Read Edmund English passed on Saturday, April 25, 2020, at the age of 82.
Read was predeceased by his parents Dr. Lloyd and Leta English and his first wife Jen. He is survived by his wife Hanna, children Lisanne (Dwayne), Tod (Lisa), Dean (Toni), David and Steven DeVries, his brothers Bill (Bev) and Joe (Bonnie), and his grandchildren Christopher, Kyle, Grace, Lauren, Olivia, Hillary, Elise, Justin and Jordan.
Read was born on October 10, 1937, in Williams Lake. Prior to grade school, the family relocated to Kamloops. Read spent his childhood in Kamloops and enjoyed the family time at their cabin at Celista on Shuswap Lake.
Read made many lifelong friends through his various interests in hunting, skiing, hiking, biking, camping, fishing, hockey, music and automobiles. He graduated from Kamloops High School and continued his education at Gonzaga University in Spokane, where he achieved his mechanical engineering degree. He and Jen married and moved to Powell River in 1960, where he began his engineering career with MacMillan Bloedel. In 1971, Read left M&B to pursue his dream and established Taw's Gun & Cycle on Marine Avenue, where it remains to this day.
After a few years as a bachelor, Read met Hanna Verkerk and they blended their families. From this point, Read and Hanna enjoyed their mutual interests of outdoor activities, boating, motorcycle trips, ATVing, gardening, biking, hunting, camping and time spent with treasured friends. They moved from the waterfront and developed their dream home on an acreage in Paradise Valley, which they treasured.
Read was an active member of the community. He was part of the original crew that built Mt. Diadem ski hut; he was a leader in the Junior Forest Wardens; he was active in the Powell River ATV Club; he played the trumpet in the Powell River Community Band and with Hanna's family music group. In the early 1970s he sponsored one of the commercial league hockey teams (Taws), which is still on the ice. Along with this, throughout his career he donated to many local sports and charities in their own pursuit to help Powell River.
Read died peacefully in his beloved home surrounded by family.
Harry Faulkner
Box 129,R.R.#7,Desert Cove Estates
Vernon, BC
V1T 7Z3
Harry "Sonny" Claude Faulkner died on Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Sonny was born in Blue River on March 16, 1937, and was predeceased by his wife and companion of 59 years, Iris Leone Faulkner, in January of this year. "Sonny" and Iris had two children, Tracey Everett (Ed) and Jayson Faulkner, along with five grandchildren: Kirby, Luke, Devlin, Jorgen, and Carter.
He often talked about his early years in Blue River and Kamloops with his 7 siblings, whom he always spoke very highly of. With Iris and his very young family, he made the bold move to West Vancouver in 1967 despite the concerns of many that taking such a risk was sure to end in tears. However, his family thrived in West Vancouver and growing up on the west coast of BC, and he never lost his small-town roots and pride of place.
Sonny was liked by everyone who knew him or met him. He was a profoundly gentle man but had no patience for rudeness or disrespect. He was a gentleman in every way. He adored his wife and was, in many ways, the perfect Father. He was always there, offering love, advice, and insight, supportive and sacrificing to those he loved. He challenged us to do and be better but also to be happy and make the best choices.
His heart is what defined him in so many ways and he loved people. He was very social and there were few things he enjoyed more than a great get together with family and friends. He was very proud of his extended family and his friends.
He was successful at everything he put his mind to. He retired as General Manager of Northern Trailer (now Horizon North) in Kamloops. Previously, Sonny had for most of his working life worked alone, fiercely independent, not wanting to lose the freedom to travel his own path. However, as GM, his last working role, he discovered that his greatest skill, his true calling, were people, and the most rewarding period of his working life was at the end of his working life. He had great affection for the people he worked with. It was the people who truly mattered to him. And that was the way he had always lived his life.
His family and friends will miss him dearly and his fight with Pancreatic cancer was a long and brutal one. Fought with grace right until the end when the fight simply became impossible.
Sherry Fiddick
Sherry Clark
Dale Fiddick
Wendy Finn
Wendy Apted
Wendy passed away on December 5, 2010
Daughter of Enid and Eric Finn; Sister to Peter (deceased) and Michael (Marlie); sister-in-law to Gary and Richard.
Wendy succumbed to her dementia but had constant care from the staff at Bastion Place for which we thank them.
Other family members are her husband Ted, together they would have celebrated their 54th anniversary on December 26, 2010, and all their children Anita (Alex Bergen), Lake (aka Lynn), Zoe (Dale Doebert) and Ted jnr. (Cheryl). They have produced nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Wendy was born in North Vancouver and then started her peripatetic waltz around BC always in sight of water. The communities include Britannia Beach, Kamloops, Monte Creek, Ocean Falls, Campbell River, Crofton, Prince Rupert, Enderby and finally Sorrento.
This connection to water seems to arise in many of her activities. As a teenager, she boated across the Atlantic to sing in a children’s choir in England, Scotland and Wales under the direction of Mr. Findlater of Vancouver. Wartime rationing was still in effect, but the choir was treated with scarce delicacies to show the people’s delight with their voices. Her musical skills shone for many years in the Shuswap Singers. Her mother had been an excellent teacher.
Later, as a sunbather at English Bay beach, the water effect softened her senses and she accepted an offer of marriage from the lifeguard and gave up her student nurse plans. The couple had a year and a half of honeymoon on Cousins inlet courtesy of the paper mill, which included a boat and driftwood beaches to explore.
Soon they purchased a waterfront lot neat Sorrento and continued sail boating, kayaking and canoeing. However with children and a house, Wendy moved on to creating her gardens by hiring a bulldozer and using picks, shovels, cement mixer and her VW bug as a rock hauler. It was not long for the plots to be planted and the cold frames, greenhouse and seedling room bursting. One of her friends suggested that she was obsessed with fecundity. So be it, but all surplus produce was canned or stored in the root cellar. Wendy was an extraordinary homemaker to her husband and children. Her family would wake up to her fresh baking and a song at the bottom of the stairs, as she encouraged everyone out of bed. Gourmet meals abounded and her sewing machines hummed with her creativity.
She persuaded her children to give her all the grandchildren at once for their summer visit to the lake, without parents! Two weeks of energized kids and she never had to “ride her witches broomstick." When the household settled later in life, she moved from the shore and surface to underwater with scuba diver ticket. Now we could explore reefs, caves and sea lion grottoes. She still would pick up shells and earned a registration in the Conchologist fraternity. She encouraged us to go white water rafting in Costa Rica, just before we completed a sailing circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.
A water nymph has come ashore, but she is still making ripples.
