A northwest Calgary church was packed Friday for a memorial service honouring a man nicknamed the “king of Kensington.” Paul Wilkinson died on Jan. 8, 2017.
The mourners were from every walk of life: first responders, people from the corporate world and people from the streets. Wilkinson was homeless and many said he changed the face of it.
Reverend John Pentland of the Hillhurst United Church conducted the tribute.
“Homelessness is just an issue or a topic or a cause, but suddenly it became a name, a person.”
Wilkinson came to the weekly services at the Kensington-area church and many said he was a remarkable reminder of humanity and humility.
“He would never come in gracefully, it was always awkward,” church volunteer Anne Yates-Laberge said. “I miss the disruption and I miss his raw humanness in our presence. He’s not perfect and didn’t try to be – and I love that unpretentious being about himself.”
Wilkinson battled an addiction and in the end, it was how he lost his life. His best friend Shawn Gaudry shared the streets with him and said he respects what Wilkinson did.
“Paul opened up everybody’s hearts to what homelessness was about,” Gaudry said. “He was the embodiment of the streets.”
And the regular parishioners said he was always generous, even though he had very little.
“He brought me a card with $100 in it and he said, ‘I want you to buy a new dress,'” Marsha MaPoy said.”He wanted me to buy something so I will remember always…so I did.”
Many were encouraged to donate to the outreach program at Hillhurst United Church in Wilkinson’s memory.
He was always donating panhandling money to the church or giving loonies to children, encouraging them to pay it forward.
Wilkinson was 52 years old.