March 30, 1927 - February 21, 2024
In Memory ~
George was born in Vancouver in 1927 and moved to Nanaimo with his family in 1939 (age 12) after his father died. In 1942, he, with his brothers opened the White Owl restaurant in the Eagles Building in downtown Nanaimo. We hear to this day, that they made the best hamburgers!
In the late 1940's, George joined his brother Ted, in operating Nanaimo Minute Men. Eventually, they parted ways and George started Chilo Transport Ltd and ran it until his retirement.
George was a founding member of Trinity Catholic Church in north Nanaimo. He was recently honoured as a 70 year member of the Knights of Columbus.
After waiting until his fiancée turned 19 years old, George married the love of his life, Evelyn Graham, in 1948. They raised seven children, sticking together like glue, through the good times and the challenges.
In retirement, they spent many years travelling in their motor home, mostly heading south into the US, with some trips in BC.
George was predeceased by his loving wife, Evelyn; his sons Norman and Gordon; his daughters, Christine and Mary and his grandsons, Tony, Michael and Mathew. He is survived by his children; Barbara (Dale), Jack (Becky) and Gloria (Rob), 22 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren.
After mom passed in 2018, he set out to forge a new chapter in his life. He set forth in the community eager to meet new people, share his knowledge of Nanaimo and experience all that life had to offer. We called him the 'new and improved dad'.
There was a team of people who helped him be a part of the community and kept him as independent as possible. The last few years were particularly challenging as his cognitive and physical decline made getting out more difficult, but he carried on with dogged determination and a fear of dying.
Dad often said, "people are really nice to old guys" and we saw many acts of kindness by random people when he got himself into trouble. Seeing all of that has restored our faith in humanity.
We would like to thank: Dr William Colbourne, NPs Lise Dawson and Erica Cambrey, for the excellent medical care that was given to him. To Kevin and his team at the Drugstore, for many years of good advice and flexibility with many medication changes. HandyDart - dispatchers - for your kindness and patience, and to the Drivers - for taking their 'history of Nanaimo lessons' on a regular basis. He has to be one of Handy Darts most frequent riders.
To all the Home Support workers who came to care for dad. Some of you came to see him (and mom) for many, many years. The kindness and patience you showed, listening to his never ending stories and taking the time to look at the many, many photos of his life - Thank you! He considered many of you as friends and you meant a lot to him.
Thank you to the office staff at Home Support: the nurses, schedulers, case manager Rebeca and OT Laura, for scrambling to help out near the end. You got things done and helped out his extremely stressed daughter. To the good people at St Andrews Church - your love and kindness warmed his heart on Wednesdays.
To Susan and the crew at the OAP, for making him feel welcome at the luncheons, even though he was like a bull in a china shop. Thank you to his dear friends Betty, Colleen, Cate and Bozena, who opened their kind hearts, with support and friendship.
A special thank you to Susan Garcia, who spent countless hours chronicling dad's life story, and put it into book form for him.
And finally, to all the everyday heroes who work at the hospital - doctors, nurses and all the staff, who under extremely stressful working conditions, show up, work hard and show kindness and companionship to their patients every shift.
There will be a private family service held later in the spring.
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