Bob CollinsIt is only in my latter years that I have come to realize why the obituary page is the second-most-read page in the newspaper. I don’t know if that’s really true; it’s just what I was told.
I read obituaries for two reasons: (1) To find out how many people my age have gone toes up and (2) there are occasionally great stories and fine writing.
Failing on #1, the obituary of David Humphrey in Vancouver certainly qualifies under #2.
The honored justice of the Superior Court of Ontario, we learn, had a nickname — the Tripper, which he gained at the 1957 Grey Cup game, as told by the Washington Post’s Post Mortem blog.
Humphrey stood on the sidelines, sipping cheer, in the form of rye whiskey, from a brown paper bag. He would later say he had been unnerved by a chance encounter with a fellow fan, who turned out to be the foreman of a jury who had sent one of his client’s to the hangman but a year earlier. Humphrey refused to shake the man’s extended hand.
The lawyer nursed his grudge as well as his drink as he stood along the Winnipeg sidelines.
A roar from the crowd caught his attention. Hamilton’s Ray (Bibbles) Bawel (pronounced bobble) had intercepted a pass and was racing along the sidelines towards the end zone. He had evaded all tacklers. Ahead of him lurked only grass.
It was at this point the lawyer stuck out a foot
Mere mortals can only dream about a send-off that rich. Be sure to read it all.
