I was thinking of my college years at the UofW and I remembered Karl from our chemistry classes because he made me laugh. I googled his name and was shocked to learn he passed away. 

Dear Janet,  I am devastated. Your brother was the best!! I am so very sorry. Heartfelt best wishes to you and yours; and my deepest condolences. My thoughts are with you at this most difficult time. FHCI Camping Club; Nat. Sci. Caf./Dents at Western...I was so thankful that God spared him in Geraldton.  I celebrate and thank God for his friendship and for the opportunities that he was granted.  Rest easy Karl! (and hug Brinkley for me, and my Sheba, Isis, Jasper and Kato too - lol!) Janet, may God carry you and yours, always, and may He help you to find peace of mind in the midst of this turmoil. Karl would want you to just keep being the beautiful Janet that you always are and the beautiful mom that you have become!! I pray for your happiness, health, prosperity and well-being! What a touching connection it was that Karl pointed out when my son Benjamin was born on October 30. And now it means even more. Even though ours was only a meeting of the minds, I feel weirdly maimed knowing of Karl's passing, and yet, too, I am completely and utterly even more whole, somehow, in what seems to be a greater spiritual sense of connection. Karl was, indeed, extraordinary and I will resolve to rejoice, in lieu of deep grief, and to be thankful for his friendship as I reach for happiness and trust in God's plan. Instead of questioning, I will find solace in acceptance. God bless Karl! May God carry us all!

More Memories:
Baba told me that when she came home from the hospital with me, Karl thought I was his birthday present. This was because she went into the hospital on his birthday when he turned two. She insists that he continued to believe this for a long time.
One Halloween, Karl organized a haunted house in the basement. I think he got the idea because he had some electronic talking animal that greeted visitors when they came in. I remember Susan was dressed as a witch in the graveyard. We must have had people come in before Halloween night because we were always serious trick-or-treaters.
When Karl was in grade seven, our dad bought backpacking equipment for the four of us (Louise was married by then and Baba had to teach). He took us out of school for a week in June so we could backpack 90 miles of the Bruce Trail between Tobermory and Wiarton. I remember Karl teasing me about my fear of snakes, when we were in rattler territory. We loved the caves and beautiful shoreline of Georgian Bay. Our orange backpacks are probably still in Baba's basement.
Our family was big on picking wild edibles and a lot of our hiking adventures revolved around picking wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, elderberries and mushrooms like shaggy manes and morels. Four or five years ago, Karl picked some wild mushrooms for Baba when I was visiting. I'm not sure if we didn't eat them because they heated up all day inside her screen door or if we didn't trust him to pick the non-poisonous ones. 
Karl was the only one of us who learned to play the piano well enough to play for fun after we finished with lessons. Baba likes to remind us of all the money wasted on piano lessons. He had lots of sheet music and books of popular music he liked then like Queen.
Karl and I always made fun of each other's feet. I always tried to straighten out his hammer toes, and he teased me about my bunions. We thought both problems must have resulted from Baba buying us shoes that were too small, but she said that she got shoes sales people to x-ray our feet to see if our shoes fit. Bad genes again. Maybe that's where all the cancer came from.
After my wedding in Nova Scotia in 1989, we brought family and out-of-town visitors to Peggy's Cove. Karl tripped on the rocks and cracked his watch and scraped his elbow. I took a photo of him pointing to his wound in front of a plaque in the rocks that said: Warning: injury and death have rewarded careless sight-seers here.

I went to University of Waterloo with Karl when he was working on this chemistry degree. He and I were good friends, but as he moved on to dentistry, we lost contact but I did here a bit about him from various people.
  I am sorry for the lost.

Many great childhood memories of the whole Salo family. Karl was like the big brother of the neighbourhood when we were kids. I did not know him as an adult, but many of my child hood memories of fun times, include Karl in the group. Prayers are with you Karl and the entire Salo family. Thank you for all the fond memories.

Condolences to the family. Thoughts and prayers to all.

