John Vernon Larson

My first Memories of John were a new young fellow moved to Nokomis with his parents and was he ever good looking so cute with his naturally curly hair.

Every girl in town wanted to go out with him. I'm so happy to say he asked me to marry him the day I graduated from St. Pauls Hospital Saskatoon as a Medical Laboratory Technican. He started my nickname LUCY which was reserved just for him.

We had 55 plus beautiful years together, Lots of Great Warm Memories, Christmases, Birthdays, Fishing, Golfing & Parties. Lots of Johnnie Jokes which were really Groaners he made up himself.

John always gave me Roses on our Anniversary one for each year we were married. What a GRAND IDEA.

I remember the Big Big Grin on his face the Day Lynda Lou was born, again the day Carolyn was born and one more time when he started up our Boat the Lynda Dawn and drove us all around Makwa Lake every summer for years.

He was extremely Proud of Carolyn when she started her own business CD LARSON ENTERPRISES.

He was thrilled beyond belief when Lynda Lou gradutated from the COLLEGE OF PHARMACY in Saskatoon.

We were so Proud and Happy the two days we Both walked our Girls down the aisle on their respective wedding day.

He was grinning again when each of his Grandchildren were born BROCK, SARAH AND DEVON . He loved playing with his Grand Children very very much it was such a nice thing to observe both for the Grand Children and all others watching them.

He loved all our pets and Grandpets as well , most of all teasing them and playing with them feeding them treats or food such as apples, carrotts and watermelon.

He was such a PERFECT GENTLEMAN, Great SON IN LAW who could do no WRONG, That PLEASED Him a lot.

I COULD NOT HAVE HAD A MORE PERFECT HUSBAND HE WAS THE GREATEST AND SUCH A GOOD FATHER AND GRANDFATHER HE WAS JUST WONDERFUL TO ALL OF US. THANK YOU GOD FOR GIVING HIM TO US.

This would have been our 56th Wedding Anniversary needless to say Life Will Never Be the Same for Me and Our Family but Such a lot of Wonderful Memories we all have.

Lucille Larson.

Carolyn’s Memories

I have so many memories of my Dad and all of them make me smile and miss him.

Although the challenges of owning his own business didn’t allow for a lot of vacation time we managed to go camping and fishing as many weekends as we could. We would stay at Silver Lake for two weeks during swimming lessons and Dad would commute to work each day. If I was lucky Dad would let me caddy while he golfed. Every once in a while he let me rack the sand greens, clobber the occasional garter snake, and let me whack a ball or two here and there. If I was really lucky he would let me have a sip of his beer when we were back at camp. I remember countless campfires, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows me mostly burning them and having Dad blow them out & of coarse making bush pies.

Silver Bay at Goodsoil, Stabler Point & Makwa Beach at Loon Lake will hold a special place for me as they have seen its share of camping trips when I was young and after I was married to Curt. We spent countless hours fishing in Dad`s boat (a 1967 16’ Starcraft with a 60 horse Johnson outboard), “The Lynda Dawn”. I especially liked holding the flashlight for Dad while he “peeled the fish” at Makwa.

Highlights of these fishing trips always included going under the bridge from Makwa to Jumbo (having to lift the motor in low water times and if the water was high enough having to push the boat down to get the windshield under the bridge deck). It was a really good day when we got to boat to Upper Makwa so we could climb the stairs at Steele Narrows. No trip to the lake would be complete without our share of Loon watching. It was an even better day if we got to see a mom with babies on her back. Dad loved watching and listening to the loons!

I remember trips with Aunt’s & Uncles and cousins the: Gall’s, Meinharts & Fisher’s. The annual July Long weekend camping to North Battleford Provincial park that later got relocated to Stabler Point as it always rained in NB that weekend, with Fawcett's, Jesse's and Krenz`s. Golfing would never be complete without the “last in” buys either a beer at the clubhouse or an ice cream at Jumbo Beach OR both . Fay & Brian Krenz enjoyed these trips so much that they even invited Mom and Dad to join them on their honeymoon at Stabler Point and Mom and Dad went! I cherish these times and memories.

Other childhood memories were spending many weekends at Cochin with the Olsen`s, the Reader`s, and the Freidrick`s. I remember one weekend there was a pig roast and the pig had an apple in its mouth. Dad teased me all afternoon that I had to eat the apple. It was on these trips Mom and Dad taught us how to play Liars Dice and numerous other card games like Golf & Rummy.

