Welcome to the homepage of Clarence Cello Meekis Rest In Peace - Cello G Meekis - March 26, 1951 to March 27, 2009 Last Updated May 11, 2009

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Welcome to the Clarence Cello Meekis family homepage.

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Dad's Eulogy March 26, 1951 to March 27, 2009.

Cello Gilroy Meekis was a great man, a faithful husband, a loving father, a generous grandfather, a gentle brother, a cherished son, an esteemed uncle, a respected leader, and a treasured friend. Dad was born on March 26, 1951 to parents Samuel and Virginia Meekis near Deer Lake Ontario.

He was the 4th of 13 children and has 9 sisters and 3 brothers. Darius (late, died in a plane crash in 1976), Obeik, Molet, Cello, Stina, Norah Jane (late) Henry, Elizabeth, Ida, Eileen Gail (late, died due to injury at 3 years old.), Cornelius, Rhonda, and Bertha.

He was raised in the only way of life our people knew at that time – a life of hunting and providing for what was needed to live, a life committed to family and fulfilling common need. He spent his childhood learning the ways of our people with his father and extended family in the Deer Lake area. The family moved frequently between traditional hunting & trapping grounds and summer homes at the Deer Lake settlement. Cello’s early education included grade school through grade 8 at the local community school with later correspondence schooling for grades 9 & 10. At 12 years old he battled rheumatic fever, which caused permanent scarring for his heart.

He came to know our Creator God through a special relationship with the Alvin Frey family, a missionary family with Northern Light Gospel Mission, who moved to Deer Lake for ministry. He also spent a great deal of time with Alvin and Lydian’s sons who were near the same age. He made a commitment to follow God at the age of 15 and later joined a Bible School developed at Deer Lake by Alvin Frey and others with Northern Light Gospel Mission. This time of life also included various travels in outreach ministry with his cousins and friends to First Nations people to other regions of Ontario and beyond.

Cello married Sopena Ruth Beardy who was from Bearskin Lake, Ontario in January 1972. Cello and Sopena met while they were both involved at a Bible school located in Deer Lake. Dad had a deep growing love for his people and went on to pastor the Deer Lake church at the age of 22 after the missionary family moved away from Deer Lake for broader outreach opportunities. Cello and Sopena have three sons, Collin Gilroy, born November 29, 1972; Clarence Cello, born August 29, 1975; Carlton James, born April 12, 1977.

Cello moved his family to Stormer Lake Ontario in 1976, a ministry centre developed by Northern Light Gospel Mission, to help with language interpretation and training of First Nations ministry leaders for the north. He also traveled extensively with Alvin Frey throughout the northern communities holding gospel meetings during this period. He would often travel with his family to many places for these community meeting events. The Meekis family moved to Red Lake Ontario in 1978, where Cello became further involved with Northern Light and ministry work by committing to Bible translation, mechanical work of all kinds, and outreach ministry both north and south.

Cello lost his father, Samuel Meekis, to cancer on March 30, 1982. Samuel left a great legacy of strong family values and commitment to each other which Cello carried on for the extended Meekis family. Cello also pursued many different fields of work throughout his life; including house construction, employment at Lindokkens general store, tourist fishing guide, local sawmill worker, & road maintenance to name a few.

Travel in airplanes was a way of life for people in the north, and after the death of his brother due to a plane crash, Cello’s approach to his new fear of flying was to pursue training to become a pilot at Dryden Ontario where he achieved his private pilot’s license in about 1990. Cello was a gifted mechanic who could fix nearly anything. He went on to work as a mechanic at Red Lake Seaplane Service for many years and trained to become a certified Aircraft Mechanic at Red River College in Winnipeg Manitoba. He also took a counseling course covering two summers in Elliot Lake, Ontario during the 80’s.

Cello also raised his sons teaching them traditional life skills including, hunting, fishing and trapping around the Red Lake area. Many life lessons were learned through the years of experiencing life on the land. Annual moose hunting trips to a special spot affectionately named Blessing Lake were a favorite time with family and friends.

Cello also took on many ministry commitments during his life, including leadership with the Native Mennonite Conference, which later became Christian Anishnawbec Fellowship (CAF). He also committed a great deal of time to the board of directors with the Poplar Hill Development School, a residential school hosted by Northern Light Gospel Mission. More recently, Cello was a founding board member for Living Hope Native Ministries. He always made a conscious effort to bridge relationships with different mission organizations including; Northern Youth Programs, Believer’s Fellowship, and NLGM. (Impact North Ministries and later Living Hope Native Ministries)

Cello was diagnosed with diabetes in the late 70’s and began to have increasing health struggles in the early 90’s. He also contracted a virus related illness called Blastomycosis, related to his life as a trapper and hunter, and included only experimental medical treatment. His on-going heart disease lead to several heart attacks beginning with a major heart attack while on a hunting trip to Blessing Lake and then later had bypass surgery. During the last two years, he also was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease onset, and received ongoing treatments for this. By late 2006, Dad began to experience kidney failure and was hospitalized for over 2 months while beginning dialysis treatments. Dad, Mom, and Collin were also trained for (peritoneal) home dialysis treatments which allowed him to be back in Red Lake at home and still carry on a fairly normal life while treatments took place every night. Dad did keep a fairly busy travel schedule in spite of these challenges with ongoing daily treatments. In October 2008, his extended family even invited him to travel to Deer Lake and on to the families traditional hunting grounds for a special time together. All of this made him into a stronger person overall. He wanted to live every day. He impacted people every day of his life. Even towards the end of his time, he would always take time to prepare and plan his steps for the future weeks, months and years.

