The past week has been the best of times and the worst of times for figure skater Jeffrey Buttle.
Last Saturday, he became the first Canadian man in 11 years to win the gold medal at the world figure-skating championships.
But on Tuesday, the day after Buttle arrived home to great media fanfare, his grandfather, Albert (Bert) Buttle, died. He was 87. The elder Buttle, who had been ill with cancer for the past five years, had been sleeping away much of his days, but was awakened long enough to see his grandson win the gold medal.
"He was very happy," said Peter Buttle, Bert's son and Jeffrey's father. "He was very good always, with all of the kids. It was kind of nice that he did get to see Jeff skate on Saturday."
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Bert, born in Britain, was a paratrooper in the Second World War, but emigrated to Canada in 1957, when Peter was only four.
In recent years, when he felt his death was in sight, he'd joke that he was "off to university."
"We used to laugh and cry at the same time at that," Peter said. "But he's happy and he finally got to go to university."
Jeffrey is an engineering student at the University of Toronto, although he's put his education on hold while he trains much of the time at Lake Arrowhead, Calif.
Bert worked for the forest products company Domtar as a master electrician and then with Ontario's Ministry of Colleges and Universities before he retired in 1986.
He leaves four children and 10 grandchildren, one of them the world champion.
In the early 1990s, he decided to donate his body to the University of Toronto for research.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey has had little time to mourn. He's been swept up in his country's quest for a hero and something to celebrate.
Peter said he and wife, Lesley, have fielded thousands of congratulatory calls since Jeffrey's world championships win. The mayor of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., where the skater was born, has told them the small Northern Ontario town has decided to name a park after Jeffrey.
He's also playing a role in a sketch called Buttle Mania in the CBC comedy show Air Farce Live tonight.
Yesterday, Peter said the party was over, and his son was back at work, getting two new show programs for the Stars on Ice tour with choreographer David Wilson in Toronto.
But Peter knows this accomplishment is far different from any of the others Jeffrey has made.
"When we went and picked up Jeff at the airport [Monday], it was just a media frenzy there," he said. "We weren't expecting quite that large a crowd there. It wasn't nearly the size when he won silver, that's for sure."
The Buttles didn't go to Sweden to attend the world championships, but watched the live coverage on CBC Country Canada. Mother Lesley couldn't watch. She stayed in her room while Jeffrey skated.
It's different at competitions, where she can see him in the warm-up and walking around the rink and gauge his emotional mindset. On television, there is no way to tell.
After Jeffrey landed his final Lutz, Peter screamed: "Get down here!"
Now it's back to the reality for the Buttle family. Peter said he wasn't sure his son would win, although he'd been close before, earning the silver medal at the world championships in 2005.
"I knew he was capable of doing it," he said. "But sometimes nerves kick in. He certainly does have the programs, the music and everything else. Sometimes the jumps let him down. This time, he did whatever he could do. I kept telling him, it would be nice to have a clean skate and just see what they'd give him for scores."
They found out.
"He worked so hard to get this thing," Peter said.
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