Obituary for Kirk Ian Douglas Conrad
Kirk Ian Douglas Conrad September 17, 1985 - April 27, 2020
Kirk Conrad, 34, beloved son of Cathy Campbell Conrad of Bridgewater and Brian Conrad (Susan and her children: Justin, Jennifer) of Garden Lots, died tragically on April 27, succumbing to injuries sustained while kite-boarding on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Zanzibar. Together with his fiancée, Maud Etienne of Cannes, France, he was on furlough, marking time while the coronavirus pandemic prevented the two of them from returning to their jobs in Khartoum, Sudan.
Having grown up on the South Shore, Kirk left home to study aircraft maintenance engineering at Shearwater, followed by work placements in Halifax, Charlottetown, and Calgary. Eventually, his AME skillset and his adventurous spirit led him to Myanmar, Aruba, Uganda, the DRC, and then Sudan where he was working on maintaining planes for the UN. It was in Sudan that he met Maud — friend, soulmate, the love of his life — she who made this last year the happiest he'd ever known and with whom he was shaping plans for a future together. The thought of being parted from Maud would have tormented Kirk — as would the thought of leaving Jack, his little blue-eyed boy, his “Buddy,” his cherished son born to Sarah and left now to her sturdy care together with her husband, Jack’s stepfather, Gary Newman.
Many things brought Kirk pleasure. That he loved travel is obvious. He loved the places he saw; but more than that, he loved the people he met. It is also true that he was a proud Maritimer, faithfully coming home to the loved ones here who awaited his return. All of these people — from his now-agèd Mommer (known to the world as Vivian Campbell, matriarch of the clan), down through three generations (that include his step-family Doug, Garrett, and Gillian Johnson) to Jack and “the two Passmore kids” (being young Olivia and Ian; Kirk’s treasured niece and nephew; children of Kirk’s beloved sister, Breagh and her husband, Craig), and everyone in- between, family and friends, spread throughout Nova Scotia and scattered across the country and around the globe — all of them will treasure his memory and mourn his absence.
The threat posed by COVID-19 has shaped the memorial arrangements. Cremation has taken place in Tanzania. Burial during a private ceremony at Hillcrest Cemetery in Lunenburg will take place after the remains have been repatriated. The family is grateful to Mike Zinck of Dana L. Sweeny Funeral Home in Lunenburg, to Global Affairs Canada, and to the Corona Funeral Home in Dar-es-Salaam for their kind, professional assistance — and for their care of Maud. Those wanting to celebrate Kirk’s life and honour his memory may wish to consider making a donation to Doctors Without Borders/Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada or to a charity of your choice.
A Celebration of Kirk's life will be held on Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. from his father's home located at 643 Blue Rocks Road, Blue Rocks.
Death is nothing at All
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.
All is well.
Excerpted from a sermon delivered on Whitsunday 1910
by Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral,
while the body of King Edward VII was lying in state in Westminster
Kirk Conrad, 34, beloved son of Cathy Campbell Conrad of Bridgewater and Brian Conrad (Susan and her children: Justin, Jennifer) of Garden Lots, died tragically on April 27, succumbing to injuries sustained while kite-boarding on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Zanzibar. Together with his fiancée, Maud Etienne of Cannes, France, he was on furlough, marking time while the coronavirus pandemic prevented the two of them from returning to their jobs in Khartoum, Sudan.
Having grown up on the South Shore, Kirk left home to study aircraft maintenance engineering at Shearwater, followed by work placements in Halifax, Charlottetown, and Calgary. Eventually, his AME skillset and his adventurous spirit led him to Myanmar, Aruba, Uganda, the DRC, and then Sudan where he was working on maintaining planes for the UN. It was in Sudan that he met Maud — friend, soulmate, the love of his life — she who made this last year the happiest he'd ever known and with whom he was shaping plans for a future together. The thought of being parted from Maud would have tormented Kirk — as would the thought of leaving Jack, his little blue-eyed boy, his “Buddy,” his cherished son born to Sarah and left now to her sturdy care together with her husband, Jack’s stepfather, Gary Newman.
Many things brought Kirk pleasure. That he loved travel is obvious. He loved the places he saw; but more than that, he loved the people he met. It is also true that he was a proud Maritimer, faithfully coming home to the loved ones here who awaited his return. All of these people — from his now-agèd Mommer (known to the world as Vivian Campbell, matriarch of the clan), down through three generations (that include his step-family Doug, Garrett, and Gillian Johnson) to Jack and “the two Passmore kids” (being young Olivia and Ian; Kirk’s treasured niece and nephew; children of Kirk’s beloved sister, Breagh and her husband, Craig), and everyone in- between, family and friends, spread throughout Nova Scotia and scattered across the country and around the globe — all of them will treasure his memory and mourn his absence.
The threat posed by COVID-19 has shaped the memorial arrangements. Cremation has taken place in Tanzania. Burial during a private ceremony at Hillcrest Cemetery in Lunenburg will take place after the remains have been repatriated. The family is grateful to Mike Zinck of Dana L. Sweeny Funeral Home in Lunenburg, to Global Affairs Canada, and to the Corona Funeral Home in Dar-es-Salaam for their kind, professional assistance — and for their care of Maud. Those wanting to celebrate Kirk’s life and honour his memory may wish to consider making a donation to Doctors Without Borders/Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada or to a charity of your choice.
A Celebration of Kirk's life will be held on Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. from his father's home located at 643 Blue Rocks Road, Blue Rocks.
Death is nothing at All
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.
All is well.
Excerpted from a sermon delivered on Whitsunday 1910
by Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral,
while the body of King Edward VII was lying in state in Westminster