My Dad loved to be driving a boat and on the water. Curt and I have taken a couple of houseboat trips with Mom and Dad and it was clear how happy he was to be in charge of the wheel house, and the BBQ. I am so glad I was able to spend so much time on the water with my Dad. We now have a place on Mara Lake in BC and not a day on the water goes by that I don’t think about my Dad and how much he would have loved to be with us out there too.

When Dad had his store in Maidstone I especially liked being able to go in the morning because of coffee time. All the men of Main Street would gather at the Star Café for coffee. The girls had to earn their way to coffee row by filling up the bottle trays, lid trays, restocking the cards and facing the store. I loved to do these things because I loved to go with my Dad for coffee and be part of his day.

No kid likes to be sick but the best sick days were when I would be able to cuddle up on a lounge style lawn chair behind the dispensary for the day with my Dad. I am pretty sure I tried to play sick more than once on the hopes that I could go to work with my Dad.

We earned our weekly allowance by cleaning the store Lucy, Lynda Lou & Carolyn each got an aisle to wash and wax and then we got to go to the movie next door. Pretty cheap janitorial staff as I think it started at 50 cents and then when the movie prices increased to 75 cents we got a raise.

When I think of my Dad teaching me to ride my bike I see a series of images progressing from him holding my bike as I learned to ride without training wheels to him having to help make and attach the plastic flowers and put streamers in the spokes to decorate them for every sports day, fixing scraped knees with iodine, and of course the inevitable running over them. In particular I remember him running over my tricycle and how bad I felt that I got him mad because I left it behind the car.

Our three years in Whitehorse Yukon is where we got to spend more time as a family. We took countless trips to Haines & Skagway Alaska for salmon fishing, camping and exploring. It was in the Yukon that the family took up canoeing, and cross country skiing two things that Curt and I are once again starting to enjoy.

We cross country skied with the Dickie’s & Iverson’s and camped & fished with the Yamada’s. I remember on one fishing trip to Haines that a friend of the Yamada’s caught a 56 lb King salmon in our boat in the Lynn channel. I remember Dad helping me on that same fishing trip with my Big Catch. He was certain I had a lunker on. He was out there so long that the tide was coming in and the water was getting close to the top of his chest waders. Finally the catch was in. One huge piece of driftwood and one large tangled up fishing net with at least two hundred or more silver and pink lures! I recall the dolphins circling the boat in the Lynn channel, stream fishing at the Cluckshoe and Dad shooing off bears from camp.

It was on these Yukon camping trips that Dad taught me to play crib and backgammon so he would have some worthy competition. He always liked to tease Mom when it came to playing any kind of game.

It would be 26 years later that Dad & Mom would return to the Yukon after leaving it in 1981. Curt & I along with Mom & Dad and Bernie & Rita Brosko returned in May 2007. This trip was a memorable experience with lots of strolls down memory lane, to Mile Canyon, Takini Hot Springs, 43 Highland Drive where we lived, the paddle wheeler the Klondike and of course a few “stretches” along the way.

Dad had a keen wit that shone playing games such as Trivial Pursuit, Balderdash and Mind Trap. He loved sharing recollections and wise insights (or made up trivia) with us as games progressed. We spent many Christmas’s and holidays enjoying many laughs trying to beat him! He loved playing games all kinds of games with family and friends, bridge, crib, Kaiser, Wist, Sequence you name it Dad played to win, usually with his good natured ribbing at the score along way. I loved to be on his team!

Dad taught me how to bowl in Maidstone. He made history when he was the first person to make the 300 club at KV bowl. Years later he took up bowling again once he retired. We would head to the bowling alley in North Battleford often with the Lott’s family when Curt & I would come home for holidays or visits.

Curt and I got Mom and Dad a Wii for Christmas one year so that Dad could bowl every day. He loved it! I remember wondering if the controller and the technology would be too much. Shortly after we taught him to use it I peeked around the corner to see what he was doing as I was getting ready for dinner, and there he was bowling all by himself having a ball. We played many games with him at our house in Standard, and I know he loved to play with his grandkids too. Dad loved to challenge himself. He would call me after the senior’s men’s league to tell me his scores and his average.

