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George McLean SHARP

October 1, 2008

SHARP, George McLean


George McLean Sharp, an outgoing, gracious man, was born on October 30, 1916, in a house that is still standing on Second Avenue in Ladysmith. This widow’s son had a full and eventful life. He was a teenager and a young adult during the Great Depression and played basketball and soccer for the town. A veteran of World War 2, he fought with the Canadian Second Division in France, Belgium and Holland. A salesman in Chemainus and Ladysmith, he was a business owner in Lake Cowichan. He also worked as a logger and longshoreman. For many years, he was a fixture at the Ladysmith Trading Company. Lefty, as he was known to relatives, successive generations of Ladysmithers, and a host of university students, met Dot, his wife of 59 years during the war and married her in 1947. This perpetual blackberry picker loved his town, island and province. He spent many of his summer holidays with his family at Qualicum Beach, Endako and Penticton, exploring most roads he found along the way. A member of Saint John’s Masonic Lodge No. 21 for 63 years, he was its unofficial genealogist who seemed to know everyone from Duncan to Nanaimo. George was a family man in every sense of the word and loved get-togethers in the family home that he lived in for 44 years until the age 91. He was an avid gardener who raised his children following the same doctrine. George maintained an interest in sports all his life, debating with friends as to which teams and players were best. His favourite team was the Detroit Red Wings of the 1950’s and 60’s. He also loved fishing, using a dugout cedar canoe as his “boat” for years.

This purveyor of oral history is survived by his sister Jean Clarke, sons John (Esther), Robert (Yvonne), and George (Tracey), daughter Dorothy Durban (Pat), grandchildren Scott (Sandra), Colin, Curtis, Kerri, Kory-Anne, Jeff, Erica, Shylah (Mike), Mark and Erin, great-grandchildren Heather, Tiffany, Ozzy, Gavin, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and great grandnieces and great grandnephews. He was predeceased by his wife Dorothy (Dot) in 2006, by brothers John and David, and sisters Mary, Margaret, Ann and Beth.


Telford's Mid-Island Memorial

Services 250-245-5553



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