Today, in a church filled to the brim, standing room only, with friends, and family, paddlers a many, the life of John Ayer was remembered, the stories were many of the man that always kneeled in his canoe, paddling well into his eighties.  The paddling world remembers him for his unorthodox way of paddling and his funny knee pads.  But John Ayer was an unbelievably good hearted man who lived life to its fullest, not only spending much time as an athlete, but doing missionary work in less privileged nations,  The stories told at his memorial made it very clear that John has left his mark on this world and will be greatly missed.  I’ve included a few pictures of John and the blessing distributed at the memorial. 

The Poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling seems appropriate here:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!