Dad was no stranger in the kitchen and often got his hands in there even if he wasn’t asked to. He loved good food and made the best Christmas pudding, although, most of his favorite dishes were definitely not the best thing for you. Case in point, when he used to paint his bread with butter and drown it with gravy after a turkey or roast beef meal. In attempts to watch his weight he quit doing this but I recall when Uncle Bill came over for a Sunday supper and at the end of the meal Bill painted a bun with bread and covered it with gravy, you could see the drool and the envy all over my Dad’s face. Dad also loved to BBQ for his friends and family at home, camping or house boating. Dad loved a good meal.

Although Dad’s health had taken a turn once in AB he got to exhibit some early childhood skills that remained mostly hidden from me until he moved to Sagewood. Here there happen to be a pool table. Curtis & I along with fellow residents Mable and Gordon all played numerous games with him and were amazed at how expertly he could still handle a cue and make some very difficult shots. I will not forget the last game of pool I played with him on January 29, 2013. He didn’t let me win a game. The only games I ever really won are if he sunk the eight ball because I “forgot” to remind him not to shoot at the eight ball until the end.

My Dad had such a unique sense of humor that we have often referred to as “Johnny Jokes”. He would always go for the obvious word play jokes. Like if you were to ask him to come tell you something he would turn around and quickly say “something” with a smile and his signature Johnny chuckle. I find myself often making Johnny jokes of my own these days.

I have two keepsakes that sit in my dining room. The first is a piece of kindling that has Makwa Lake whittled on it. I remember on trip to Makawa it rained all weekend so Dad taught us girls how to whittle (he must have had his share of coloring by then). He made me that and I have kept it ever since. The second is a picture of his plane KYP the Kilo Yanke Papa. He took flying lessons in Maidstone and was part owner of this plane until someone crashed it. He took a couple more lessons while in Whitehorse. He had a love for flying even if he was just the passenger or just watching planes taking off and landing at the airport.

I have a third keepsake that makes me giggle every time I see it. My rock Eggbert! I picked up this 8” oblong rock at a campground in Skagway. Dad had thrown that rock out on me several times and it still made it home. He tried to throw it out on every move we made and I always rescued him. Once I left for University I decided to leave Eggbert at home. While I was gone it seemed that the neighbor kids got a hold of Eggbert and Dad saw them in their yard playing with him. Dad marched right on over there to get his rock back! It still makes me chuckle to picture that.

No dad would be a dad without teaching their kids even their daughters about `pull my finger`and Dad was no exception. I can still hear his Johnny giggle when he got us too.

Dad was always very supportive of my career choices and helped me get started with my own business. He and Mom even came down to help me go shopping for all the office equipment and helped get it set up. He gave me very good advice when it came time for me to hire someone and also when I had to evaluate them. He told me to always follow up a criticism with something they do well to always end on a positive note.

Dad always looked the gentleman pressed pants, shirts, jackets etc. expect when he wore socks with his sandals which after enough teasing him about he finally went camando in his sandals. I remember watching him shave he would dab my face with shaving cream as he was lathering up with his round brush. I have clear visions of him shining his shoes and storing all his supplies in his red shoebox that was always by the bedroom door.

Dad was so shy. Nothing exemplifies this more than the story of the camping trip with Mom and Lorna & Earle. Dad would get up at sunrise just so he didn't have to get dressed in front of Lorna and Earle when they went camping. One morning he saw a squirrel so he thought he would take a few photos of it. It seems he used all the film for the trip to Jasper (I think) on this silly little squirrel.

He was always quiet spoken and humble even when he was telling one of his well-placed Johnny jokes.

Dad was always so calm and well composed until he was on the golf course and had a bad shot. This must have been where he released his frustrations as he sure "talked to God" a lot on the golf course. He didn't get mad very often but when he did he usually would just curse under his breath and just walk away shaking his head in frustration he wasn't one to blow his top….very often

Through work, investment clubs, dance clubs, the Kiwanis, bowling and golf legues Dad truly enjoyed the friends they socialized with. Many became like family, the Olson`s, Reader`s, Hien’s, Kielbacks, Brochko’s, Cheetum’s, Stakiw’s and the Lott’s just to name a few. There are so many memories of friends and family gatherings with the Wallace cousins, (Mansell's, Croziers, & Butcher's) the Fisher's, Larson's, and the Mienhart's. I can see the smile on Dad’s face at well placed jokes and playing games.

