From the Palmerston Observer:
An Appreciation:
Letter to the Editor, On May 31st, 1947 at Toronto General Hospital there passed away a life-long resident of Palmerston is the person of Robert Elliot “Little Dickie” Root. I note in your issue of June 5th an account of the death and funeral, and should like to add a few words in connection with the deceased. For over 30 years “Little Dickie” was in the employ of the Canadian National Railways at this point and was well known by most of the residents of Palmerston. For over 20 years he was at the shops of the C.N.R. here, and both former and present foremen will say that he did his work efficiently and well. Outside of Palmerston and through out most of South Western Ontario “Little Dickie” was better known as an athlete than a railway man. He was a better than average golfer, he also played for a number of years with the Palmerston Baseball team. He played first base and as a batter he was well up among the Palmerston players and you could almost always rely upon him when hits were needed to win a game. It was on ice, however, that “Little Dickie” Root excelled. For 20 years he helped to carry the puck for Palmerston Hockey teams and was one of the leading scorers for a number of years. He could have accepted a professional offer but preferred to stay at his work and played for Palmerston until about ten or twelve years ago when he retired from the sport. As a hockey player he was not a big man, seldom weighing over 160 pounds, but he never yielded to bulk, experience or tenacity on the part of his opponents. As a curler he represented Palmerston in most of the larger bonspiels in Southern and Western Ontario. He was well known in Detroit, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Kitchener, Guelph and Owen Sound as well as many of the smaller bonspiels in the territory around Palmerston. He played with Stan Burns in the finals for the Governor General’s Cup some years ago, and many times represented Palmerston for the District Cup and Ontario Tankard Shields. He always played the game with a will to win and as in hockey believed that he was as good as the best, which, of course, he proceeded to show. “Little Dickie” will be sadly missed, not only by the many enthusiastic sportsmen in curling and hockey throughout Western Ontario, and so farewell to one of the fairest, cleanest and gamest athletes that the Town of Palmerston ever had or knew. - One of “Little Dick’s” friends |