Remembering Ernie - The Singing Pilot

Happiness was at the top of the agenda whenever Ernest “Ernie” Pace was around.  He was known for two things: making those around him laugh and singing.  Not just any old song but one song in particular: Dean Martin’s version of “Volare”. Originally written all in Italian it was subsequently performed by the Gypsy Kings in their native Spanish for all but the chorus which was left in Italian.  With the Dean Martin version all but the chorus – which again was left in Italian – was performed in English.  It was this version that became synonymous with Ernie. It was “his” song, a song everyone who knew and loved him associated with Ernie.

Also associated with Ernie was his beloved Cessna plane.  An accomplished Pilot with many flying hours under his belt, Ernie loved to fly; it was his passion. His fascination with flying began in the 1940s when, as a child, he would watch the planes fly over him on their way to war but it was not until tragically his 12-year-old son died following being run over by a bus and in the aftermath of such heartbreak his marriage broke down that Ernie pursued his dream in a bid to retain his sanity and he learnt to fly. He continued to fly until early into the 21^st Century when due to his deteriorating eyesight he failed the medical but continued to feed his passion for all things flying related by the reading of books, magazines and watching films.

“Volare” quite literally translates as “Fly”, with the Italian lyrics translating to “…and I flew, I flew happily higher than the sun and even higher.”  It is with these words that his widow, Carol and son Anthony choose to remember him, having had them quite literally set in stone as they adorn his headstone, standing proud in York Cemetery. The Italian lyrics are beautifully inscribed in gold leaf around the bevel of the stone whilst the English translation is etched into the body of the stone. His Cessna plane is reverse carved onto the top of the stone.

Singing and laughing are not the only thoughts that spring to mind when remembering Ernie.  A technician by trade, having started his career working on T.V.’s with Granada, Ernie was fascinated by anything with movements.  He collected watches, clocks and anything else that had movements. At the time of his death, he had an estimated 500+ watches in his collection and many of his relatives and friends now own one or sometimes two of “Ernie’s timepieces”.  

Ernie choose to always wear two watches, one on each wrist. When asked why he wore two he would laugh and say: “So I can check each is right!”. When asked why he collected so many he responded: “Because time is the greatest gift you have.” This too is recognised on his memorial which is inscribed with the words: “Time passes, love remains.”

If you choose to seek out Ernie’s headstone in York Cemetery, pause for a moment and listen very carefully.  You may be surprised to hear and see a Cessna plane flying overhead.  Unless it’s Friday 13^th. He would never fly on Friday 13^th and that is the only day so far that anyone visiting his grave has not been aware of the plane flying over.  If you see and hear it you can guarantee that it will make you smile – because that is what Ernie, our Singing Pilot, does.

An Exquisite Place in York To Rest In Peace?

One of only two privately owned Victorian cemeteries in the UK today, York Cemetery dates back to 1837.  Far from being a sad place where people come to mourn the dead, it is an oasis of peaceful serenity and quite unique beauty.  Here the old sits alongside the new and wild plants and shrubs rub shoulders with beautifully manicured lawns and flower beds.

In parts, nature is almost reclaiming its own as ivy creeps up and over beautifully carved and weathered gravestones.  It is a mosaic of different areas within which one will find a section where angels watch over their charges, a herb garden where fresh herbs freely grow within the kerbs of the graves, a scented walk - specially planted with perfumed plants, butterfly walk - as the name suggests planted with shrubs to which butterflies are attracted, Soldiers Lawn, Belle Vue Terrace, Felicity Gate Wall and, of course, Emerson's Lawn all have been named with special meaning.

It hasn't always been so well-cared-for as it is today, however.  In 1966 it entered a period of voluntary liquidation, it wasn't until 1984 when York Cemetery Trust bought the cemetery for a nominal sum that the restoration work still taking place today began.  The following is an excerpt from "Reflections", written by and reproduced by the kind permission of Richard Keesing, Chairman of York Cemetery Trust, which is his personal account of what he found when he "discovered" the cemetery for the first time.

Reflections

"When I first clambered through a fence into the cemetery and wandered along its forgotten paths, the grounds were overgrown and everywhere there was a sense of the peaceful returning to nature.  I did not know how old or how extensive the burial ground was but all about me bore the cloak of nature reclaiming what was its own.  The inscriptions on the gravestones were weathered and were quietly being taken into care by the loving embrace of time.  I wandered through this silent land which seemed to have no beginning and no end.  The paths took their own mysterious ways and one was enfolded by the sounds of the silence and stillness of a late summer afternoon.  Every now and then I read an inscription on a tombstone which spoke of the sadness of the ending and the bearing away of a life into an unknown and unknowable land. And everywhere there was a cloak of mystery and a beauty which hung in the air as of the presence of the bearing away by angels.  And it seemed that the graves were enfolding me into a presence of delicate sadness and reassuring me that all would be well and that all manner of things would be well.

The cemetery is a place of mystical beauty, where its peace speaks of eternal values and asks one to leave, for the moment, the hustle and bustle of the world and find tranquillity and renewal in a place of endless, poignant sadness.  We have in our care a timeless land which has been here forever and will be here for time without end.  It offers to all a refuge and a place of quiet reflection upon the eternal values of life and of our beginning and of our passing onto eternity.  This land is of peacefulness, and of beautify and it is our bound and duty to do all that is in our power to enhance the mystery which it enfolds so that future generations can be held in it's protecting embrace.

...This land is sacred, for its beauty and tranquillity is born in sadness for the passing of a soul and the hope for the future of both the living and the dead.  Every inch of this beautiful and mysterious land is precious and all that we have done and all that we will do must help to enhance the presence of the eternal peace and mystery which is enshrined here so that all who come here can share in its peace and tranquillity...."

If you would like to become involved with helping to preserve this beautiful cemetery there are a number of ways in which to do this.  Please follow the following link to learn about the work of the Friends of York Cemetery: http://yorkcemetery.org.uk/friends-of-york-cemetery.html

A Hauntingly Beautiful Sight in York Cemetery

If ever a picture painted a thousand words then it must be one of the following, taken in York Cemetery this week.

What the photos reflect is the sheer beauty of a carpet of purple which has been created by the planting of 18,000 crocus corms at the cemetery.  The corms were planted as part of the "Purple4Polio" initiative created by Rotary International.  

In October 2018/2019 pupils from 3 local schools: St. Georges Primary, St. Lawrence's Primary and Fishergate Primary commenced the planting and on November task days planting was open to everyone and they were joined by 50 people of all ages, including the then Lord Mayor of York, Cllr. Barbara Boyce and the Civic Party.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication programme, Rotary International has helped to reduce polio cases by 99.9% since their first vaccination initiative was launched in the Phillippines in 1979.  Rotary International has helped to vaccinate over 2.5 billion children in 122 countries, having contributed more than $1.8 billion towards eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today, polio remains endemic in only Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria although just 22 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2017 - which is a phenomenal reduction from the 1980s when the world witnessed around 1,000 cases per day.  

The significance of the colour purple and the strapline "Purple4Polio" is that when a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass polio immunisation days in many countries their little finger is painted with a purple dye so it is clear they have received their life-saving vaccine.

The poignancy of the thousands of purple crocus in York Cemetery is that they have been planted in an area of small tombstones of babies and young children, which makes the beautiful sight all the more thought-provoking and such a hauntingly beautiful sight.  

Thank you to York Cemetery office for providing more information about the Purple4Polio initiative.  Further information and how you can make a donation can be found on the Rotary International website: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/ending-polio