I love the fact that because Mom and Dad were married on the Thursday before Good Friday that Dad gave Mom a two foot solid chocolate bunny. That was such a Johnny thing to do, and it makes me smile. April 3 1958 at Third Ave United Church. I remember listening to their wedding and reception on the audio tapes as a child. I also remember Dad getting so frustrated in his Johnny way trying to spool the tape into the recorder to play it for us because I wanted to hear it one more time!

I liked hearing the stories of the different jobs he had before Dean Struble convinced him to go to University (which he got in with a math deficiency that he made up for during his first year). He worked driving a water truck. Dad’s first day before he officially had a job he had to take the water truck to get his drivers licence in order to start. The truck was a three on the tree and all he had to do was park it on a hill and take it off again without it rolling back. He was a jug hound on the rigs, a bus boy at the Bessbourgh in Saskatoon, and also worked at Scott National in shipping and receiving. Dad’s first job as a pharmacist was at Lorne Ave Drugs in Saskatoon just down from Grandma Wallace`s house. Every time we passed it we were reminded of this 

I loved Sunday`s in Maidstone. We would go to church and after church Dad would let me dunk my cookie in his coffee even though he hated crumbs in his coffee he let me do it. Later in the evening after supper I would sit on his knee with a milkshake and watch the Wonderful World of Disney in the green Lazy boy.

I miss his little one liner’s full of wisdom like “the only person that doesn’t make mistakes is someone that doesn’t do anything”

My Dad is the heart and soul of who I have become. I thank him for my keen wit, my sense of humor, my unruly naturally curly hair, my shyness (that he also taught me how to manage it and deal with it), my exceptional fishing skills, my love for camping, boating and the great outdoors, my business skills and entrepreneurial spirit, and my love of games, but most of all I thank him for the time he spent with me and his unconditional love. I have always been called “little John” as I am the spitting image of my Dad inside and out right down to my very tender heart. So my universe is not as shiny as it used to be but I know that he is watching over me and I will always be “Daddy’s Little Girl”. I love him and miss him dearly, and am so very grateful to have had him as my Dad.

Our Top 10 Memories of Grandpa John

By Brock, Sarah & Devon

1. Devon: Playing checkers with Grandpa John was ‘really fun’.

2. Devon: I liked to cuddle with Grandpa on the couch and our sleepover was so fun...how did I get on the other side of the bed anyway?

3. Devon: Grandpa liked to tease me, I thought it was funny.

4. Brock: Grandpa always shook my hand when we saw him and said ‘How do you do?’ That made me feel special and important.

5. Brock: Grandpa told me once that I was one of the nicest people he ever met.

6. Brock: I liked playing games with Grandpa-bocce ball, crokinole and pool-he never forgot how to play those games and he was really good at them. When he could remember how to play checkers he was a very tough opponent. I liked those games very much.

7. Sarah: Grandpa liked to tell me I was his favourite granddaughter. Funny man, I was his only granddaughter.

8. Sarah: I’m glad that Grandpa thought it was funny when I had my Christmas Poop.

9. Sarah: I liked to sit in the big chairs and cuddle with Grandpa.

10. All 3 kids knew that Grandpa John loved them. He always made them feel special and important. Even when he couldn’t remember who they were anymore, he asked questions and showed he was interested in them.

Lou’s memories:

I remember going to hockey games with Dad when I was in high school. It was fun to spend time with Dad. We hung out with his friends from Kiwanis at the games too.

I worked with Dad for many years at Shoppers in NB and in Regina. We took our lunch breaks and coffee breaks together. It was always nice to see how many other people wanted to spend their break with Dad. There was always a crowd. He was so well liked and respected by all he worked with. He loved it too, telling stories and Johnny jokes to any and everyone. People tell me how much of a true gentleman he was and that he was one of a kind. I agree.

I got to go to a few pharmacy continuing education events with Dad. He was proud to introduce me to his pharmacy colleagues. Once I started working and meeting other people in the pharmacy circles, once they learned I was a ‘Larson’ they all knew who my Dad was.

Dad was a chaperone on my Band exchange trip to Nova Scotia. He was so excited to travel and see the east coast. He stayed at a local bed and breakfast and he raved about the food.

When Shawn & I went to NB to tell Mom & Dad we were expecting a baby, Dad jumped up and said this deserves a toast. He went and got a bottle of wine and a can of pop for me. He was tickled.

Dad always loved to cuddle our kids, right from when they were first born. We have many pictures of him sleeping in a recliner chair, cuddling a sleeping baby. When they got older he loved to play games with them and tease them. He always asked then questions about how they were doing, what they were learning in school and so on. He was very interested in his grandchildren’s lives. Even once his memory started to go, he was still asking them questions about themselves.

