health challenges prior, Adam Gedies’ courageous rehabilitation attempts, declined noticeably to come to an end shortly after his 88th birthday anniversary. His profound determination to remain in his shared condominium house would not have been possible without the unconditional support of his long-standing co-residents John Duval and Richard J. Hamlyn, as well as the visiting medical staff of Parkwood Institute. Mere words cannot possibly capture the gratitude of the surviving Gedies siblings to Adam’s extended family John and Richard, for their unreserved assistance and encouragement to enable him to still function in a home setting until the very end. Adam was born in Posen, Prussia, an independent state prior to the unification of Germany. As the fifth child of seven siblings Annemarie, Waltraut, Gisela, Hermann all predeceased, Ingrid and Gerhard, his family moved to Denmark, except for brother Hermann and his father, in the early stages of WWII but couldn’t escape a refugee camp for two years at the end of the war where food, clothing and living accommodations were more than scarce prior to returning to Germany thereafter. In retrospect this experience more than any other has created an unbreakable bond between the Gedies’ siblings that would endure the test of time here on earth and the life thereafter. To Adam, learning in school or on his own proved to be fairly easy for him. He loved to delve into reading and problem-solving assignments with a passion, even in his lower grades. As such, he qualified for free scholarships throughout his high school years, in particular, in an unstructured learning environment which wasn’t always to his benefit. Adam immigrated to Toronto in 1955 to join his older sister and brother already well established in Scarborough before him. He worked in various capacities in Toronto, such as a warehouse shipper, hospital orderly and medical researcher but just didn’t quite find his niche until he moved to London, Ontario, to pursue employment opportunities more to his areas of interest. Following completion of a three-year Electronics Engineering Technology program at Fanshawe College in two years, he accepted an employment offer with Timken Bearing Manufacturing in St. Thomas as a Master Diagnostician and remained with the company for over thirty years until his retirement. During his years at Timken, Adam was the recipient of many achievement awards and company shares in recognition of his multifaceted design changes for longer and higher efficiencies of the internal assembly production equipment. While it is virtually impossible to cover all of the qualities of someone privileged to live into the high eighties, one would be amiss not to mention a few of Adam’s qualities as viewed through the eyes of his surviving and deceased siblings along with the views of his many nieces and nephews. No question, Adam was quickly branded by his nieces and nephews as their “favorite” uncle because of his relaxed demeanor, generosity, joyful laughter and more leeway than their parents would allow not unlike “Uncle Buck’s” character portrayed by John Candy in 1989. Testament of his ongoing popularity is best illustrated whenever he was asked to speak at many of their weddings in subsequent years. During his years of retirement, Adam’s passion to advocate for minority groups right up to the Prime Minister’s office about equality, justice and acceptance of religious, sexual orientation and cultural diversity issues ranked high on his priority list. As well, Adam’s support of London Mission Services and the Metropolitan United Church by serving meals to the less fortunate for quite a few years was a commitment he maintained until his body no longer allowed him to continue. In summary, Adam is best remembered for his personal integrity, his early struggles of uncertainty about his identity, his unconditional commitment to helping people in need of support, and, of course, his enormous appetite at family events, along with the fine food he lovingly pronounced time and again of superb “Gourmet” quality. Coming from an ‘objective’ life-long bachelor, there really can be no higher praise to bestow on his relatives and friends, the creators of the meals. In the most recent discussions about final arrangements upon his passing, Adam wanted to follow his deceased brother’s example to go out quietly without any official fanfare about his life as well as to have his ashes handled in similar fashion. A celebration of both brothers’ lives will take place in July at a designated place. Online condolences may be made at www.biemanfuneralhome.com (Bieman Funeral Home, 3970 Hamilton Road, Dorchester, ON N0L 1G2 - (519)-268-7672 - in charge of arrangements)