Paul Drayton Wedge

Paul Wedge passed away peacefully with his family by his side on August 20th, 2011. Paul lived his life with determination and zest. He had a wonderful sense of humour and leaves behind many dear friends. Paul was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1932. During his late teens he and his family moved to North Vancouver. Paul later built the family home in South Burnaby overlooking Deer Lake. Many celebrations and dinners were held there. Paul was loved dearly by his family. He lived, loved and laughed with his soul mate, Charlotte Anne for 36 years. Paul loved skiing into his 70’s and enjoyed the outdoors, golfing, camping, fishing, walking in the forests and canoed the Bowron Lakes with Charlotte. Fascinated by machinery, architecture and engineering he designed and built many things. Paul built numerous hand-split granite rock walls and chimneys. He created large mechanical kinetic displays for Expo 86 and built a business, P Wedge Co. Ltd. His company provided aviation windsock assemblies that are installed all around the world (now carried on by his son). An architect at heart, Paul designed and built houses as well as an office building. Paul had a great passion for music, travel and art. He began painting in the 1990’s and produced many wonderful paintings. He will be sadly missed by all his loving children: Larry, Karen (Allan), Paula (Martin), Sally (Peter), Gordon (Sally), Lynn (Wayne) and Valerie. He also leaves behind 10 grandchildren: Jason, Luke, Carly, Derek, Matthew, Alexa, Sarah, Kody, Veronica, Darian and great grandson Alton. We welcome all Paul’s friends and family to attend a celebration of Paul’s life. The celebration will be held at 12:30 PM on Saturday, September 10th, 2011 at First Memorial Funeral Services, 1211 Sutherland Avenue, Kelowna, BC .

A beautiful life came to a sudden end

He died as he lived – everyone’s friend.

He was always thoughtful, loving and kind

What a precious memory he left behind.

Arrangements under the direction of First Memorial Funeral Services, Kelowna, BC.

BIOGRAPHY:

“Give me a problem and I’ll hand you a solution.” Those who knew Paul Drayton Wedge would agree that that motto accurately described him. Paul was a man of great drive and a very original, independent thinker. For Paul, no challenge was impossible, and just about any desired result was within his grasp. Paul placed great trust in his intuition. Since that intuition generally led him in the right direction, who was he to doubt it.

Paul Drayton Wedge was born on November 18th, 1932 in Winnipeg, Manitoba to his loving parents Harold and Irene Wedge. His spent his childhood mostly in Winnipeg, plus other locations throughout Manitoba and Vancouver, BC where he matured into the independent person he eventually became.

For the first 6 years of his life, Paul was an only child and then his parents had a another little boy they name Luke. Paul could be seen as being stubborn by his sibling. It was important to him that he was perceived as “right” when it came to his part in those typical family spats. However, this quality did not over power his caring for his family. This ability to balance his family, with his need to be seen as right, helped him to develop into a young adult while enjoying many good times with his family.

During his grade school years, Paul was a very focused and serious student who actually enjoyed the challenge of many classroom problems. He was determined to succeed, and he drew upon his gifts of trust and perseverance to provide him with a competitive edge. Paul delighted in projects that required planning, critical thinking and resolution. Paul's father Harold worked as a traveling salesman for Wrigley's Gum and the family moved frequently from town to town. Most of those moves meant a change of school for young Paul and he rarely got a chance to make lasting friendships. Despite the frequent moves Paul liked school and had an active, keen mind that thirsted for knowledge. As a young boy Paul's family did not have a lot of money and he always found that he had the same lunch day after day.... tomato and onion sandwiches on thick white bread. These sandwiches would have been fine if they were eaten right away and not let to sit and go soggy until lunch time. As an adult he seems to find himself now enjoying the tomato and onion sandwiches and remembering his youth.

During high school, Paul was relentless in his pursuit of learning, especially in those subject areas that really grabbed hold of his interests. It wasn't that he didn't put forth his best efforts in all classes, but if a subject really interested him, he would eagerly put forth extra effort to learn all he could. He enjoyed scouting the girls in high school!

Paul's affinity for all things mechanical shows itself early in his life. He was fascinated with machinery, cars and such and he liked to get to the heart of how things worked. Paul was not afraid of hard work and at the age of 12 he was hired on as a ranch hand. He found himself to be too short to get the saddles up on the horses backs and since that is an important part of being a ranch hand, his career was very short lived. When he was a little bit older and a little taller, he then worked on a ranch as part of the haying crew. This experience will be replicated when Paul takes up painting many years later.

Paul's inventive side developed as he moved into his college years. When Paul found himself involved in an area that particularly interested him, he could organize and complete any task that was given to him and make it look as if he hadn't really needed to put forth any effort. during the day he was employed as a stone mason laying bricks for walls and chimneys and during night classes he earned his drafting accreditation. He also built their first home by hand and without power tools.

