Canadian Kyokushinkai-kan Karate Organization - Reports

Sempai Pete Fradley

November 21, 2003

Sempai Pete Fradley passed away at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary on November 21, 2003 and the Canadian Kyokushinkai-kan Karate Organization lost a dedicated senior figure in the organization.

My family started our affiliation with Kyokushin Karate in Cranbrook under Shihan Don in 1993. My husband was then transferred to Calgary in 1997 and we were concerned, initially, with whom would we ever be able to train under that could even come close to Shihan. Well, we were not just lucky but very fortunate indeed to be able to train under Sempai Pete and his wife Sempai Kim.

Sempai Pete taught me to not use excuses to impede my progress in karate; things like the fact I was an older woman who had never been athletically inclined. Instead he showed me the positive side in that I had the ability to show my young son my grit and determination to succeed and to influence him in a positive manner. He also taught me that it is not about what other people see as your abilities or inabilities that count but how you see yourself and whether you are willing to push yourself to be the best you can be. I am also one of those unfortunate people that knows her katas, for example, but when testing would freeze up mentally and not be able to perform the katas at all as I would go completely blank. In competitions I would also freeze up. Keeping in mind the positive input from Sempai Pete I learned the Seienchin kata and performed it at Shihan Don's Tournament in Cranbrook in the brown belt division and received my first ever medal in any sport of 3rd place. Although this would probably not be of high significance to a number of people Sempai Pete and myself knew that I had accomplished a feat that I would remember as very significant for the rest of my life.

I am but one of Sempai's students that has been positively influenced by him. Other students affected by his teaching have made a noticeable impact on Kyokushin Karate in Canada most noticeably Shihan Don and Shihan Stuart.

Shihan Don spoke eloquently on Sempai Pete's positive influence on Kyokushin Karate in Canada at the funeral services and how much he will be missed. I want to reiterate on behalf of the huge number of students he has influenced just how sadly he will be missed and to thank him again one last time.

Osu,

Debbie Parsons
Bearspaw Dojo

Farewell To Sempai Pete

Good afternoon:

Osu!

Let me start by saying - Kim, our deepest prayers and sympathies are with you as you grieve for the loss of Pete in your life. We grieve with you as you struggle to begin life without him.

I first met Sempai Pete on February 2 1968. This was the day I walked into the Richmond Kyokushin Karate Dojo where Pete was the senior instructor at the time. It was he that first put both my brother Stuart's and my feet on the road that we have journeyed since then in Kyokushin Karate. This chance encounter and Pete's part in it has played a large role in the development of the International Karate Organization KyokushinKaiKan (Canada) as it exists today with thousands of students in over 50 clubs in Western Canada, and with significant close ties to the heart of Kyokushin worldwide.

Pete started his training in Kyokushin Karate in November 1966 in Vancouver. This led him to open a branch club in Richmond in 1967. I have vivid memories of Pete as a brown belt breaking boards with the tips of his fingers. I recall thinking at that time, this is for me, I want to one day be able to do those things. Throughout those ensuing years Pete served for me as a quiet reminder and encouragement of the goals, dreams and aspirations we had in those first days of training.

Over the years I have been fortunate to get to know Pete better and can say that I counted him among my friends, and felt that the feeling was mutual. As I got to know Pete I found many things to admired and respect about him.

Pete was an artist, and had an artist's perceptions and passions about life. He was always willing to share his gift with those of us in the organization, doing graphics works and design work free of charge to ensure that the organization presented a positive public image. I know that I speak for his colleagues in karate, in expressing my deep thanks and appreciation for the unselfish giving of his talent.

We have a saying that Kyokushin is not for overcoming others but for overcoming ourselves. Pete set an example in this that is difficult to find in this day and age. In his earlier years Peter struggled deeply with many personal demons, as a result of his youthful excesses of the 1960's & 70's. His response to this was to fight back against those demons and he was successful in defeating them, permanently banishing them from his life. Once they were gone, he never allowed them back into his life and never looked back. For me this showed the true Kyokushin spirit of perseverance. Once he had done this, he went back to teaching and training karate, helping other in the Ladner area fight the same addictions he himself had fought.

For years Pete suffered for severe back pain. Again, he persevered and over came this obstacle in what I have come to believe is typical Pete fashion, he attacked the problem head on, checked himself into the Spine Clinic and learned how to manage the problem without resorting to surgery or drugs. Pete was successful in this and eventually returned to training, opening a club in the Calgary, later moving to the outskirts of Calgary in Water Valley, where he continued to teach until his diagnosis for cancer about 3 years ago.