I see some of Dad in each of my kids. Devon is the most like him I think. He is quiet but funny and is a good sport. Brock is the strong silent, thinking type of person Dad was. He shares a love of sports like Dad did and likes to recall details. Sarah has a quick wit and sense of humour just like Dad.

Shawn’s memories:

John’s advice to me regarding the Larson women was ‘Don’t let them get you down’, then he’d chuckle. This was funny and useful as I didn’t have any sisters so I didn’t know what I was getting into.

John was always such a gentleman, so polite and quiet. But once the games came out I saw a different side to this mild mannered John. He became a taunting, competitive, take no prisoners kind of opponent. He was still polite if he was losing but if he was winning, especially in Crib, he’d start the ‘do you smell that?’ early on in the game. If he happened to win the game, he made sure you never forgot it.

When he told stories about Nokomis or the Turkey Track Ranch he spoke to you like you knew the people he talked about. And eventually I felt like I did.

It wasn’t long after I met John that he showed me his birth certificate with the land location on it. It was fairly worn out because he loved to show people that.

I will never Christmas dinner one year in NB...Sarah was just a toddler and she was all dressed up in her fancy blue velvet dress, sitting in her booster seat at the table...when suddenly John burst into uncontrollable laughter. We all looked and saw that Sarah’s face was turning purple, apparently she was filling her pants. What a funny moment, it still makes me laugh out loud at how hilarious John thought that was.

Allen Larson

John was my brother. He was two years younger than I. In the way of older siblings, I never paid much attention to him while we were growing up and I left home at seventeen so neither of us had finished maturing.

Separated by long distances we had no opportunity until 1986 to get to know each other as adults.

Those who knew John know that it took no time at all after that for me to learn what a fine caring person he had grown to be in my absence. I found him to be a quiet kind of guy that I could not imagine ever raising his voice. He showed great patience and empathy towards all those that touched his life. I shall miss him now as I have always regretted missing 40 years of his life. I knew my little brother for far too short a time.

Eulogy for John Vernon Larson

A week ago when we said our goodbyes to John, and his wife and daughters were holding his hands I looked at those hands and recalled the strong handshakes he had given me from the first time I had met him right up until the end. He would give you a firm handshake, look you right in the eye and ask you how you were doing. That is something he started with our boys as soon as they were old enough.

John was a quiet and witty man always ready with a story or a joke. His jokes were often groaners and the more he could make us groan, the more he laughed. These were referred to as ‘Johhny Jokes’.

John was born on the Turkey Track Ranch. He loved to show people his birth certificate with a legal land location. It was quite worn out as he kept taking it out of his wallet to show people. Most people didn’t carry their birth certificate around with them, but John did, he wouldn’t be without it.

John had 2 older brothers Bill and Allen and a younger sister Noni. They grew up in Plenty and Nokomis, He often told stories about his childhood referring to some of the characters like we knew them personally. And after many years of listening, to these stories, we felt like we did.

He met his wife Lucille, who he called Lucy, while attending school in Nokomis.

They were married in 1958 in Saskatoon. Lucille said he was the best husband she could ever ask for.

John always got Lucille roses on their anniversary, one rose for each year they were married. They often stayed at the Bessborough on their anniversary as that is where they stayed on their wedding night.

John convocacted from the UofS, College of Pharmacy in 1966. He loved being a pharmacist and being able to help so many people.

His oldest daughter Lynda Lou was born in 1966. They named her after John’s parents Lynda and Louis

In 1967 John and Lucille moved to NB where he was the Drug Dept Manager at the Co op until July 1968. It was in NB that their youngest daughter Carolyn was born.

From NB they moved west to Maidstone where John owned Maidstone Drugs and the family lived there for 10 yrs,

In 1978 the Larson’s headed north to Whitehorse Yukon for 3 yrs of adventure. They camped, fished the northern lakes, cross country skied and explored as much of the Yukon and Alaska as they could. They returned to the Yukon after John retired in 2002 with Carolyn & Curtis and the Broshko’s.

John passed his love of fishing on to Carolyn. When the girls were little, they were fishing with their cousin and became wise to the fact that something wasn’t quite right when their Paula caught a fish. Upon further inspection they noticed that their spoons didn’t have the hooks on them that Paula’s did. Apparently someone had removed them. Fishing changed forever that day.

