“There were four F words, and not the F words you might think: his faith, his family, his friends and his fun,” said Scanlon, who befriended Mr. DeMarco in the 1960s. “Faith was his first priority, for sure. He was a good faithful and faith-filled man.”
Over the course of their friendship, which spanned five decades, Scanlon said Mr. DeMarco gave countless dollars and hours to the Church. Anything extra he could spare went to a number of charities, including L'Arche Daybreak, Catholic Missions In Canada, the Good Shepherd Centre, St. Vincent de Paul Society and Canadian Food for Children.
Mr. DeMarco passed away Feb. 21 in his Keswick, Ont., home. He was 94.
"I'm glad I had Vince as a friend," said Scanlon, former pastor of St. Mary Immaculate parish in Richmond Hill, Ont.
A builder by trade, Mr. DeMarco helped the Archdiocese of Toronto secure land for new churches as the population spread out from the city.
“Vince didn't flaunt his money or whatever he had but it did have an influence when you needed it,” said Scanlon. “I don't think he was formally on big planning committees ... but he was for sure involved in the building of some of the churches and obtaining property and knowing where the development was going being a builder. He had done so much for the Church, you know finding sites for churches.”
If land wasn't available at an affordable price, which was the case when the decision was made to build St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Newmarket, Ont., Mr. DeMarco made it available by selling off his own land to the archdiocese below market value. And these contributions didn't go unnoticed.
“Bishop (Leonard) Wall recognized Vince's contributions, not that Vince wanted that,” said Scanlon, who also remembers Mr. DeMarco and Bishop Francis Marrocco being close. “He had mentioned that he was a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre (a recognition of one's financial contributions to the Church) ... but he didn't buy the garment. He said I'll give you the money and give it to the poor.”
When Mr. DeMarco wasn't busy building churches — or homes through his company VVD Properties Limited — he could be found in the pews.
“He went to Mass every day,” said Scanlon. “I mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday he went to Mass.”
But Mr. DeMarco, credited with being the oldest living Serran before his death, wasn't all work and pray; the man did indulge in play.
“His ability to play with his sons, nephews and great nephews struck me as impressive even as a child,” said Krissy DeMarco, his grandniece. “I hold those memories of those wonderful hockey reunions along with weekends spent in Collingwood, (Ont.), on the slopes and finally last winter when he got to meet my children and play with them poolside ... near and dear to my heart. Every moment spent with him as a child and now as an adult were gentle and memorable.”
Mr. DeMarco also played with priests while he toured with the Flying Fathers hockey team from 1964 until the late 1990s. It was during that time he and Scanlon, who also played on the team, became companions.
“He used to kid that he was the only real father on the team because he had nine kids and we had none to talk about,” said Scanlon.
Fr. Pat Blake, another former Flying Father, remembers Mr. DeMarco and his bright red helmet fondly.
“He was a great person,” said Blake, who recently retired. “He got along really well. By and large the guys were all priests and Vince wasn't but he got along really well and had great respect for the priests.”
If it wasn't hockey filling those few moments of free time Mr. DeMarco had it was golf, cycling, tennis, piloting his plane or skydiving.
So as a man who loved the fun of sport, Scanlon feels the way Mr. DeMarco passed was all but fitting for a man who always put family, faith and friends first.
“He died the way he would have wanted to,” said Scanlon. “He died at home and his friend was there from across the street and they were watching the Olympic game, the Canada-U.S. (men's hockey) game, and Canada was winning 1-0 and he just said to his friend, 'Jim, I think it is over.' Jim looked over and he was dead.”