Dad began experiencing increased heart failure last October and had several heart attacks through November and December leading to an operation in January to put in stents to improve his quality of life. He spent several weeks at St Boniface General Hospital recovering from these heart attacks. Dad returned to Red Lake for a short time near the end of February for 8 days including his home for 4 of these days. Dad then contracted a serious infection in his peritoneal cavity related to his home dialysis treatments and was sent back to Winnipeg. He experienced incredible pain and never recovered from this infection despite great effort from his doctors and staff.

On his birthday, March 26, Dad spent the day with mom and Carl by his side along with Morley and Rita Beardy. He completed his dialysis treatments for the day and went on to receive many birthday wishes and phone calls from family and friends throughout the day. Despite his pain and suffering, he continued to bring joy to those around him even on this day. The day was full of cherished memories and storytelling from Dad. Later into the evening, dad began to prepare things in his room for himself, unlike most evenings where his family helped him with this. He felt he had to carry out this task tonight, with a sense of preparing to leave. Phone calls from his other sons also added good conversation to his evening. Carl and Mom left Dad around 10:30 pm and he was strong and in good spirits. Mom got a call from his nurses at nearly 1:00 am that Dad has passed away. His two nurses that cared for him that evening mentioned that Dad had passed away in his sleep, with no sign of struggle. Dad had taken time to make a bed on the floor, and then covered himself with a blanket for sleep. An attempt was made to revive our Dad, but he was gone. One of his nurses took Mom aside and told her that Dad looked very calm when they found him, which is also a great encouragement.

He left a great legacy. Achievements or title did not mean much to dad – he cherished family and friends. He brought out the best in all of us, and at times, made light of the worst in us. Humour was always close. He taught us to treat everyone how you want to be treated – with respect.

Thank you, Cello, for being a great example to all of us here today. We are all better for knowing you.

R.I.P.

 

Family Quik Bio's

NAME: Clarence Cello Meekis
BIRTHPLACE: Red Lake, Ontario, aka God's Country
FROM: My mom
KEWL KOLOR: Blue, primary colors is it. . .peach is a fruit, I don’t know what mauve is!
I GREW UP IN: Deer Lake, Stormer Lake, Red Lake
MY HERO: My Dad, my best man at my wedding, and any other time
COOL CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Being out on the trapline with my father.
FAVOURITE MUSIC (FOR THE MOMENT): Hawk Nelson most recent disc
RECENT COOL BOOKS I READ: The Coffeehouse Gospel - I forget who wrote it, but it's good; An Arrow Pointing To Heaven - Devotional Autobiography of Rich Mullins - very good read!
COOL JOB IN MY PAST: I worked at a gold mine and got to work in the refinery one day, and after a number of hours, got to hold a half a million dollars worth of gold in my hands! Pretty cool, eh?
LEAST LIKED JOB IN MY PAST: I washed dishes at a restaurant for nearly two days. . .
WHAT SOUND I LIKE: My custom built axe, a.k.a. my acoustic guitar. Phil Ramer a friend of mine built my guitar.
COUNTRIES VISITED: Canada, USA, Mexico, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and the Ukraine.
IF I HAD A STORE, I WOULD SELL:Time!!!!! Time is the only 'thing' we could possibly give away that we cannot replace. We can give people money, clothing, food, etc. But time is priceless!!
FAVOURITE TV SHOW GROWING UP: Dallas. . . as if, we didn't even have TV growing up!!
FAVOURITE SUPERHERO: My Dad, again. Hands down, what can I say!?
I AM OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE ABOUT: Making my own coffee, from roasting GREEN coffee beans, to grinding them up and drinking from my espresso maker!
MY GREATEST FEAR: Anything happening to my family. . .
PEOPLE GROUP I AM FROM: Oji-Cree, First Nations - my grandfather was Cree from northern Manitoba.
WHEN I GROW UP I WANNA BE: An Engineer. . . wait a minute, I'm already here!!

