Update Blog

On February 12, Tanja and I were privileged to present an up-an-coming (and very appreciative) young funeral director with our first payout of the Nicholas Greeson Memorial Scholarship. We'd established this last year with the aim of helping Funeral Directing students whose young lives have been disrupted by health issues. This year's recipient is C. Wicks, who is every bit as nice as she looks, and we're overjoyed to have helped her out in some small way. When Nick announced his intention to go in Funeral Directing, Tanja's reaction was "Gad Nicholas, how morbid!", while mine was "Badass!". But the reality is that people who make this their careers are incredible, compassionate people whose main aim is help families though horrendous, tragic circumstances. Well, mostly...   ...Cree told us of one Humber student who got fired from her internship by posting disrespectful photos and video clips from inside the embalming room. I asked her, "Let me ...

We quietly marked the anniversary of Nick’s death on September 29 th with some homemade pizza.   The first year anniversary has come and gone and we are now almost 14 months into it with no signs that anything is getting any better.   The second year is proving to be worse as our cold reality cements itself more firmly.   Matthew is back at work, teaching 2 out of 3 classes, which appears to be a welcome distraction, and he plays in several bands, rehearsing a few nights a week which is also a necessary distraction.   Here is a clip of one of the gigs that he performed with his band Tell It To Sweeney at the London Music Hall, opening for David Wilcox in front of a jam-packed crowd. By the way, this band was just shortlisted as one of the finalists to play on New Years Eve in Victoria Park.   Come out and see them for the semi-finals on Friday, December 6 at Call the Office. Tell It To Sweeney -- The Countess Live at London Music Hall But, when the ...

This past Sunday, as many of you know, Matt, Tanja and Vincent hosted Great Balls of Fire 2019, a memorial concert for Nick and also a fundraiser for Act Now For Cancer, a charity established by Nick's primary oncologist Kylea Poitvin whose aim is to give oncology patients treatment options beyond the limitations of OHIP.  Our event was a success. We raised close to $2000 for the cause, and entertained everyone with 8 bands that all really nailed it. This post's main thrust is to thank everyone who made it all possible.  Thank you so much to Matt's staff at SDCI, who showed up in droves! Matt's back at work now, on a graduated RTW plan: one course until Thanksgiving, then two courses, and finally full time in semester 2. We're coming up on a year since Nick's passing, and the emotions are pretty overwhelming. One class is about all he can handle at this point, but the return is going well so far, and Matt's happy to be back among his SDCI "homies...

It's been a ridiculous week (some would say "shit-show") at the Greeson residence and its environs. We were just getting ready for bed on Wednesday at the pathetic hour of 7:30 pm, when the phone rang. It was the emergency department at University Hospital. Seems our younger son Vincent had been involved in an altercation with his room-mate, David, and had sustained severe facial and scalp lacerations. We got to Emerg and found Vincent surrounded by about 15 staff. The duty nurse had us wait in a counselling room while the team did their work. Vincent was a mess! He and David had been having a stupid argument about whose turn it was to do the dishes, and David had smacked him. Can't say we blame him for the sentiment (though Vin's actually great these days). Unfortunately, David had been holding a heavy ceramic coffee mug at the time. The mug shattered, and opened up the side of Vincent's face, as well as a major scalp artery, which spurted blood everywher...

We got to Kelowna on Tuesday. We've done a few great hikes. Unlike in 2017 when we drove Nick and Alex out to live, it's been cool, a little rainy, and wildfire-free. Thank God - didn't want another overheated St. Bernard on our hands. Today, we scattered some more of Nick's ashes, on Stephens Fox Ridge, right across from Nick and Alex's apartment. As this was our final scattering ceremony, and Kelowna represented Nick's dream of living in a beautiful, mountainous place, we buried a little 'time capsule' on the ridge, basically a funeral card, a poster from our September 8th fundraiser/memorial concert, letters from both of us, and a little stuffed bulldog. Looking past a gnarled tree on the edge of the cliff, N&A's apartment can be seen directly below. Hopefully our pictures capture the beauty of this place, a ridge that Nick would climb after work.  A variation of Alex's tattoo design, drawn by Sam, a lovely tattoo artist camping next...

Last week we found out that the Nick Greeson Memorial scholarship had reached the $3000 mark.  On Friday, I spoke with two Humber representatives who told me that they were overwhelmed that we were able to raise that much money in such a short time.  "A remarkable achievement," Marlene announced. "We have enough money now to keep the scholarship going for another three years."  In November of this year, Matthew, myself and other family members will be attending the Humber Awards Ceremony where we will be honoured with the privilege of bestowing this award to another student who is/was struggling with medical issues while still demonstrating resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity -someone just like our Nick.  Thanks to all who contributed.  Please feel free to continue donating to this fund if you are so inclined.  We want to keep it going as long as possible. (LINK TO NICK'S MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP) I just received an email from a young man name...

May 18, 2019 Thanks to all who came out for Nick's 24th b-day celebration.  We really appreciate all of your support. We would also like to thank Ryan McNevin for acknowledging Nick as a musician at the Forest City Music Awards.  I have a video for this, but am having difficulty getting it on the blog.  I will do so in the future. Please save the date . . . Sunday, September 8:   More to come . . .