AMHERST, N.S. — Blake Smith has said good-bye to his father many times over the past decade.
The 34-year-old Halifax resident and Amherst native honoured his dad the best way he could, performing Maroon 5’s hit Memories while on a mirror image he held photos of his late father up to the camera.
Randy Smith, who was the former executive director of the Cumberland Business Development Corporation, passed away Jan. 11 at an assisted living facility in Ladysmith, B.C. He was 64. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease a decade ago and moved to British Columbia with his wife several years ago.
“I was planning to do something for Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and this sort of sped it up for me,” said Smith, who has performed on the Halifax waterfront and works in the city as head marketer with a dental tech firm. “I tried to find as many clippings as I could from our past.”
Smith is on the board with Alzheimer’s Nova Scotia and it’s his hope the video is not only a tribute to his father, but starts a conversation about the disease and raises awareness and helps education people.
Besides his work with CBDC, Smith was also an early morning correspondent for the CBC and participated in the start-up of CFTA Tantramar Community Radio. He also worked with CKDH Radio in the 1990s and volunteered with the Amherst Rotary Club, Family and Children’s Services, the Victorian Order of Nurses, Univty Way and the Canadian Cancer Society.
People who click on the Facebook link are taken to the Alzheimer’s Nova Scotia site and there’s also an opportunity to provide a donation.
“The goal, besides honouring my father, is to get people to talk about Alzheimer’s. People seem to think it’s like a dirty word or a disease that the end is near. That’s not always the case. Lots of people live very wonderful lives with Alzheimer’s earlier,” he said. “We need to get people talking about Alzheimer’s earlier and make sure they have a great quality of life. Education is key and if we educate more on the signs to look for, the supports that are out there and how people can live a high quality of life with a disease like that.”
He saw how the disease impacted his father. He remembered his father giving him a photo of him, his brother and father. While visiting him he gave that photo back and said for a few seconds his father remembered who he was and gave him a hug, but quickly forgot and became scared.
Smith said it was hard doing the video, but admitted he was able to perform the song in one take – although it took a couple of takes to record the part with him holding photos up to the camera.
“I said good-bye to my father at least five or six times and flew out to see him out west. I saw him when he didn’t know me, but that’s just the disease,” he said. “After saying good-bye to him I didn’t think of the finality of this would be as impactful as it was, but it certainly is. I thought I would be ready for this, and I know the 10-year mark of early onset is when the body starts to give way and that’s exactly what happened.”
Smith said the video has been well-received among family and friends and many of his father’s friends have reached out to him with messages of sympathy and encouragement.
He’s hoping to hold a celebration of his father’s life in Amherst in the spring.
“My dad enjoyed watching me and my brother, Brad, perform and while he would always say couldn’t hit a note in a bucket out of the broad side of a barn, but he always appreciated music,” Smith said. “It was something he saw in my brother and I that he was marveled by. In that respect I decided that’s how I wanted to honour him.”
The Maroon 5 song stuck with him because it’s talks about celebrating the ones that are here, but also remembering and honouring the ones who have gone.
“In one part of the song it mentioned I can’t pick up the phone to call you, but I know I will one day,” he said. “I thought hearing that line, I had to do a tribute to dad using that song and if I could do a mirror image showing photos I had of him in the past it would be a great way to honour him. I know that’s something he would appreciate.”
