Robert 'Bones' McKay
Date de naissance : 23 janvier 1944
Date de décès : 5 septembre 2013
“It’s not the cough that carries you off. It’s the coffin they carry you off in.” This is one of the many silly sayings that echo through the heads of everyone who knew and loved Robert Joseph McKay. He would say it to his sons when they were suffering from colds. Now, his voice echoes these words in our heads on hearing the news of his passing peacefully in his sleep at the age of 69. He was quiet but always there for his family and friends. Sometimes grumpy. Sometimes witty. Sometimes both. Always there.
His friends from Bridgeport, Glace Bay called him “Bones.” From a young age, he fell in love with the shore behind his house and spent most of his life walking there. He was recycling before there was a common term for recycling. He used to scavenge old scrap from the shore and pick up bottles and cans wherever he found them. He collected things – everything. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” He gathered up a yard full of treasures that he would re-use or recycle. He was always crafty enough to make ends meet, although sometimes barely, even when there wasn’t enough work in the fishery or he couldn’t get a grant to work on. His yard was a treasure trove for others. It was common for men from the neighbourhood to pull up in their trucks and ask Bones for a certain piece of wood or angle iron. They would search through the seemingly endless piles and usually find what they were looking for.
He didn’t travel much. He also didn’t tell many stories. When he did tell stories to his boys, they were usually tales of hitchhiking across Canada when he was a teenager. Later in life, he had the trip of a lifetime when he took the train from coast to coast with his partner, Ada ‘Cookie’ Brown.
He loved music – especially the old country sounds of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Hank Snow. To the very last days, the familiar strains of “Folsom Prison Blues” would put a smile on his face. The only thing that would make that smile bigger was seeing the faces of his grandchildren. When his boys were children, he awoke every morning with the birds. He sang with the birds too. They would put pillows over their heads to try to escape from the “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!” and to steal a few extra minutes of sleep. Now, as they are grown and have children of their own, it’s not uncommon for them to find those very same songs coming from their own throats. They also fight back the urge to let out those sayings that he was so known for.
A man with few words has left us all with a lot to say. You will be missed Rob, Robert, Bones, Dad, Grandpa. We love you!
From your wife, Ada Brown, sons, Murray, Aaron, Wayne McKay, Craig and Cory Brown and many grandchildren.
Visitation will be held on Sunday evening from 7-9 p.m. in V.J. McGillivray Funeral Home, 16 Reserve St., Glace Bay. The funeral service, officiated by Rev. Vernon Reid is Monday, 2 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Interment will follow in St. Mary’s Anglican Cemetery, Glace Bay.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Alzheimer’s or Autism Society are suggested. Online condolences to the family can be expressed at: www.vjmcgillivray.ca.
