March 21, 2023
In Loving Memory (1931-2023) ~
Bob was born a B.C. boy in Merritt in 1931; he died peacefully in the early dawn of March 21st at Victoria General Hospital.
He was orphaned when only 3 years old. Subsequently, he was raised by family friends and later by his older sister Rose and her family. Growing up he got to know well a handful of small B.C. towns! Trail, Princeton, Port Alberni, and Bamfield; Sooke was added to this list years later.
Bob, when he was only 15, went to sea. He signed onto a number of different ships, sailing out of the port of Vancouver, post WW2. Bob's education here in B.C. was replaced by his global travels as a young man, out on his own. Bob became a sailor, with the merchant marine. He remained a sailor all his life.
Returning to B.C. as a young man he held many different jobs in the Vancouver area primarily with child and youth services and community development. In the mid-1960s, when Simon Fraser University opened, Bob became a charter graduate, with honours, of their first undergraduate degree program. A few years later he completed an MSW degree at UBC, where he met Phoebe.
Phoebe and Bob moved to Sooke in 1979, purchasing a seaside house and garden over in East Sooke, on Tideview Rd. Bob went back to a rural lifestyle and was on the water, which he loved. Bob was involved with a number of community events and activities in East Sooke. He helped the community form a Fire Improvement District, later building a community firehall and several recreation facilities such as tennis courts and a playing field. He was active with the East Sooke Community Association for several years.
With Phoebe, who at that time was the community school coordinator at EMCS, they were very involved with the building of two 27' longboats, in the old EMCS school where workshops were spacious and used by the community. The longboats were built to play a role in Sooke's 1990 bicentennial celebrations sponsored by the Sooke Festival Society. Later the boats were an integral part of EMCS's coastal living program and other maritime programs in the Pacific Northwest.
Bob and others put together a coxswain training program where many students and adults became certified coxswains to ensure all-season usage of the boats. 33 years later the boats are still being used while their homeport remains at Jenkins Marine, the former Sooke Marine shipyard.
In 2001 Bob moved with Phoebe and Kuma over to be in Sooke to enjoy life closer to the village core and enjoy trips out west to the San Juan ridge trails, camps, and beyond.
At the same time, Bob got to know Sooke and lend a hand with the building of garden features at CASA on Townsend Rd. and the development of the Sunriver Community Garden on Phillips Rd. Fencing, gates, a gazebo, sheds, and gathering play areas for families and kids.
A celebration of Bob's life will occur in the spring, out at sea. Where some of us will be on oars and in the longboats.
STAND BY TO PULL TOGETHER.