Paul's first marriage was to Joan Felker and they had three children together. Paul is excited to be a father and wants to work hard and succeed as their provider. An opportunity presents itself when SKF Bearings has an opening for a draftsman. Paul takes the job and stays with SKF for his entire career working his way up through the sales department to district manager of Western Canada. He was employed by SKF and was loyal to them until his retirement.

During Paul's professional working years, he was at his best when working independently. It became the hallmark of his performance. Paul was generally able to refocus his drive and determination and readily work toward finding a way to get things done that was beneficial to himself and his co-workers. His primary occupation was managing Western Canada Mgr. SKF (Ball Bearing Co.). SKF provides ball bearings for mills across the country. Paul is often sent in to trouble shoot and decide what to do when repairs are necessary. Should the mill be shut down while repairs are being made? Can the mill keep operating on a limited basis? Decisions of this nature are huge because shutting down a pulp or sawmill, even for a short time, can have a serious consequences on the employees and on the local company. Many of the mills Paul services are in remote areas and only accessible by plane and he is a nervous passenger at best. He never learns to like flying which is ironic considering the next chapter in Paul's life.

In 1961 a rather unique thing happens, somehow windsocks came to Paul's attention. The windsock assembly used at airports at that time did not work as well as it might. Paul sets out to make an improved version. In his basement workshop he experiments and fabricates until he comes up with a better design. Others agree that this is a superior windsock and pole assembly including Transport Canada who approves it and Paul makes his first sales to the Vancouver and Nanaimo airports. Wedge Windsock Company is born. It will provide windsocks and other aviation aides around the world. Paul's windsocks are responsible for his involvement with Expo 86, his windsocks provided the street lighting for the transportation themed exhibit. He also designed huge kinetics using the theme of transportation. such as a Pegasus, the flying hourse, airplane propellers and bicycle wheels.

Life for the Wedge family falls into a somewhat typical routine. Work, family, friends, outings on their pleasure boat, etc. But this marriage isn't destined to last and in 1974, Paul moves out with his two eldest children. He purchases a partially finished house in Burnaby and sets about to complete the work.

A few years later Paul meets his sweetheart Charlotte with whom he would live, love and laugh with over the next 36 years. Her sensitivity to Paul's needs proved to be a wonderful influence on this man, who preferred to live in his “gut.” Charlotte's influence brought Paul to a new emotional level, one that eventually enhanced all of his other gifts and abilities. Charlotte was able to help Paul appreciate the fact that others made contributions and Paul became better at interacting with those around him.

For many years Paul and Charlotte join his brother Luke and wife Shelagh on a week long cruise on Luke's boat. they travel up and down the BC Coast enjoying one another's company, doing some salmon fishing which Paul loves, and making many wonderful memories. Skiing is an activity the whole family enjoys. Each Friday after work throughout the winter months, the family jumps into their motor home and heads for Manning Park where they meet up with other like-minded folks. There were ski trips to Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna, Kamloops and Whistller. Paul and Charlotte love Whistler and planned to retire there. They purchased a lot and Paul put his incredible home designing skills to work creating the perfect post-skiing environment. In fact, the house is designed around a hot tub. It was the perfect place to chill after a day on the slopes for Paul and Charlotte and for friends and family as well. Life had other ideas for Paul and Charlotte and the Whistler retirement plan didn't pan out. They helped friends move to Peachland and they look around the area and see the opportunities for skiing and golf. Paul's son Larry has taken over the windsock business so there is no reason for them to stay in the lower mainland. They begin to look around and discover Gallagher's Canyon. It is far enough out of town to give them that feeling of country yet close enough to be convenient. They purchase a lot and have a home built facing the second fairway.

Retirement doesn't slow Paul or Charlotte down in the least. There are still too few hours in a day to fit everything in. Naturally there is skiing in the winter and golf in the summer. The couple makes new friendships and golf relationships. There is wine to be made and then enjoyed. A neighbor suggests that Paul might enjoy painting after he sees a drawing that Paul had done. With Paul's usual "can do" attitude he takes some art classes and begins to create works in acrylic. Some of his paintings are done from memory like his series of working with the haying crew in his youth. he paints animals in the wild and has a particular fascination with bears. Paul also paints aircraft war scenes and to get true representations, he buys model planes, strings them up and positions them at the exact angle he wants.

Paul teaches himself to use a computer. He learns about the stock market, mutual funds and the like and he looks after his investments on-line. And of course by now there are grandchildren and the couple takes great delight in their lives.