Memories of My Brother

Early Memories
I don't remember how old I was when Karl brought a toy helicopter with fast moving blades close to my hair and my hair wound hopelessly tight around it. It was an impossible tangle and Baba could only cut off the hair affected.
I remember walking slowly around the block with Karl after he had his appendix removed. He wasn't embarrassed to be wearing his pajamas and bathrobe. I don't think he ever ate corn on the cob again.
I remember playing a game, we called Rumbleguts at Southridge school across the street from our house. It was like Hide and Seek, but everyone had a colour, and you had to remember their colour to get people out.
Karl used to attach a flashlight to a long pole and shine it on the light sensors of the street lights to turn them off. It would turn off all the street lights on the block. We used to have to come in when the street lights turned on, so maybe he did it to buy us more time. It never occurred to me then that you could probably get into trouble for that.
We spent endless hours at the Hutter house where we all had a friend close to our own age. Karl and Rick were great friends. We swam in their pool with biting waterbugs, snuck veggies from their garden, made home movies, and played with their cats and dogs. Karl learned the hard way that cats don't always land on their feet when thrown up into the air.
I remember Karl singing a solo part of We Three Kings at Southridge school. It's funny that years later, Jasper sang a verse of the same song in Holland Road School's Christmas concert.
The only fights I ever remember having with Karl were over the TV remote. It never came to blows, but we did have some wrestling matches. This often preceded our weekend ritual of watching TV together on the couch with our chips and pop shop brand pop. 
I remember the summer of the cousin exchange. The three of us kids took the train to Winnipeg and visited our cousins there. Later, they came down and visited us. Another summer, we met the cousins and Auntie Adeline and Uncle Jake at our camp on the shores of Lake Superior. 
I remember watching home movies that Karl had put together in VHS format: Karl's movie about visiting an alien planet; Karl's Frankenstein movie where a gerbil turns into a giant dog; our trip to Cuba with Cameron Height's band; my super dog movie featuring Bonnie Hutter; clips from happy Christmas' and cross-county skiing (Karl looked like a giant spider climbing hills when he did the herring bone).
Karl used to play chess on the veranda of our neighbours.
High School
I remember Karl's interest in science fiction and space. He spent many nights outside in the backyard with his telescope and he worked forever on a project to grind his own telescope lens. His science fiction collection soon grew too big for his room and had to be moved to the basement. According to Sara, his favourite book was Dune.
I remember Karl practicing his French horn. I wanted to be in band because he was. We must have been in the same concerts but he would have been in symphonic band while I was in concert band.
I remember trying to envision Karl's part-time job catching chickens.
I remember Karl playing a part in the school musical, Anne of Green Gables.
University
I remember visiting Karl at Western University and I was so impressed with the university and his friends.
When I used to return to Kitchener, we used to go for long runs. It wasn't hard to leave the city then to run on country roads.
I remember Oktoberfesting at Queensmount arena with Karl and his friends.

The Outdoors
We all liked the outdoors when we were little, having spent summers camping in our tent trailer, and canoeing and fishing with our dad. Karl continued some of those traditions into his adult life canoeing on the Grand River, and bringing Brinkley and then Grant on hikes. I know he really liked Algonquin park. 
Karl went to Geraldton the summer he was 17 to be a junior ranger. It ended up being a traumatic summer for him as three people from the camp died tragically in a prescribed fire. It seems shocking to me now that two years later our parents let me go to junior ranger camp. The only tragic thing that happened to me that summer was a mail strike.

Travel
As kids most of our travels consisted of camping trips, long and short. We went to Montreal for Expo 67; toured the east coast, and many of the northeastern states; and spent weeks in the summer at our old camp in Thunder Bay. Then we went to Cuba with Cameron Heights band because Baba was a chaperone. We had fun teaching Cuban kids how to do the polka. Baba gave us turns to travel with her after that, and Karl didn't always take his turn because as a teenager he didn't want to travel with his mom. After he went on a trip down south with Baba and the Bechtel's, he changed his mind and decided travelling with his mom was fun. We all spent Christmas in the Dominican Republic after our Dad died. I don't know how many times he visited Baba at her condo in Florida, but he left many framed paintings to show that he was there. He did more travelling with Nadine more recently going to Costa Rica and taking a cruise around Australia.

Weddings
I remember Karl wanted me to read a poem at his first wedding. I have never been a public speaker, but I did it for him. At my backyard wedding, he stood beside me and acted as our witness. I remember him helping with the lobster cook-out at the beach reception that followed. I couldn't attend his second wedding, but I feel like I did as I have watched the video Baba took of this small family wedding a million times. I practically memorized Baba's running commentary of the event that took place in his backyard on Shadywood.
Pets
Karl's first pet was a striped orange cat named Pusby. When Karl had to move away for a job, Baba adopted Pusby. We once left Pusby in a hot car when we visited a friend at the mall. He recovered right away when we gave him some water, but we both felt guilty about stressing him out. It was a sad day when Pusby wandered away years later. 
We all loved Brinkley, Karl's dalmation cross. He brought her everywhere. When my Dad was terminally ill from cancer, we were allowed to bring Brinkley to the hospital to visit him. It was around Easter when he died, and we brought Brinkley in disguised as the easter bunny, with some homemade fuzzy rabbit ears.
Once when Baba planned a visit to Nova Scotia, Karl drove up a few days earlier with Brinkley to surprise her. Karl hid when she arrived, and we convinced her that we had bought a new dog that looked just like Brinkley. We had her totally fooled.
Karl had numerous bunnies, cats and dogs after that. He adopted one of Louise's cats after she died. I didn't get to know all these pets, but he was crazy about Deliliah, his pet chihauha.
Dentistry Years
I liked visiting Karl at his house on Shadywood because it was so close to Baba's house. I liked playing with Brinkley in the fenced in backyard. I liked watching movies on what we thought then was a big screen TV and soaking in his hot tub.
I remember Karl doing a crown for me for free. He didn't ask for a dime.
I remember acting as Karl's dental assistant during an emergency dentist appointment. I can see why he wanted to get out of the biz.
I enjoyed reading Karl's published novel about his experiences at dental school. It was called Beyond the Curve of Spee. He used a pen name, Ken Spaldane.  It was part fiction, part non-fiction. I was a little miffed at the time that he talked about my other sisters and not me in his book.
Sometime along the way, Karl needed more of a creative outlet, and he took up painting with water colours. We all got framed art for our birthday and Christmas presents. Karl Salo originals adorn the walls of our houses. I like his paintings and sketches of Baba, and the painting he gave me of Brinkley.

