THOSE THAT KNEW DAD would know that Halloween was one of his favourite times of year. Dad was creative, outgoing, generous, social, and he loved performing. Halloween was a perfect storm for many of the things Dad was good at and loved to do.
Dad would make our costumes, and get excited in the days before as he would hear about great costumes and try re-create them with us kids. He made me into the "headless horseman" with some thrift store supplies when I was eight, and I remember winning 3rd place at a Halloween party (I won a ball). I've re-created that costume a few times since. One Halloween, in a rush, he grabbed a blue plastic disposable plate and stapled it (with paper staples) to the face of a small blue windbreaker, cut some eye holes in the plate, put it on my littlest sister and called her "the blue ghost." She played the part and was a hit that Halloween. For the record we never, ever bought a costume. Ever. Always homemade.
Trick-or-treating was an excuse for Dad to go visit his friends and pay his respects around town. We'd all pile in our vehicle and Dad would take us to select homes around town - Ward Marshall's, Alice Maitland, other teachers, past students, and church friends. I think he enjoyed this part as much as the creative costume making. I recall a lot of laughing and joking as he would greet his friends, and often we'd be ushered in for a "quick visit."
Dad was also a prankster and would tell stories of the pranks he would pull in his kid-days. As a dad, he mostly pranked our pets and he would delight at seeing their reactions to our costumes, the more scared our dog would be, the better!
As we grew up Dad took a back seat as we started creating our own costumes. He'd take a lot of joy and pride in our creations. For some reason I remember Jonathan's the best - a "Cereal Killer" when we lived in Port Hardy, and a mega-death reaper (him on drywall stilts) in Brentwood Bay.
The last Halloween I enjoyed with Dad was back in 2012. We'd just moved to Vancouver and Dad and Marny came to visit for a day on the Halloween weekend. Dad carved ALL our pumpkins under Noah's supervision, and he was a more than willing zombie victim and played with his grandkids.
Have any Dad halloween memories? Please do share. Love,
Jacob
