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Light a Candle
Robert Francis “Frank” Pendlebury (Christian name Noah Smith) was born on 12/13/1949 and passed into glory on 02/02/2023. Robert was well known in the community where he grew up in Rexsdale, Ontario, Canada. He served as an altar boy at St. Benedicts Parish in Etobicoke, Ontario. He met the love of his life at a family gathering. His Aunt Rita and Uncle Norman Finnerty had brought along their foster daughter Linda. Frank was funny, witty, loved to tell jokes, patient, compassionate, loved, was a servant to all. Those who know him know that he was Faithful, peaceful, trustworthy, joyful, a man of integrity, diligent, resourceful, consistent, determined, unconditional love, forgiving, merciful, very understanding, patient, self-sacrificing, he was spiritual, had spiritual wisdom, a servant. Caring, compassionate, He felt the pain of others. Was sensitive if he watched a movie, and would bawl his eyes out. He genuinely cared about others, even stopping to pray for the family whenever a funeral went by. He was quiet, a man of few words. He was a great man of faith that has been passed down to his children and will continue to live through his children for a lifetime! He later married Linda Marie Roberts Finnerty (Christian name Hadassah Smith) on 12/01/1973. They had 6 children; Monique, Kerry (Ariana), Jennifer, Madeleine, Rachel (aka Sabrina), and after 5 girls they had a son James. In Aug 1996, their spiritual daughter Catherina (Christian name Sonyah) became apart of their family. Whenever he took their family out, and people would count the children, they would ask all from the same marriage? Frank would say, "Yes, I was the only one at the foot of the mountain when God said go forth and multiply." When his kids would add an ingredient to their food that wasn't so tasty in someone else's eyes, he was known to say "Now, that's the flavor I've been missing." Frank (Noah) was an entrepreneur, owner of Monarch business machines, he worked on typewriters, calculators, and other business machines. He was also a hockey coach for little league for 4 years. He Was a mechanic, working on cars with his friends. Tearing down an engine and redoing it. One night when he was a young teenager he was working on fixing a TV in the living room when he touched something that knocked him across the room. His dad came out and said, "Frankie" what are you doing?" He replied, "I was over there by the TV and now I am way over here." In 1982, Noah was in a car accident where he felt Yahweh’s hand put him in the passenger floorboard, which could have otherwise killed him. He was able to recover from that accident. But on 8/10/86 he suffered another car accident which caused a silent brain injury and scar tissue on the brain. He had a headache ever since. In 1999, he said that Yahweh told him to sell all and choose to walk by faith. They sold everything, he gave up the disability, and that begin the start of their faith walk journey as a family, which they call the Household of Faith. About 8 to 10 years ago, he began to experience seizures, which had a significant impact on his life. In 2017 he had some health issues where he could have easily died, but once again Yahweh was with him, he survived and Yahweh used that time of suffering to inspire a family reunion, and then there was another family get-together this past week, the final week of his life here on earth. According to his children, they said that he never saw any affection between him and his siblings growing up, and he wanted something different in his own family, that he would live and love differently. He always showed his wife affection, and consistent with hugging his kids. The atmosphere was always comfortable with the love he had for all of the children, and they could talk to him about anything. He was patient and affectionate, would give you his time, would sit down and talk to you and help you work through things. It was something he cherished as the most important thing he wanted with his family and it was how he interacted with his children. When he had the accident it had a impact in his abilities, but he still always made time for family. He was an encourager. He had a love for music. He would sing all the time with special songs that he liked. He just loved praising Yahweh. Even when he was in seizures, he would using Scripture verses, and would rebuke deaf and dumb spirits. He held onto Yahweh with all of his heart, soul and might. He had a love for Scripture, and always had Scripture on his lips no matter what. As the family would get ready for a meal he would have a 7-10 minute homily before eating a meal. That’s how strong Scripture was in his life. “He who endures to the end shall be saved” was one of his favorite Scripture verses. He definitely had a mission with that Scripture verse at the hospital in 2017, where that all the doctors and nurses would hear about it. But he was no rigid, straight laced bible thumper with no personality. He was fun to be around. He always had good wit, and even with the pain he was in, he always found something funny to say. He loved to dance, he used to take his wife Linda (Hadassah) dancing, and when he recognized the problem with public dancing, they would just dance at home in their own private place. And, believe it or not, he was still able to do those steps up until their anniversary in 2021, and even some time after that. He was a major prayer warrior. He would spend hours praying for people. He would list family members, even people from his childhood that he would pray for. He was also very active in the Household of Faith's Prison Ministry where he would write and encourage prisoners all over the country.