There were many July fishing/camping trips to Loon Lake with the girls, their husbands and many friends.

Lynda Lou got her love of photography from her Dad. John was often asked to take pictures for special events and for many years he was the one in charge of the camera. The girls remember their Dad waking them up in the middle of the night to come see the Northern Lights he was photographing.

In 1981 the family moved back to SK, John eventually returned to the Coop in NB as the Pharmacy Manager until his retirement in 2002.

John was a Charter member of the Kiwanis Club for many years and in 1998 he was acknowledged as Kiwanian of the Year.

John had 3 grandchildren, Brock, Sarah and Devon. He frequently told the boys they were his buddies and that Sarah was his favourite granddaughter. He put toys together at Christmas, helped out with the gingerbread house building, and was always ready for a cuddle or a nap. Grandpa loved to play bocce ball, crokinole, checkers and pool with the kids.

He loved to tease his grandchildren the same way he would tease Lynda Lou and Carolyn when they were little. (the case of the disappearing desserts and the hot spoon trick).

He would tell the kids things that we wouldn’t find out about until much later. For instance Brock just told us this week that Grandpa told him he was one of the best people he had ever met.

John will be remembered for his many unique Quotes.

*He used to tell his girls that he taught Lucille everything she knew about cooking, cleaning and driving.

He would tease his girls so much that they would have to verify everything with their mom first to see if he was goshing or not.

*If he didn’t know it, it wasn’t worth knowing.

As his girls became older along with his teasing he would also give sage advice. He often counselled Carolyn on various aspects of business and entrepreneurship, and to Lynda Lou on then practise of Pharmacy.

John set the stage for their strong values needed to live fulfilling and productive lives.

Another John quote is: If you’re in a hurry you should have started sooner. That is a good reminder for us to always live life to the fullest.

I’d like to end with a poem that was sent to Lynda Lou from one of her cousins.

As I sit in Heaven

And watch you everyday

I try to let you know with signs

I never went away

I hear you when you’re laughing

And watch you while you sleep

I even place my arms around you

To calm you as you weep

I see you wish the days away

Begging to have me home

So I try to send you signs

So you know you are not alone

Don’t feel guilty that you have

Life that was denied to me

Heaven is truly beautiful

Just you wait and see

So live your life, laugh again

Enjoy yourself, be free

Then I know with every breath you take

You’ll be taking one for me.

* * * * * * * * * *

LARSON, John Vernon

October 28, 1934 – May 5, 2013

John Vernon Larson passed away peacefully at the Bow-Crest Long Term Care Centre in Calgary, AB on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at the age of 78 years. John is lovingly remembered by his wife Lucille of 55 years; daughters Lynda Lou (Shawn) Jesse and Carolyn (Curtis) Fawcett and by his grandchildren Brock, Sarah and Devon Jesse. He is also survived by his brother Allen (Arlee) Larson; sister Nonie (Don) Gall; sister-in-law Marilyn (Don) Fisher; sister-in-law Judy Wallace; sister-in-law Nola Wallace; special niece Brenda Wallace and by numerous other nieces, nephews and relatives. John was predeceased by his parents Louis and Lynda Larson and his brother Bill Larson. John was born in Plenty, SK. He met his future wife Lucille Wallace while attending school in Nokomis, SK. They married in 1958 in Saskatoon, SK. In 1966 John graduated from U of S with his Bachelor degree in Pharmacy. The Larson family resided in many places over the years including Saskatoon, SK; North Battleford, SK; Maidstone, SK; Whitehorse, YT, & Regina, SK. The majority of their lives were spent living in North Battleford where John retired in 2002. In 2011 John & Lucille moved west to AB to be close to their girls. John was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club of the Battlefords; he enjoyed many activities including fishing, golfing, camping, and most of all spending time with his family and friends. John will be remembered as having an honest handshake, a “true gentlemen” that was quiet spoken with a quick wit and a unique sense of humour. If friends so desire, memorial donations may be made directly to Bow-Crest Long Term Care Centre, 5927 Bowness Road N.W., Calgary, AB T3B 0C7 or Strathmore United Church, 410 – 4 Street, Strathmore, AB T1P 1B4. Expressions of sympathy may be forwarded to the family via the website www.fostersgardenchapel.ca.

FOSTER'S GARDEN CHAPEL

FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORIUM

Telephone: 403-297-0888

Honoured Provider of Dignity Memorial