It can be hard saying goodbye, but it can also put a smile on one’s face.
Hundreds of people packed High River’s Highwood Memorial Centre to say farewell to Kathleen ‘Coddy’ Couey last week, who passed away at the age of 84.
Coddy was the wife of Cayley farmer and former High River mayor Eldon Couey.
What a love story.
High school sweethearts in High River, they were married one day short of 61 years. She sadly passed away the night before their anniversary.
I told myself I was going to the funeral to support my girlfriend, who is a born and raised High Riverite.
It didn’t take too long to realize I went there for myself.
The first people I met were two of Coddy’s grandchildren, Cody Zebedee and Cameron Couey — two men I helped coach — and I use the word loosely — when they played for the Cayley Little League team under the guidance of baseball whiz Rick Ellis in the late 1990s.
While I still toil on a keyboard, ‘Zeb’ is now a captain with the MD of Foothills fire department and ‘Coo’ is helping on the farm and working in the community.
Then I stumbled on Cody’s dad, Len Zebedee, the High River fire chief. All he’s ever done for the community I have lived in since 1997, was help get us through the flood of 2005 and then the horror-show of 2013 when the Highwood River breached its banks again.
I was then met by Eldon and his daughter Cathy, who both made a point of shaking my hand and thanking me for coming.
All this before the funeral.
All funerals have a sombre feel to them, however a happy, rewarding atmosphere prevailed when Coddy’s brother Peter Pickersgill got up and played the trumpet with two other guys, including the kid of the group, former High River Times publisher Bill Holmes on keyboard, who has got to be in the 70-year-old ballpark.
Peter is a legend in the newspaper business.
He was the publisher of the Vulcan Advocate for years. He was old school – cutting and then waxing copy on flats to be printed. And in the “it-takes-one-to-know-one” category, a bit of a free-spirit.
When I was working at the Advocate, I had one person tell me Peter was the second-most disorganized newspaper guy he ever met (you can guess who was no.1). I always enjoyed when Peter dropped in for tales of the old days.
At the ceremony, when Peter and the gang started playing ‘Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey and When The Saints Coming Marching In, between tales of Coddy and Eldon, I couldn’t help think of all the good times, the Coueys, Pickersgills and others have shared in the grand old Highwood Memorial Centre.
Coddy was a woman who helped me all the time, from letting me know about the antics of W.O. Mitchell to filling me in on Eldon’s various political campaigns.
She helped me one more time.
I further realize the far reaching bonds of a strong family and the rewards of settling in the Foothills.
