Remembering Rob & Linda

Here, we present a few favourite memories of Rob and Linda Millar. These two wonderful people had a knack for making people feel welcome and loved, collected friends everywhere they went, and taught us so much about how to work, play and live.

Little Rob

In September 1940. Rob was born at the Saskatoon City Hospital to his delighted parents Evelyn (Betty) Margaret and Dr. John Longmuir Millar, a veterinarian. Little Robbie had distinctive eyes, one blue and the other brown.

Quite a snazzy dresser

Little Linda

Linda was the first baby born in the new hospital in Delisle, SK, a daughter for Grace and William Salt, and a younger sister for Betty and Donny.  A beautiful birth announcement and a multitude of photos in her baby album show what a welcome addition this little girl was to her family. 

The first baby born at the Delisle hospital

Baby Linda

With Grace and Betty

When she lost her mother Grace at age eight, Linda became an honorary member of Betty and Eddie Mather’s family.  She was an aunt to Betty’s daughters Barb, Bev, Cathy and Bonnie, but the relationship was closer to that of sisters. 

Barb, Linda, Cathy and Bev

Linda with her father, Bill

All dressed up

High school hijinks

Linda would share close ties with this family for the rest of her life. It says a lot about Linda’s relationship with Betty that the two lived next door to each other for decades. Cathy and Linda also shared a special bond, and Cathy stood up for Linda at her wedding.

Coming of Age

Rob’s youthful escapades included playing hockey, lifeguarding, and racing cars. He graduated from Nutana Collegiate in Saskatoon before studying electronics at the DeVry Institute in Toronto, and training as a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Clever with tools and machinery, Rob could do pretty much anything – carpet a room, build a deck, carve a roast, sail a boat, mix a mean Caesar, organize an overseas ski trip, set up a computer system and write tales of the little-known Ferdyburpolous. 

Linda went to school in Biggar before becoming a cosmetologist in Saskatoon. Eventually, she advanced into a career as a pharmacy technician, and worked at the Grace Hospital’s Assiniboine Clinic in Winnipeg for 38 years. The profession was an excellent match for Linda’s nurturing nature. Linda paid attention to details. She knew what was going well and what troubled you, and always had a listening ear and a comforting word of advice. 

Soulmates

In her husband Rob, Linda found a soulmate and a best friend. The two were always together, and shared a love of cooking and entertaining. 

wedding

Linda and Rob had a gift for making people feel appreciated. They’d sit outdoors and chat with passersby, some of whom became lifelong friends. During the years that they lived on Sturgeon Road, their living room and patio tended to be full of friends and family laughing together.

You knew when you stopped in to see Linda and Rob that your favourite drink and the treats you enjoyed would be on hand. Not only that, but you’d be offered whatever gourmet cuisine they were enjoying at the moment – be it Steak Neptune, mince pies, garden peas fresh from the farmer’s market, or homemade perogies that a customer had brought to Linda at the pharmacy.

Just doin’ a little leaping

The kids

Rob shared three children – Joni, Jillian and Jon – with his first wife Ruth.
Time spent with Dad was always fun, whether it involved hanging out on the beach at Emma Lake, in the mountains on a ski trip, or sampling his culinary masterpieces. Rob’s one-of-a-kind inventions included peanut butter, tomato and onion on toast, not to mention ‘slop’ – a weirdly delicious fry-up of leftovers.

Emma Lake

Chamonix

Linda was a wonderful stepmother. While it isn’t easy to take on this role, Linda handled it with her usual grace and warmth. When Rob and Linda first became a couple, it was Linda that took the initiative in reaching out to connect with Rob’s children. Her efforts were often the glue that bridged the miles between these family members scattered across the country.

There was never a time that Linda wasn’t happy to hear from “the kids.”

Linda and Rob were grandparents to seven grandchildren, and Linda was also aunt and grand-aunt to the children of the Mather girls. Any baby in Linda’s presence would be doted on, loved and spoiled. Photos of small children were displayed with pride, and her wallet contained pictures of babies who now have babies of their own. She also kept photos of their beloved dog Pokey.

Fun

Holidays were important to Linda and Rob. At one point, their Christmas tree featured 1500 twinkling fairy lights. Celebrations were all about the children. Treats were always on hand for kids both large and small.

Linda enjoyed travel, even though she disliked flying. She went on several cruises, made a number of trips to Las Vegas, and visited family in Ontario and Alberta. Rob and Linda’s last out-of-country trip was to Palm Springs, where they spent a glorious month in the sunshine.

The one where Linda has a new stylish hat

The one where the family went to see Lizzy’s show in Vegas

The time Linda got to meet Kalen Porter

Legacy

Linda’s gift for listening meant that everyone was comfortable in her presence. She made you feel that talking to you was the highlight of her day, and remembered all of the details of whatever you were doing. She soothed, encouraged and made you snort with laughter, all at the same time.

Everywhere Linda went she made friends, simply because being around her felt like coming home.

Linda, thank you for the millions of ways you made feel loved, and for being a shining example of kindness and caring.

Rob was a storyteller, an adventurer and a lover of fun. Most of the time he was quiet and unassuming, but quick to notice when someone needed help. Rob once saved 16 people from drowning in an underpass during a flash flood. (We knew because we watched him do it.) Another time, he found the snow unexpectedly crumbling away from beneath his skis on a European mountainside, and pulled himself back up over the cliff to safety. He claimed to have taken Joni Mitchell to a sock hop back in his high school days, and when we looked up the details we saw that it was indeed possible.

His differently coloured eyes meant that vendors in Turkey wouldn’t haggle with him because the gods were on his side.

