Rod

Rodney David Rhys Smith, 1945 – 2023
A reflection by Ken Gray

I told Rod many times, that when the time comes for his funeral —and if I am invited to officiate—that I get the last word! And so I did, as about seventy-five family and friends gathered at Sequoia Gardens in Victoria recently. They laughed, as we all remembered conversations with Rod—some amusing, some accusative, some calm, and many feisty—he loved to visit with people, and to engage . . . as Maggie says, he loved to tell stories.

I continued my reflection with a traditional Anglican prayer:

Everlasting God,
in whom we live and move and have our being
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless
until they find their rest in you;

Inspired by the fourth century bishop and theologian St. Augustine of Hippo, who wrote in his Confessions, these words are both beloved and practical:

Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we mortals, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you [. . .] You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

In the very best sense of the word, Rod was restless, sometimes impatiently, but often out of an innate and enthusiastic curiosity. On a shelf in his home office is a small collection of books, an encyclopedia of sorts, titled How Things Work. That was Rod; he wanted to know how things work.

I first discovered and admired Rod’s restlessness as he, Maggie and I sang in the church choir at St. John’s in Victoria from 1975-77. I remember in particular when we participated in a deanery choir festival down the street at Christ Church Cathedral. I guess we were a little bored, or we felt uncomfortable in a strange environment. He leaned over and said “let’s take our shoes off and put our feet up on the music rack. Neither the police nor the verger were summoned, thankfully.

Now returned to living in the Okanagan I often pass his old law office. We would often meet there for lunch; he loved introducing me to his fundamentalist, Pentecostal senior partner. He would introduce me as a “young theologian” who could “explain things.” An hour later nothing productive had been concluded.

I fondly recall wonderful holidays at the Smith home at McKinley Landing where he and Maggie raised their young family. He taught me many things: how to make Red River Cereal; how to put the wine bottle in the window frame to keep it cool; and how to use the maul to chop wood—I was a very under-confident woodsman. He told me to use Zen—in other words, to commit wholly to the task. The advice was helpful.

I remember him refusing to give a Kelowna cashier his personal information, as “Visa knows where to find me. You don’t need to know.”

In the evenings he introduced me to the music of Chopin as performed by the great Russian pianist, Sviatoslav Richter, whose performance of the Fourth Ballade remains for me, unsurpassed.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You . . .

A general practice of law, then legal aid, followed by various business ventures—including selling batteries, reliving his tour-bus driving days as he rented out kayaks and canoes on Lake Minnewanka—all these shaped a unique professional journey.

Simultaneously there was church life—in Victoria influenced by both conservative (the Normans) and liberal (Dr. Wee Chong Tan) voices;  then through Education for Ministry and Cursillo in Kelowna; later at Calgary’s St. Lawrence, Lakeview (the Wisdom Centre, choral singing with Maggie and good friends); and later, a disciplined inquiry into Buddhism, Rod drew strength and guidance from the traditions of both the Anglican church and Zen Buddhism.

The Centre for Action and Contemplation recently published some words of Richard Rohr: My Buddhist friends talk about engaged Buddhism. What Jesus talks about is not attending or belonging but doing. He focuses on the way we do life and do life with and for the neighbour.

If Rod was interested in how things work, he was equally concerned about what people do. Law was his way—a particular approach to justice—of doing good things with and for others.

At the height of the residential school litigation crisis, a time when some lawyers were exploiting the suffering of residential school survivors, Rod wrote to the Anglican Journal (our national newspaper)  that everyone deserves fair and effective representation through legal counsel. Such was Rod’s approach to law, and to life.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

At the Celebration of Life service son, Stuart, spoke of his father, who leaves behind Maggie, his wife of 48 years, three children, Robin (Scott), Lyndsay, and Stu, his best and favourite granddaughter Kira, two brothers, nephews, nieces, and cousins. And over the years, his life has been enriched with many close friends. In his own words, dictated November 18, 2023, he was “completely, 100% satisfied with the life he has been allowed to live. [It was] a life well lived, and a good ending.

Oh that we all could say the same. There comes a time when the heart, the body, the spirit, the soul, all rest. Now is Rod’s time, so rest well Rod.

Hawkins Cheezies and Scotch: An apotheosis

During his last days Rod continued to enjoy a bag of Hawkins Cheezies and Scotch as a prelude to dinner. And so, following Rod’s Celebration of Life, these two delicacies provided an ostinato to our animato as we continued to tell stories to each other. Definitely “a first” for this author.