Saturday, September 20, 2025
Ross' passing hit me very hard because he was my oldest friend. We met in kindergarten 85 years ago and became fast friends. We joined Cubs and Scouts together and Ross got me a job at the A&P that helped to fund my education. We bought our first expensive bicycles at the same time -his had racing handlebars and mine was conventional. I used to kid him that had I got racing handle bars i could have been a world class racer. Not true of course, but we were all proud of his cycling accomplishments. He continued the McKinnell family paper route tradition and I would cover him off in the summer when his family visited the family farms. Ross would come back with wonderful stories of the Griffith and McKinnell farms. It is ironic that this city boy ended up in the farm implement business.
While our careers diverged we were able to resurrect our friendship after our retirements along with a couple other old mountain boys and meet twice a year to play golf, have a beer, and tell some tall tales. We all looked forward to the games until we all aged out. I loved Ross's sense of humour, his dedication to his lovely Carol, his family, and his community and appreciated his loyalty and integrity. He was a good one and I will miss him terribly.
Dean Fink, Ancaster
