War Vet Remembered in Royal Oak 50 Years Later

There was a poignant moment at Oakview Cemetery the evening of July 27, a moment nearly fifty years in the making. As Evan McCutchen played “the Last Post”, the British version of Taps, at the close of a memorial service, the rain stopped and a beautiful rainbow appeared, framed perfectly between two large oak trees.

The service was to celebrate the life of Frank Phair, who had been laid to rest in 1965 in an unmarked grave site. The service also marked the placement of a gravestone onto the site that sat unmarked for so many years, a gravestone supplied by a Canadian veterans’ organization called, fittingly, The Last Post. You see Frank Phair was, among many other things, a Canadian veteran of that great and horrible conflict called “the War to End All Wars”, World War 1. Frank Phair was also my grandfather, an almost mythological figure who died when I was so young that most of my memories of him exist as tapestries of stories told by my mother and my older siblings.

The story of the memorial service and the gravestone really started with my wife and I volunteering to help place flags on veterans’ grave sites for Memorial Day in 2012. When I received my flags from the wagon, there was one Canadian flag mixed in with the dozens of American flags. When I asked about what to do with the Canadian flag, there was a little bit of confusion as people were surprised to see that one Canadian flag. Judy (my wife) said “let’s find your Grandpa Phair’s grave site and put it there.” So we walked up to the office and asked for some assistance finding my grandpa’s (unmarked) gravesite. Twenty minutes later Grandpa finally had something to identify his final resting place as the little Maple Leaf fluttered in the breeze. Judy said that it was a shame that he didn’t have a marker so that we could visit his grave and that somebody could place a flag for him every year, and she suggested we buy him a grave stone. We visited the office again to ask about purchasing a marker. As we described a few details of my grandfather’s life, I mentioned his service in World War 1, in the Canadian Army. We were told that American veterans are usually provided a marker, at no charge to the family, by veterans’ organizations and that perhaps there were similar Canadian veterans’ organizations. A brief visit to Google put me in touch with The Last Post, and I began the process of assembling Grandpa’s Birth and Death Certificates, and his Honorable Discharge papers (signed by the Queen of England!), so I could apply for a grave stone.

Now here is where the story gets interesting. The very same day that we were informed that Grandpa would be getting his headstone we received a letter from the University of Michigan, where our youngest son will begin his freshman year in September. The letter started with “Congratulations! You have been selected to receive the LaVerne Noyes Scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year.” The letter went on to describe this scholarship, established in 1919 to help World war 1 veterans and their families attend college. We had not applied for this scholarship, we had never even heard of this scholarship, and we were struggling with just how we were going to pay for two kids to attend University over the next few years. Upon learning of this scholarship we did a little research and learned that Michigan State University also offers this scholarship. Our oldest son Dylan attends MSU. Dylan applied for the scholarship and he too was awarded a very nice sum of money. It turns out that the only two colleges in Michigan that offer this scholarship are the two our boys attend! Had Grandpa Phair somehow arranged for or boys to receive this scholarship? I believe so. You see, Frank Phair was a man of many talents and not short on Irish charm. 

This is a list my mother put together for a memorial board:      

• Talented-Farmer
• Singer
• Musician
• Trickster
• Builder
• Plumber
• Electrician
• Iron Worker
• Union Organizer
• Tool & Die Tradesman

So, after all these years, Grandpa has reached out to us, just as we reached out to him. Each year we will visit his gravesite. Each year we will lovingly place a Canadian flag near his beautiful head stone. And up in Heaven Grandpa Phair will look down and smile at his great grandchildren, probably tell a joke, and perhaps play on tune to make people happy.

We would like to thank the Canadian Legion for providing a beautiful ceremony for Grandpa Phair, specifically Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Slaymaker, and also the American Legion for attending and making it such a memorable occasion. Our entire family was in town for my parents’ 65th Wedding Anniversary and we planned this ceremony to coincide with everyone being in Michigan. Grandpa Phair’s great grandchildren and several great, great grandchildren attended the service and got to know a little more about the legendary Frank Phair!