On Wednesday May 2nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm Vi Riches passed peacefully at the Lakefield Extendicare, joining her beloved husband Wilf, already waiting with the Lord for her return. They celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary together in Heaven on May 4th, 2012. Wilfred Riches went with the Lord to Heaven on February 4th, 2012 at 4:30 am. Lovingly survived by their family who says goodbye to a dear father, mother, grandpa and mom-mom. …A country lost a soldier,Wilf: the church a faithful servant,Vi always overflowing with Christ-love……Memorial Tributes…
No matter how he is feeling, he is always such a patient and kind man, Extendicare Staff
He is one of the few true gentlemen left.
His Legacy…When heading off to war this poem, is what he carried in his wallet. His thoughts were not of the snares of war or the evil of Hitler’s regime, but of his God, his wife and her struggles in his absence…
Somewhere, a woman, thrusting fear away,
Faces the future bravely, for your sake;
Toils on from dawn to dark; from day to day;
She loves you, trusts you, breaths your name;
Soil not her faith in you, by sin or shame.
Somewhere a woman – mother, sweetheart, wife –
waits betwixt hopes, and fears for your return;
Her kiss, her words, will cheer you in the strife,
When death itself confronts you grim and stern;
But let her image all your reverence claim,
When base temptations scorch you with their flame.
Somewhere a woman watches – filled with pride;
Shrined in her heart, you share a place with none;
She toils, she waits, she prays, ’till side by side
You stand together when the battles done.
O keep for her dear sake a stainless name,
Bring back to her a manhood free from shame.
…Carried by Wilf Riches in his wallet while overseas, 1945
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