A day does not go by that my dad is not thought about, he was a huge part of my life & is still a huge part of who I am. Let me share his history and few life achievements about dad with you.
Dad was born in Hungary on February 6th 1927 but we have always celebrated & all his government papers state February 4th 1927, his name would be changed from Tibor to Tebor. My Grandfather Joseph Mitro had arrived in Canada before my Grandmother Mary Mitro & was waiting for his three sons and wife to begin their life together in Guelph Ontario Canada.
They entered Canada as many immigrants had back then, through Pier 21 in Halifax.
Grandma Mitro with Joseph Jr., Gaza (known as Fred), & baby Tibor (known as Skip), my father.
After living in Guelph the family would move to Ottawa in a large 21 room manor on a huge lot that would also have a small farm on it, complete with a cow called Bosee. They would have to remove the animals from the area as the neighbours complained & bylaws were inforced but the party that took place doing that is another story. Grandma would have eight children with six living when Grandpa died at the age of 42. Grandma Mitro, not speaking much English, if any, would change the house into a rooming house to have income for the family of five boys & one 7-year-old daughter, she would then raise on her own. My dad would be just 15 at that time.
Dad was too young to be a soldier in WWII & Grandpa Mitro was working in the factory making the Lancaster Bombers, he was able to get work for dad there. Dad is the one at the top of the scaffolding with legs crossed for this iconic photo!
It would be working there that he would get his nickname 'Skip' as he was always skipping off somewhere other than the task at hand, hence Skip! lol
Dad was always thinking & inventing different things & in 1958 he would be in the London Free Press for just that! His flying saucer which now resides with me in New Brunswick.
His love of planes would become his passion for flying his plane, he would tinker with planes in the shop that he built with cinder blocks & overhead doors from Richard-Wilcox in London Ontario. He would purchase the property on Little Hill Street in London Ontario when mom would be just 2 months pregnant with me in 1957. This would be the only home I would know, complete with dad's shop & the frequent smell of welding & metal. This is where my story begins...
This Stetson 108 - CF - LAF would be such fun growing up. Sundays were spent at the Firth farm on Westminster Concession, the field had a runway strip that many small planes would fly out off.
I loved being buckled into this four-seater on weekends that dad would take me with him.
He once put me in the front seat with him & to let me steer the plane. That is one of the peak experiences I remember inside the plane.
Dad invented a towing device to tow gliders and on June 29th 1969, his life would change forever.
As he towed the glider up & the glider released, he came over the airport area & released his metal cable tow rope... or he thought he did, either way, it was not released & caught a telephone pole.
This was The Summer Of 69', I received a phone call to go to the hospital & my neighbour took me, I would be just 11 years old then. My life would change too, that too is another story, and a huge part of my strength today.
The owner of the glider made it safely down to find that my dad did not. He did, however, survive this horrific crash & would remain in the hospital till March 1970. He severed his spine in several areas & would be confined to a wheelchair at the age of 42.
When he went home from the hospital so did I (I was living with my mother, she had left when I was 7 years old) & now back home on Little Hill Street, our life together after this would be one of many challenges.
I had a very hard time getting him in & out of the house, so much stress that I would drop him & loss control of the wheelchair. I was just 12 now & had to become his caregiver too. It was so difficult as I was alone, just he & I with so much to adapt to with wheelchair living.
He tinkered with many ways of getting into the house with ramps & pulleys but it too was still a lot of work with my pushing him up the ramp when I was home & his pulling himself up the ramp when I was at school.
He would still go into his shop & work away on ideas & then it all came to him, the idea of independence - the invention of the SKIP-LIFT!
This is his invention in 1972 & he would hold the patent for this for Canada & USA.
He would have these lifts made & shipped coast to coast in Canada.
He would also have made & patent hand controls for driving. He had his independence back & in doing so changed the lives of many handicapped persons.
So many have asked how our children are now third generation elevator technicians, they know about my husband Bill being one, now you have met the man that started it all.
Dad, you have been gone for 18 years & would be so proud of your family with the influence that you've given us all.
As I had told you many times when you were alive & when I spoke at your eulogy...
"You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings'
Thank you, Daddy, thank you.
Much loved & missed by your daughter.
