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Our Club mourns the passing
of our
Former President , long time Outstanding
Breeder, Member, and Mentor
Harold May
of Windwood,
Cortland, New York
He passed in his sleep the
evening of August 28, 2006
Many Members have memories
and thoughts of Harold.
Anyone that wishes to share their "Harold-isms" are welcome to
send
the to the Webmaster for inclusion.
For those members unable to
attend the funeral services, the Martins from Canada wanted to
share
the following:
We wanted to report on Harold's funeral, since so many
of his rabbit friends couldn't attend.
The drive to Boston, NY is less than an hour from our
place. It's a very small and quaint town, just south of
Buffalo where Harold was raised, and lived until the year
after Kathy & Rich were married in 1968. The funeral was
small, maybe 30 people. Harold's brother and all his
children were there, including Kathy and Rich's children and
grand-children, David and Danielle. It was a lovely service,
and a celebration of his life. The flowers from the Eastern
States were beautiful, as well as all the other flowers from
his rabbit friends. Roger Dent and Wayne Betchdel were pall
bearers. Frank Welsh and his daughter were also there.
Harold was buried beside his wife in St. John the Baptist
Cemetery, just up the hill. After the service, a buffet
lunch was served in the country restaurant just down the
road. We were very glad that we were able to attend,
however, the memorial service at Cortland was every bit as
meaningful, and where Harold would have wanted us to gather
and pay tribute to him. He was a wonderful man and he will
be truly missed by all of us, who knew him.
Your friend's from Canada,
Tony & Colleen Martin
I was shocked and saddened to hear
about Harold's passing. He always
was my mentor and the knowledge he
shared was unlimited.
My first introduction to Harold was
at the second show in Cortland ,never
had I seen so many Flemish of quality,
row after row.
He promoted Flemish Giants and
Eastern States right to the end, and
with his home being open for the spring
show even after. I think it is
fitting and a tribute to his memory that
it is being held there.
Even though he had to give up
breeding due to poor health his interest
and enthusiasm in Flemish never waned.
I can remember talking with him on the
phone recently about rabbits of the past
and his mind was just as sharp as ever,
he picked out certain rabbits and
talked about them, their good and
bad points. He had the ability as
a breeder to take 2 rabbits and get the
best points out of them. One of his
favourite sayings , there are rabbit
keepers and there are breeders, he
definately was a breeder .
I will always have fond memories of
Harold and Windwood and will cherish
them forever.
Jim Richards "Willowbrooke"
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Harold's Family wish it
to be known that the National Show scheduled for April 2007,
WILL be held as scheduled. The family believes out of
respect for Harold, this is what he would have wanted .
Our condolences to Harold's Family and
Friends.
May his memory and that of all his
accomplishments
comfort his family. His Friends will sorely miss him and
his
advice and counsel.
Please see the Eastern States Website (http://www.nffgrb.com/esfgrba.html
)
for a message from Eastern States President Wayne Bechdel.
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