It was during this trying time that Pete showed his characteristic perseverance. With a diagnosis of 6 month to live, Pete decided against traditional chemo & radiation treatment, checked himself in to alternate treatment, and was successful in putting the cancer into remission. He, together with Kim, fought in true Kyokushin fashion for 3 more years of their life together.

My connection with Pete has been karate and I have developed a profound sense of respect for him over the years. I have always appreciated Pete's strong and unquestioned support and council for my brother, and for me as the organization developed. I found him to have a quiet and unassuming presence that seemed to bring a calm when he was there. I found this calming presence demanded attention. I appreciated his laugh and the glint in his eye, as I sensed real youthful joy in it. This maybe the thing that I will miss most about Pete.

It was through the karate that I think Pete gained his greatest joy, that is his relationship and marriage to Kim. Over the years at many training camps Pete became friends with Kim. This friendship developed into the relationship we are here today to support and grieve the loss of with Kim.

I remember Pete telling me at a training camp how enamored he had become with Kim and that she was the woman that he had waited for all his life. Later he was to tell me that it was greatest joy and contentment of his life when he married her. I found it wonderful, given Pete's history with the institution of marriage, that he could find such happiness at that point in his life. As I look at their love and commitment I am glad that both Pete and Kim found each other, and found so much joy together.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon intoned that at the end of our life what is important is the love that we receive will be equal to the love we give. When I look at Kim and see the love that she has for Pete, it reflects for me the magnitude of the love he had for her. This is a relationship to be envied, cherished and grieved for at its loss. The Apostle Paul wrote that in the end all that will remain of our lives here is faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. With Pete's passing, it is his love for Kim and her love for Pete that remains. I would ask you to keep Kim in your thoughts and prayers, and grieve with her as she mourns the loss of Pete in her life.

Thank you.
Osu!
Don Corrigal

03.05.28

Osu!

Stuart Corrigal Shihan,

As one of the great unwashed, I appreciate all the information given to me over the years by you in regards to the organization. It is the openness and honesty in the way that any information is presented that makes me feel that I am a part of the World organization. It is this honesty and directness that has built this Western Canadian organization into what it is today. Any outsider has only to look at the support Shihan Stuart is given re: events to realize that there is more going on here than blind obedience.

What is going on here is loyalty. Loyalty that has been earned by this same openness that he is now being censured for. My loyalty and I think, the vast majority of the kohai within this Western Canadian organization are with Shihans Stuart and Don.

Although the majority of the yudansha are not involved politically in the World organization, we are not stupid. We recognize power struggles for what they are and no amount of lying by omission can make the obvious more palatable.

The focus of this World organization has shifted since the death of the great Sosai Oyama and in my opinion, not for the better. Yes, remarkably even kohai have opinions. Usually I keep my opinions to myself...no I do not, forget I said that. I see the results and draw my own conclusions as to the reasons. It does not matter that Shihan shares his information with me, the results are the same, and I draw my own conclusions.

What does matter is that Shihan treats all of his black belts equally, as friends and shares with us his concerns as they affect us.

As for this latest rubbish concerning his loyalty it's just another political struggle for something. I do not know yet what that something is but I am sure that in the next little while, the pieces of the puzzle will be revealed.

People and local organizations have left the IKO, that is to be expected with a new management team but when a Sempai like Cameron Quinn leaves, no half-truths will satisfy completely the doubts and questions I have. Again it does not matter to me who leaves, my loyalty is with Shihan Stuart.

Fact is people have been promoted within the World organization very quickly since Kancho's appointment. People have left. Lies and attempts to discredit others abound. Agreements have been broken (witness the jurisdiction over Ontario). Kancho got the boot from the old Honbu.

Shihan has poured his heart into this Western organization and has suffered many personal conflicts along the years including being betrayed by so-called friends. Yet still he is open, honest and direct with all. I support him fully!

Years ago, we had an organization in B.C. based on lies and deceit. It is no longer around. If you want to know what it was like then, ask Tony Severs, Henri Suitella or myself. Today we have an organization based on honesty and directness. Lets not go back to the old ways, if you have a conflict, bring it out in the open. It will be dealt with openly, honestly and directly.

Yours in Kyokushin and friendship,

Pete Fradley

When Kim first asked me if I would give a tribute to Pete, I answered without hesitation, yes absolutely, I would be honored. Then, as I sat to write this, I didn't know where to start. How do I pay tribute to a man like Pete? Pete was someone who has had a profound impact on my life and the only answer to my question that I could reach was this - celebrate his life and the man that he was, by sharing the memories that I have of him with others. There were too many stories to share them all, but these are a few of the ones closest to my heart.