Paul was loyal to his friends. He found that he was most in tune with people who had similar interests and thought about things much the way that he did. Paul sometimes had a tendency to be critical in his friendships but he was more interested in finding out what was right in a situation rather than in being mean toward others. Paul was a person who challenged others to fend for themselves and to be original in their thinking and evaluation of the outside world. Some of his close friends included: Bud & Brenda Pearce, Lorne & Carole March, Gord & Meryle Samson, Wayne and Brenda Felker.

Paul often neglected his own feelings in order to give to others. This was very true when it came to how he dealt with his children. He was able to hand on to each child a number of strong values. He taught them to appreciate their abilities, gave them a desire to persevere despite obstacles and set within them a drive to succeed. He had three children, one son Larry; two daughters Karen and Paula. He also had ten grandchildren, Jason, Luke, Derek, Carly, Matthew, Alexa, Kody, Sarah, Veronica and Darian. They were always aware of how much Paul loved them. Paul's family grew to include Charlotte's children: Sally (Peter), Gordon (Sally), Lynn (Wayne) and Valerie.

For Paul, his outside interests and hobbies became another exercise in learning and mastering areas that interested him. He greatly enjoyed unraveling the "hows" and "whys" that lay behind his hobbies. Paul was always pushing himself to learn more and to stretch his knowledge base even further. He firmly believed that the more things that he knew the more control he would have over things. His favorite pursuits were skiing, boating, building homes for himself, acrylic painting, listening to music: classical, ballads, big band and jazz.

Watching his favorite sporting events by himself was never a problem for Paul. It allowed him to indulge in his own individual interpretation of the event. It was not uncommon for Paul to know what the right play or move “should have been,” and he would vocally address these feelings even if there was no one around to hear them. And if there were others around, he would still state his feelings and gladly debate anyone on their opposing views. Recreational sports included skiing, golfing, hiking and fishing. He enjoyed following his favorite sporting events. Tops on his list were professional fights, some football and hockey.

Due to Paul's loyalty and passion for following things through to their conclusion, he found that he was a definite asset to many organizations. Once he was firmly behind a common goal, Paul's skills became an integral part of the planning process and the success of any project. In college, Paul joined a fraternity, Charlotte doesn't recall which one. He was very social and was always involved with activities. Throughout his later years, Paul was an active member of the community. He was always busy with self activities or simply spending time with his family. Paul's contributions were valued as being the “structure” person of each individual organization.

Paul placed his interest wholeheartedly behind any project he took on. The “engineer” part of his personality pushed him to find out as much information as he could, to understand the practicality in a given situation. This was something that influenced his involvement in work, pleasure and volunteer activities. Paul was involved with the Kinsmen organization for awhile and served as part of their committee.

Paul's personality allowed him to better appreciate the gifts and opinions of others. This deepening aspect of his life helped him to accept his own feelings to a greater degree. He was a giving member of the community. In his youth he visited different churches, but decided God is in nature and in all of us.

Paul's skepticism was visible when he found it necessary to place too much trust in one person. This was never clearer than when it was time for him to schedule a vacation or period of time away from his regular schedule. Paul loved the research aspects of planning a trip, but the actual process of relaxing was far more difficult. Still, he did manage to enjoy some time away. Favorite vacations included having Charlotte by his side and touring Russia, France, Italy, Germany and other European countries.

Paul was a lover of animals and cherished his pets. One of Paul's favorites was Lady, a beagle cross (Heinz variety). They were best friends for 5 - 6 years.

When Paul's retirement finally came in approximately 1992, he was ready. He worked out many of the details in advance so that he could enjoy the time and not have to worry. His new life involved relocating to Whistler and then Kelowna, BC. In retirement, he found new pleasure in painting and playing in the stock market.

On august 20, 2011 Paul Drayton Wedge passed away at home in Kelowna, BC surrounded by the love of his family. Paul was diagnosed with major lipo-sarcoma cancer on Oct. 23, 2010. He seemed to recover well from treatments although he had a flare up in July of 2011. He is survived by his loving companion of 36 years, Charlotte, his children: Larry, Karen (Allan), Paula (Martin), Sally (Peter), Gordon (Sally), Lynn (Wayne) and Valerie, 10 grandchildren. Services were held at First Memorial Funeral Services on Saturday, September 10th, 2011 at 12:30 PM Family and friends gathered in the tea room following the service to enjoy refreshments and to watch the families two DVD photo displays. Paul was laid to rest in the Ocean View Cemetery in Burnaby, BC.

Paul Dayton Wedge was always drawn to what was measurable, practical and factual. He was a very competent person who expected competence from others. He could be headstrong and certain about the way things were supposed to be. He was determined in every aspect of his life and certain that he was usually right about things. He trusted his intuition over all else, even if it opposed the popular belief, and he had faith in his inner vision and speculations. He wanted to be acknowledged by others as having made a contribution to whatever he was working on. His family and friends will miss his fierce determination, relentless innovations and analytic mind. He leaves with all those who knew him many wonderful memories.