Roy Salonin

Roy Howard Salonin

Birth: May 16, 1950 in Montreal, Quebec

Death: May 22, 1986 (age 36) in View Royal, (Victoria) B.C.

Gravesite Details: Row G – Plot 2

Inscription:
Loving
Son and Brother
Roy Salonin
1950 – 1986
Name in Hebrew: Rafael Chaim b. Nachum
ת נ צ ב ה
abbreviation for Biblical quote: “May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

Biography:
Rabbi Victor Hillel Reinstein gave the following eulogy at his funeral:
Yahrzeit: 13 Iyar, 5746

Our hearts are heavy today as we bid farewell and shalom to Roy. We pray now that he finds shalom, peace.

Our hearts are also touched with admiration for the manner of his struggle – it was noble and graceful.

Roy was a gentle man of deep faith – he was continually on a spiritual journey – seeking a comfortable relationship with God. This was a serious part of Roy’s life that many people were not aware of.

Roy had a nice sparkle and a zest for living, a spontaneity combined with a sense of struggle. Not a despairing person, Roy was at once realistic and positive. This was the nature of his journey. He gave meaning to what it is to be a Jew – one of the people of Israel. “One who wrestles with God.”

Knowing that he was dying, Roy summoned the faith that he lived by – – and it was the gentle breeze that gave wing to his soul. So he wrote of his own willingness before these final days and weeks to place his life in God’s hands.

Roy was a caring person who touched many people. Years back in Montreal, where he grew up and graduated from McGill, he worked as a Big Brother to orphans. And in the some 10 years Roy lived in Victoria he touched and was loved by many people for his caring and concern and his good nature, his good soul. He was well-loved by all, by his parents Ronnie and Nathan Salonin and by his sister Marily, with whom he had a special relationship.

Roy loved being Jewish. He loved learning Torah. He studied for several years in Jerusalem in the Diaspora Yeshiva. He hoped to go with other people journeying to the land.

He enjoyed helping to lead services in the Synagogue and chanting from the Scroll of Esther. One Purim he won the prize for the best costume. In a class this winter, Roy taught that the two sons of Aaron the priest, died before the Lord because they had not found a way to harmoniously disagree with each other. So may we, as perhaps Roy asked, find harmony even as we differ.

Sometimes Roy doubted his own worth. As so many told you, Roy, now we tell you one more time of our love for you, and of the abiding value of your life.

The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing.

Parents:
Ronnie. Kepner Salonin
Nathan Salonin

Sibling:
Marilyn Salonin Halberg