I've always thought of Pete as my second father and considered myself to be extremely lucky, because I had two great dads instead of one. I first met Pete about 18 years ago when I started training karate. I'm not really sure when his role of karate instructor changed to that of my good friend and mentor, but I do know that my life would be very different today, were it not for that change. He helped me to grow from a shy and awkward child to a confident adult, because he had this way about him; that he could push you outside your comfort zone and you wouldn't realize that you were there, until after it had happened. I still remember the first time he asked me to take warm-up in class. I was terrified, but he just smiled at me, nodded and said you can do this, so I did. And with each class that he had me help with, I got a little more comfortable and a little less shy.

His ability to guide and make people feel safe extended to many people. When I was about 16, Pete and I taught a self-defense class for troubled teens. As I look back now, I really recognize how his presence made these girls feel comfortable and as a result, they opened up and learned. I saw a big change in their self-confidence at the end of the six weeks, a difference made possible because of Pete.

As my second father, Pete thought this meant he could impose some of his rules on me; which I of course, followed to the letter, as all teenagers do. The one that I found to be the funniest started when I was about 17 and has lasted to this day. I was told in no uncertain terms, that I was absolutely not allowed to date until I had my brown belt; because as he put it - boys were bad! When I did finally test for my brown belt and passed, this rule was somehow changed to me not being allowed to date until I had my shodan. I still remember the gleam in his eye on the day of my shodan test; when he said to me: "you realize of course, that this means you're now not allowed to date until you have your nidan!" This rules has always made me smile and simply put was very Pete.

His guidance also extended to food�I remember making dinner for Pete one night and serving mashed potatoes, which he promptly turned down. That was because he didn't eat food that was white or blue, including the blueberry pie I had planned to serve for dessert; because they just weren't natural and therefore not safe to eat! This rule of course, did not extend to vanilla ice cream or the mozzarella cheese on pizza! There was another night at dinner, where I went to pass the salt to my sister, and Pete got a little excited and said - "no, no, you can't do that! You pass the salt, you pass the sorrow. You always have to put the salt down on the table first." To this day, I still can't pass the salt to anyone without first putting it down on the table.

However, his guidance wasn't always pure�.there was this one sayonara banquet that I attended. He spent a good amount of time trying to convince me that I wanted to get up in front of everyone with him, and sing Dennis Leary's song "I'm an asshole". He thought that this would be hilarious and therefore something worth doing, but that was the way his sense of humour worked, always straight to the point, without cutting corners or worrying about offending people.

Pete was also a very loving man to those that were close to him. He did many thing for me that I can't even begin to describe, but will try anyway. He once gave me a knife for my birthday, because I needed something to protect me as I "gallivanted off and sought adventures" However, this was no ordinary knife, it was guaranteed to cut through anything. He knew this, because this company tested the blades by sticking them through car doors! Nothing but the best for the people that he loved.

There was another time that I had asked if he'd be able to draw a picture of me, as I knew how artistically talented he was. He agreed and I waited for some time, being told that the project was a little more ambitious. When he finally finished, I was overwhelmed when I was presented with a beautiful abstract painting of myself. I look at that painting everyday and enjoy it, because I know that it was made with love.

Pete and I would talk about many different topics, from karate to art to the way life works, but the one thing that sticks out most vividly for me, was how he beamed when he spoke of his grand-daughters, Julia and Rachel. He would describe in great detail the differences in their personalities, the crazy things that kids do and how much he enjoyed watching them grow. They were his inspiration and I know that he is watching over them from wherever he is now, making sure that they are safe forever; and growing up to be the wonderful people he knew they would be.

I think that all these little things really add up to the man that I knew Pete to be. He was kind, funny, incredibly protective of the people that he loved, talented, direct, generous, patient, humble and fiercely determined. This determination was never more apparent then in recent years as he battled cancer. He never gave up fighting and believing that he would beat this. After all he had his grandchildren that he needed to watch grow up, a wife that he loved deeply and many things that he still wanted to accomplish. He was a man who had overcome many obstacles in his life and had come to be at peace with many of the mistakes that he had made in his past. He once told me, that in life you will never die, as long as you still had lessons to learn. At that time, he also told me that he would never die because he would make sure that he always had something to learn. In truth, he will never die, because the lessons that he taught to others will always be carried forward in honour of him.

So how do I pay tribute to a man like Pete? I will honour him by passing on the lessons of life that he taught to me, keeping him alive in my heart and I'll always remember his for who he was; an incredibly kind, compassionate, and gentle man, who I will greatly miss and never forget.

Thank you,
Osu,
Katrina Mitchell