James Keary Eulogy

James Frederick Keary July 3, 1960-March 29, 2009

Eulogy written by Cheryl Mullen for James Keary at his Funeral Mass - St. Peter's Catholic Church, New Westminster, B.C. 7-April-2009


Our Mr. Keary....

He was James to most, Jim to others, Jimmy to me and then there's Roy.

He was and is and always will be...

An Edwardian Gentleman whether he wore dashing dress coats with brilliant cufflinks and blue suede shoes or when he donned his sweats, bermuda shorts and boots, cowboy pyjamas or rabbit ears.

An incomperable self-taught musicologist, set and costume designer, collage artist, artistic consultant...eclectic and extraordinary.

A bon vivant storytelling gourmet cook who could still get excited over a corn dog on a stick.

A loving dog-Dad to Scamp, the irascible Border Terrier and his canine double.

A collector of brain gems and imagination files from any and all sources.

An inveterate fan of Disney heroines, the 'Thin Man' series and Florence Foster Jenkins.

A dear buddy who customized his love for each and every one of us, right down to the smallest detail.

A decidedly devilish observer of human behaviour; staying on Jim's good side was always to one's benefit.

A consummate wit whose colourful 'twist of phrase' could set us all in stitches.

An impeccable dresser...let us count the ties...a truly inspired gifter and an outstanding party host.

A pushover for Bel Canto, coloratura sopranos from three centuries, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and six different versions of 'My Fair Lady', including one in Czechoslovakian. Theatre and Opera was his game and knowledge was his fame.

A very private man in many ways...but a two-sided coin: one side ever so social and the other side ever so solitary.

A fixture in Downtown New Westminster, a meet-and-greeter, a dog park regular who loved a good farmer's market, who found weekly treasures at the New West Public Library and scouted household bargains at the 'Army and Navy'.

A prop, puppet, mask and theatrical oddity aficionado.

A whimsical traveler who met Munchkins from the original cast of 'Wizard of Oz ' at their annual convention in Chesterton, Indiana...to London and the Savoy...to Minneapolis, home of Nye's Polynaisee Room. The motto for these trips was "Ya wanna nap? Get over it...you can sleep when you're dead."

A passionate doer of 'things done right.'

A writer of fan mail to the artists he revered and a receiver of their personal replies!

A true blue lover of all theatre, especially good amateur theatre and the family it brought with it. Whether as an actor, an assistant director, artistic consultant, set designer, costume magic maker, puppet master or sound designer...he loved it all...from the Vagabond Days of Gilbert and Sullivan to 'Blood Relations' to Theatre Under The Stars - 'Hello Dolly' and everything in between.

A staunch believer in Public Transit.

A wicked raconteur of the 'Tales From The Dark Side Of Retail'...the Widow Weinstein stories...his tortured accounts of selling pricey accessories to pushy customers at Holt Renfrew...
"If ya can't pronounce 'Prada', ya shouldn't own it!" Then there were James's meetings with celebrity clients, both gracious and grumpy to his memories of dreaded Bay Days where nothing had a price tag and everyone haggled..to the early days of 'Dollar Forty Nine Day...Woodwards'.

A salesmens' salesman who specialised in the old world art of Fine Customer Service.

A world class whistler of every kind of repertoire: Polka to Grand Opera to T.V. Themes.

An irreverent 'Sultan of Silliness' who loaded his bathroom medicine cabinet with marbles in order to catch any snoopy party guest who dared to peak. He became the legendary 'Stick Puppet Maker' of Holt Renfrew V.I.P.'s and let's not forget the series of famed 'Wig and Beard' photos taken at his niece's wedding last summer.

A superb conjuror and collaborator of grand ideas..."If you dream it, then do it!!!!"
Those dreams flourished into his Art and Music Salons: 'Opera and Other Madness', 'Leave It To Diva' and the ever tasteful 'Things On Toast' (a song fest of food music). Jim's designs appeared on a national Holt Renfrew magazine cover, The Reel West Digest and countless event and show posters. And then there's his countless pieces of theatrically inspired 'Collage Illustrations'; his art shows sold many prize pieces to enthusiastic collectors.

And now, even though I've missed mentioning the thousands of things that each of you know about your James/Jim/Jimmy or Roy, I'll finish up with a few memories of my own.

Jimmy was my 21 year old Captain Corcoran and I, his little Buttercup in the Vagabond Production of 'HMS Pinafore', directed by Gwenyth Harvey and Trudi Forrest in '82.

Jim was my own personal maestro...the maker of literally hundreds of mix tapes (and later CD compilations) he engineered to keep my singing life alive. My living room became my concert hall, the vaccuum cleaner was my underscore and Jimmy's mix tapes played non-stop as I serenaded my young family and the entire neighbourhood season after season.

It was our Sunday morning phone calls and our lunch dates and our theatre tete-a-tetes with endless chatter about Steven Sondheim, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein and Marilyn Horne, Cecelia Bartoli, Renee Fleming and Barbara Cook, Bernadette Peters and Laurie Beechman...hell, we had an opinion about everyone and everything!

He 'got' me and I 'got' him.

That's why we hold on to each other in this place, at this time, here...today.
You have him in your hearts. You 'got' him and he 'got' you in that very particular way that only you know about. Share some stories about him whenever you can...that's what he wants.

Whether he is your James, Jim, Jimmy, Roy or Mr. Keary.

I can't finish this unless I pay tribute to one of the works that means so much to Jim...and that is
Sondheim's 'Into The Woods'. Now don't fret if some of you haven't heard of it; it's mostly the property of musical theatre nerds (you know who you are). It's a musical where all the well known Fairy Tale Characters wind up in a story together. They set off on a quest to capture some kind of illusive notion of happiness and get in each others' way. The 'Woods' is a metaphor for life's journey.

The penultimate song 'No One Is Alone' speaks directly for Jim. I know he was living inside these words and we spoke about this very thing only a few weeks ago.....

The last bit goes:

Hard to see the light now...
Just don't let it go.
Things will come out right now,
You can make it so.
Someone is on your side...
No one is alone.

And, make no mistake. He IS there for you...you are not alone.