Where's Garth?
I'm honored to represent a group of us that ran with Garth while he was working downtown on noon hours, numerous Jasper to Banff Relays, and on later on our weekly evening trail runs.

We've decide to entitle this tribute to Garth with the name "Where's Garth?" You'll understand why we gave this title in a few moments.

When you think about what to say about a person like Garth, you soon realize that you can't begin to do justice to the kind, caring and vibrant person that he was. The best you can hope to do is touch on some of the memories that remind us of the countless treasured experiences we shared with him.

For many of us those experiences were through our mutual enjoyment of running, skiing, biking, canoeing or the beauty and wonder of nature.

In another era, Garth would have been a great explorer or adventurer. He loved checking out new trails and had an insatiable curiosity what lay ahead over the next hill or around the next corner. I think that was a big part of the connection that we had - time, distance and direction weren't as important as just being out there having the experience. I haven't found anyone else who was as unconcerned about taking a wrong turn or things not going as planned. With Garth, it didn't matter much whether it was the right trail or the left trail, it was all good.

That easy-going, low-key and good-natured approach sometimes made it easy to overlook Garth. One example of this was the time 1991 when the Nova Jasper-to-Banff Relay team was getting packed up on Friday morning to head out to Jasper. Garth told me he was just running up to his office to grab his gym bag and would be right back down. We were all so eager to get going that we simply piled in the vehicles and left without him. We didn't even notice that he was missing until after we had our pasta supper in Jasper that night and Blair suddenly looked at me and asked "Where's Garth?" We phoned him to apologize and instead of being upset he saw it as humorous. This and other misadventures where we "lost" Garth, made the expression "Where's Garth" a staple of our running group that never seemed to grow old.

Typically when we lost Garth on a trail run, it wasn't really Garth who was lost but the rest of the group that had gone astray while Garth managed to stay on course. Perhaps his many years of trekking through the foothills with his Dad and fishing every conceivable stream, had provided Garth with an inner compass and unshakable confidence in his backcountry navigation.

Despite his many interests and activities, Garth was generous with his time and was always willing to volunteer where needed. He spent many years coaching young track athletes - giving back in full measure to the track community where he had himself trained and developed his running prowess. Those who trained with him always gained more than just athletic skills. The calm, quiet focus, the disciplined preparation, the principles of fair-play, integrity and genuine caring for others, were subtle lessons that he demonstrated throughout his life.

Of course many of us also got to see that Garth's playful side. You never wanted to be too close to Garth if there was a puddle anywhere in sight because he would take great delight in seeing how big of a splash he could make and how much of it the group could absorb. Snow laden branches were another favorite device that he would use to refresh his fellow runners.

Most of us that ran with Garth downtown, would have laid odds that Garth's demise would come while crossing the street. Contrary to what you might expect, that wasn't because he led a cautious life but rather that he never paid much attention to traffic signals when running. The technique of dodging traffic to get a lead on all the rest of the running group became known as Hucking the intersection. Maybe it was his track background but we were frequently amazed when he would make it safely across where none would dare follow.

But of all the joys that we have had from sharing experiences with Garth, the best came last. It was when the cancer started to take away everything else from Garth that we got to see what was deep down and most beautiful. There was inner strength and spiritual peace that enabled him to still smile and convey meaning with just his eyes - despite the cancer ravaging his body. We were privileged to see the depth of love that he and Edelle shared for each other and it is immeasurably comforting to know that Garth had that kind of contentment, happiness and love in his life.

I had the privilege of saying goodbye to Garth last Sunday night (May 16, 2004), just hours before he left us. I told him that I loved him, (got a big raise from his eyebrows), that the running gang was pulling for him (another raise of the eyebrows), and that I'd be following him one day (thanks Edelle for that advice), he acknowledged that as well. But the biggest raise of the eyebrows, and even a bit of a grin, came when I told him I was dedicating the 2005 Banff to Jasper Relay to him. Please pray that the plans for that race are successful and will come to pass in a way that will honor Garth's memory.

I know with certainty that whenever I'm on a track, road, river or mountain trail that we've shared with Garth, I'll never again wonder "Where's Garth?". Thanks to his acceptance of Jesus Christ as his Savior, we know where Garth is.

We can look to the heavens and know that Garth is there.
We can run the trails by Elbow Falls and know that Garth is there.
We can run up Moose Mountain and know that Garth is there.

And we can close our eyes, feel our hearts beat, and know that Garth is there.

Written by Hugh Magill for our friend Garth Huck