Dad left us less than five months after Linda’s passing. Although we hoped to have another chapter with him, we understand that he was “sufficiently suffonsified” and compelled to join his beloved Linda.

Thanks for showing us how it’s done. We love you forever. 

Things That Remind Us
of Rob & Linda

1. Hobie cats

2. Lilies

3. Downhill skiing

4. Mustardord

5. Peanut butter, tomato and onion sandwiches

6. Goofy golf and ski hats

7. Slip-on shoes

8. Tie-dyed outfits

9. Neil Diamond and Burton Cummings

10. Photocopier fluid

11. Skiing across borders (hanging from cliffs

12. Steak Diane

13. Well-built decks

14. Barbequing in the rain

15. Lapel pins

16. Mara Lake

17. Spaghetti sauce

18. That innocent look after a bizarre joke, waiting for us to “get it”

19. Couch naps with a sports soundtrack – don’t change the channel!

20. Friends constantly dropping by

21. Uurg

22. Schmüzs

23. Fish nightmares

24. Laughing until you snort

25. “Halllo”

26. Clipboards with jokes

27. Road trips

28. Golf courses

29. Pharmacies

30. Comforting long-distance phone calls

31. Gnomes

32. Weird names for offspring, such as ‘rugrat’ and ‘knee biter’

33. Odd names for significant others, including “Lindyloo” and “Little Lotus Blossom”

34. Intriguing names for friends, like “Sleaze,” “Fluffy” and “Foof”

35. Gorgeous balcony views

36. Home improvement shows

37. 1500+ minilights on a blue Christmas tree

38. Sneaky sliders and rattling rumblers

39. Kenny Rogers, Teddy Bear and Convoy

40. Ski shows and trips

41. Underpass rescues

42. Really really good Caesars

43. The ability to perform incapacitating drop-you-to-your-knees tricks (learned in the RCAF)

44. Baby seals

45. Off-key singing

46. Off-colour jokes

47. Gifts of flowers for no particular reason (sometimes a month ahead of when you might expect them)

48. Golf shirts, balls and courses

49. That game where you try to drop a coin into a cup (without using your hands)

50. Watching teenagers flip over cars

51. Math

52. The ability to chat to anyone, anywhere

52. Fun gifts sent through the mail (especially Cobras and Shelbys)

53. Detailed knowledge of cuts of meat

54. Stories that seem farfetched but later turn out to be true

55. Glass tabletops

56. A fridge containing 47 varieties of pickles, jellies, chutneys, sauces and dips

57. Crazy curly afros

58. Mustaches and beards

59. Running clubs and dryland training

60. Italian restaurants in Vegas

61. Batiks of fathers and sons reading together

62. Painted swooshes on walls

63. Truck campers and drive-ins

64. Only You

65. Mountain roads

66. Reading cookbooks aloud at parties

67. Multiple trips to various stores and farmers markets to get the really good ingredients

68. A fascination with Princess Auto flyers

69. References to the kings of Mull

70. The Winnipeg Zoo (and polar bears)

71. Bingo and steak on Saturday nights

72. Superhero business cards

73. Georgie’s and Ponderosa

74. Banff’s main avenue and Melissa’s Mistake

75. Disneyland and California beaches

76. Bantering

77. Impatiens

78. Gadgets

79. Vans with carpet and twirly chairs

80. Egg foo yung

81. Scented candles

82. Pokey and Daawg

83. Sauerkraut

84. Palm Springs

85. Feeling appreciated

The Tale of Ferdyburpolus

While delving through some manuscripts recently, I was greatly sorrowed to hear of the fate of the Ferdyburpolus, a now-extinct animal once known as the true king of beasts. The Ferdyburpolus was a giant animal, almost twice the size of an elephant, pale mauve in colour with sort of burgundy markings. He was actually a peace-loving creature, but his formidable stature and grotesque shape made him a fearful sight to behold – with his three eyes spaces at equal intervals around his neck, which ended not in a head but rather in a gaping three-sided mouth. His shoulders, to quote the manuscript, were “six ax handles across,” but despite his huge size his feet were tiny and cloven.

The Ferdyburpolus would not harm any of the other animals, except those who harmed others. Thus, he was a great enemy of the meat-eating animals. According to the manuscript, the Ferdyburpolus was prevalent during prehistoric times and his history can be traced to the time of a Captain Nozark – some chap with a boat who was worried about a flood.

It seems the captain threw a marathon party aboard his homemade yacht, and the guest list was restricted to one couple representing each species of animal in the land. The party stretched into a cruise, and the passengers were becoming restless. The weather was damped, and not at all the sort for sunbathing. To while away the time, the meat-eating animals banded together and devised a plot to get rid of the Ferdyburpolus, who was not at all popular among them because of his peace-loving philosophy.

As could be expected, the lion was the leader of the plot because he secretly desired to be known as the king of beasts. (You and I know the lion has always been a vain animal – so common in the cat family.)

They waited until one dark and stormy night when the Ferdyburpolus went out on deck for some fresh (if damp) air. While Captain Nozark’s back was turned, they pushed Mr. Ferdyburpolus overboard. Mrs. Ferdyburpolus was so sorrowed at the loss of her mate that she refused to eat and died of malnutrition. Captain Nozark was so furiious at the meat-eating animals for committing this foul deed that he condemned them to a life of being hunted by humans.

But it didn’t help the Ferdyburpolus any.

Published by Professor Huffanpuff (AKA Robert Millar) in the Prairie Pals section of the Star Phoenix, March 11, 1967

ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS

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