‘Mr. Gung Ho’ died with his boots on
Morris Kesselring of Kitchener Born: Nov. 2, 1942 in Stratford Died: Sept. 24, 2018 of a heart attack
KITCHENER — The beginning of Loah and Morris Kesselring’s love story involves a church dance and two girls climbing out a bathroom window, victims of their own overactive imaginations.
Loah Forler and a friend had gone to a church dance and were happily sitting on their own when someone approached them and said “There’s two guys who want to meet you,” recalled Loah.
The girls looked over at these guys standing in the doorway, one of them a very beefy, musclebound guy, Morris Kesselring. He was huge, she said.
“So we ran to the washroom, we opened the window and pushed out the screen and took off.”
The great escape however, was only temporary. Morris wasn’t about to give up that easily.
He found out who she was, got a mutual friend to set up a blind date which Loah agreed to, having no idea it was Morris until she saw him standing on her porch. Loah had to concede.
Good thing because he turned out to be “a loving, sweet man.” Daughter Cindy Viorel recalls him crying in huge rolling tears when she was hurt as a toddler and he had to take her to hospital for stitches.
“He held me so tight,” said Cindy. “You knew he loved you, I knew my Daddy loved me.”
Even years later, when she brought up the story Morris would cry.
Morris was born Nov. 2, 1942, in Stratford. His father, Charlie Kesselring, worked as a railway signaller. When Morris was about 10, his parents moved to a farm in the Doon area of Kitchener, a wide open space where Morris began a very physical life, starting with all the heavy lifting required by farming and later, body building. He joined the wrestling team in Grade 9 along with his brother Dave.
Morris would remain a fan of wrestling throughout his life, though mostly as a spectator. He did enter one body building competition, but didn’t feel comfortable flaunting his stuff on stage.
Morris left school early and would later complete high school through upgrades. He would struggle to find work he enjoyed. He tried a factory, but felt the confines of a manufacturing plant was like torture, he needed the freedom of the outdoors.
The couple married in 1965 and so began a love story that only grew stronger as the years passed.
After marriage, the couple lived in an apartment which bothered Morris, who wanted to provide a house for his family of three kids, Cindy, Aimee and Shawn.
“He took a job at Maple Lane Dairy,” said Loah. “We rented a house right across the street.”
The dairy had elements of farm life which made Morris happy, but there was still something more he wanted to do. But he was uncertain what.
For awhile he worked for the City of Kitchener doing jobs like building playgrounds.
“He loved it because he loved kids,” said Loah.
Next it was driving the city’s electric trolley buses, a job that gave him the social connections he enjoyed, but also kept him away from his family for long stretches. Loah would pack up a picnic lunch, load the kids on their father’s trolley and ride along, visiting while eating their meals. It wasn’t ideal but Morris was such a strong family man, he would do anything for family time.
“He was always so happy to get home and spend time playing with his kids,” said Loah.
Daughter, Aimee Kropf, said her dad was fun, always joking, always teasing and he shared his deep faith with everyone in his family.
“He’d be really thrilled and excited by what you accomplished,” said Aimee.
Cindy added that her father would often talk to perfect strangers about their kids, telling them that they were doing a good job, just to offer some encouragement. He also helped the homeless or anyone needing support.
Morris’s life direction slowly came into focus after he was hired by the city for its forestry team. Their responsibilities included tree cutting and planting, as well as assessing the health of trees. The city sent Morris to Humber College’s arboriculture program which marked the beginning of his life as an arborist.
“A lot of people came to him and asked questions about his expertise,” said Loah. “He was really knowledgeable and he loved what he did, he loved being outdoors and climbing.”
In 1979, Morris was assigned an unusual task by the city. A faded Canadian flag flapping on the flagpole in the middle of Victoria Park Lake had raised the ire of residents, so he volunteered to scale the pole, untangle the lanyard and hang a new flag.
This love of climbing and, of course, trees lead Morris to start his own side business, A-1 Year Round Tree Service. Loah said her husband had inherited his father’s old station wagon which served as the company truck. He only had one saw, but due to the limited tree services around Morris stayed in demand. He also offered snowblowing and lawn maintenance.
Shawn worked alongside his father and continues to run the business.
Friend, Susan Dale, said “He was an amazing man, such a passion for life, nothing slowed him down, not even after hip/ knee replacements.”
Susan’s husband Bill Dale and son Ryan Dale, worked with Morris for several years and she credits Morris with being a good mentor to Ryan, teaching him how to climb trees “but more importantly how to live life.”
Morris also encouraged Bill to start a stump removal business. Morris would cut down the trees and Bill would remove the stumps. Bill also got to hear stories about Morris from astounded clients.
“Many of the clients would tell my husband that Morris had the tree down in minutes and hauled it away and when asked who helped Morris, they would say ‘Oh, he was by himself.’
“That was this year, when he was age 75.”
This doesn’t surprise Loah or Shawn who describe Morris as always in motion.
“He was Mr. Gung Ho,” said Shawn. “Once he got on a site, it was zip zip.
“You wouldn’t see him standing around, he’d get in there, get the tree down.”
Loah describes an accident her husband had years earlier when he had to leap to the ground to get away from a breaking branch, severely injuring his knee and requiring a trip to hospital.
“They knew him and put a cast on up to his hip so he’d stay put,” she said. “That didn’t stop him.”
Though his injury did slow him down a bit, as he was healing he took up reading. Mostly historical books and, of all things, Amish romance, books known in the trade as “bonnet rippers.”
Morris retired from the city at age 56 after 25 years of service. He figured he was still young enough to put energy into expanding his tree service.
“When he got to be 68 I asked ‘Hon, when are we going to talk about slowing down?’” Loah said. “He said ‘well, maybe when I’m 75.’ When he got to 75, he said ‘well, maybe 80.’”
Morris never got the chance to extend his working life that far. He died of a heart attack Sept. 24, 2018 while mowing a client’s lawn on a riding tractor.
As Shawn said, his dad would often joke about wanting to die with his boots on. And, he got his wish.