NAME: Karyn Elizabeth Meekis
BIRTHPLACE: Frankfurt, Germany - My Father was stationed there in the US Military.
GREW UP IN: San Diego, California
COOL COLOUR: Mauve, (Whatever that is. . .CCM)
MY HERO: Clarence Cello Meekis
FAVOURITE MUSIC(for the moment): Anything with worship.
COOL JOB IN MY PAST: Working as a florist!
IF I WERE AN ANIMAL I WOULD BE: A bird. . .something that would fly south to warmer weather!!!
SOUND OR NOISE I LIKE: The sound of a kiss!!
SOUND OR NOISE I DISLIKE: A balloon popping!
COOL JOB I WOULD LIKE TO TRY: Interior Decorating, . . . watch out Trading Spaces!!
COUNTRIES VISITED: USA, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Germany.
IF I HAD MY OWN STORE, I WOULD SELL: Crafts
FAVOURITE SUPERHERO: Joe Cool, a.k.a. SNOOPY!!!
I AM OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE ABOUT: Chocolate!!
RECENT COOL MEMORY ABOUT MY KIDS: They were all in the T Bay Christmas Parade, and on TV!!
FAVOURITE FLOWER: Sunflowers!!
PEOPLE GROUP I AM FROM: Kiowa, an American Indian Tribe, now in Oklahoma.
BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN: Don't fart in public!
CHILDHOOD NICKNAME: Kare-bear!!!

NAME: Clarence Indio Meekis
NAME MEANING: Indio - we took it from En Dios = 'of God'
BIRTHPLACE: Red Lake, a.k.a. GOd's country, you know it. Actually, same doctor as delivered my Dad. Cool eh?!
I GREW UP IN: Red Lake, now Thunder Bay, where the giant sleeps!
FAVOURITE COLOUR: Red, because it is red.
FAVOURITE FOOD: Blueberry Delight, same as my Dad, pretty cool eh?
FAVOURITE FRUIT: Watermelon!! It used to be pineapple. . .when I was younger, I could NOT remember what pineapple was called. Sometimes I called it Pine cones, or apple cones. . . .whatever, . . . I knew what I wanted.
FAVOURITE ACTIVITY: Going to my Papa's (Grampa Cello's!)
FAVOURITE PERSON: My papa. that was easy!!
WHEN I GROW UP I WANNA BE: A skate boarder, and snow boarder in off season!
FAVOURITE MUSIC: This is a surprise - TobyMAC - Portable sounds, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Day of Fire, Falling Up, etc, etc..
TYPICAL DAY: I wake to Skye jumping on me and my bed. Sometimes I will go and get my sister out of her bed and we all go to Mom & Dad's room. Then I get dressed (sometimes) and go downstairs to enjoy some of my dad's awesome coffee - yeah right!! I do my homework while waiting for breakfast - usually waffles, hot cereal, or cold cereal. Then I finish getting ready for another adventure. I'll finish this later. . .!

NAME: David Skye Meekis
FROM: Born and bred in God's country!!!
KOOL KOLOR: Blue.
GREW UP: not yet . . . I'm workin on it. Get back to me in about ten years.
MY HERO: My papa . . . I ask about him every day!
LIVE PERSON I WOULD LIKE TO MEET: my papa.
COOL CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Going to my papa's.
FAV MUSIC: Toby MAC
LAST COOL BOOK LOOKED AT: Anything with pics. . . same as my dad!!jk I Like Richard Scarry's Busy Town.
COOL JOB IN MY PAST: being the #1 chaos kid! a 24/7 job. . . and i get free food and a warm bed, what more could you ask for?!
WORST JOB IN MY PAST:Same as above. . . nuf said. . .
IF I WERE AN ANIMAL I WOULD BE:Something blue that would never need to sleep!
HOW MANY COUNTRIES VISITED:3 - Canada, USA, and RED LAKE.
FAVOURITE TV SHOW:Blue's Clues.
IF I HAD MY OWN STORE, I WOULD SELL:Chicken nuggets.
FAVOURITE FLOWER: Bannock . . . hmmm.
BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN: GO TO BED. . .NOW!
TYPICAL DAY:TBA

NAME:Rayne Grace Meekis. . .my parents like to call me Rayne Grace!
FROM:MY mom and dad. . . ??
COOL COLOUR:Pink. . .I wear it every day!!
GREW UP:Thunder Bay right now . . .
MY HEROWhoever has food.
FAVORITE PAST TIMEDancing with my mom!!
FAVOURITE MUSIC:Whatever is in the player. . .I dance to it!!
COOL JOB IN MY PAST:Alarm Clock!!
WORST JOB IN MY PAST:Alarm Clock, when I was too early!!
IF I WERE AN ANIMAL, I WOULD BE. . .something pink, maybe the pink panther??!!! or a flamingo, from a much warmer climate!!
MY FAVOURITE WORD: Hi!!
HOW MANY COUNTRIES VISITED: 2! God's, and the USA.
IF I MY OWN STORE, I WOULD SELL:All things pink!!
FAVOURITE SUPERHERO:Both of my brothers!!
I AM OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE ABOUT:Chocolate!! like someone else I know!!

Updated Photo Album August 14, 2007!!!

 

Cool thought for thought. . . actually cool thought for application!!

DO ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN
BY ALL THE MEANS YOU CAN,
IN ALL THE WAYS YOU CAN,
IN ALL THE PLACES YOU CAN,
AT ALL THE TIMES YOU CAN,
TO ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CAN,
AS LONG AS EVER YOU CAN.
- John Wesley

 

My Favourite Websites

• K-Net

Say something. . . .

clarenceandkaryn@hotmail.com

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