Grant and his cousins, Jasper and Jacy
I remember holding Grant's hand when we were shopping at St. Jacob's market and I felt my first maternal instincts. That experience (and a white-handed gibbon named Kong, don't ask) are what made me decide to have kids of my own.
Karl loved watching Jasper and Jacy grow. He always teased me, asking how long I was going to breastfeed them.  He played silly games with them like cut the pickle even when they were older.
I asked Jasper and Jacy what they remembered about Uncle Karl and they said that he was funny. Last time we were in Kitchener, eating at Subway, an ant walked across the table. Karl squished it with his thumb and said, And Then God smite the mighty beast.
I can't believe how much Grant reminds me of Karl. Grant's voice, mannerisms and sense of humour are all Karl. His dark hair and skin must be from the Italian genes. Even Jasper with his blonde hair and blue eyes and glasses reminds me of Karl.


Later Years
I sometimes invited myself over to his house in Waterloo, but I saw Karl mostly at Baba's house when I visited. Her freezer was always full of frozen meals and goodies, and Karl like all Salo's was a true foodie.
Karl became a book collector in the last few years. He would shop around used book stores and thrift stores like Value village for valuable books. I don't know if he ever sold any of them or if he just hoarded them like me. We shared one favourite author and that was Robert Goddard, who wrote suspense novels.
We used to meet Karl at the multi-cultural fair at Victoria Park. That was always a feeding frenzy. 
We used to worry about Karl riding his bike around at night, and as it turns out, we were right to worry, as that is how he suffered a brain injury two falls ago.
I missed visiting Kitchener this summer because we went on a European vacation so I didn't get to see Karl after his accident. Months after his accident, Susan left her phone on during a supper at Baba's so I could hear the conversation. Karl sounded tired but not very different.
 I talked to him for the last time shortly after our birthdays in early November. He sounded like the same old Karl. Baba asked me if I wanted his number while he was in hospital for his cancer surgery shortly before he died and I said, no. I didn't know that that would be my last chance to talk to him. 
Karl died from complications from his carcinoid cancer. Our family has bad genes and has had bad luck when it comes to cancer, with 5 out of 6 of us affected, and three lost to this terrible disease. 
I am so sad that he is gone, but I also feel a lot of guilt for not making the effort to spend time with him, and for not trying to help him sort out his life. You always think you will have more time, when sometimes you don't.
I will miss his witty remarks, his laugh which was more like giggles, his silliness, his quirky sense of humour, and his unique outlook on life. He was the most unpretentious person I know and also the most unmaterialistic. All he needed was his family, his books, a hot bath, a furry pet, his TV, and good food. I hope he finds them where he is now.

Such sad news .......I'm thinking of you Grant and family.
I am sorry I did not know that he was  ill. I hope he continued to paint and you have those to preserve his memory.
Dawn MacKinnon

Karl, Tim Johnson and I were good friends in our early teen years.  Karl was a fun and creative buddy.  I recall listening to music (Pink Floyd, Animals, Dark Side of the Moon) in his basement and talking about the outdoors.  Karl was creative.  I recall him making a device that could turn off the street lights at night.  Fun stuff.  I did lose touch with Karl over the years.  But he will always be remembered affectionately.  Rest in Peace Karl.

Karl and I were great buddies along with Ron Slavnik in grades 7 and 8 at Queensmount, and then at Forest Heights as well. I lost touch with Karl years ago but have very fond memories of great times we spent together in those formative years.

My deepest condolences.Grant when you were born....a couple weeks early...I remember going with your Dad to buy all the little extra items one needs while your Mom was in the hospital.  It sure was a special day. My thoughts are with you.

My heart is so heavy now hearing of Karl's passing.  It wasn't that long ago I saw him.  I know he has struggled for many many years. I met his mom and sister only once.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.  He is finally at peace.

My sincere condolences to Rose and Karl's family. I remember when he was a little kid and he loved all things to do with outer space. He used to make me laugh when he would call me Antannis.... lithuanian for anthony.  Neither one of us was Lithuanian.  Karl, may your burdens be lifted and you find eternal peace

Very sorry to hear of your loss.  I have many happy memories of Karl sitting in the french horn section in front of the trumpet section.  Karl was my friend and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to reconnect in person.  RIP Karl.

i am very sorry to receive the news of your passing, so many emotions, that words cannot convey. I will miss you dearly, you are a kind hearted soul, who was colour blind when the world was not. I feel for your struggle over the years, hope you have found your peace. My deepest condolences to Karl's family

I was so sorry to hear of your loss.
Sending my condolences to Rose and all Karl's family and friends as you cherish wonderful memories and find the strength to move forward.
Sincerely,
Muriel Omand-Naylor

My sincere condolences to your family.  I remember Karl as wonderful student with quick wit and an incredible love of life.

We are so sorry to hear of your loss. The thoughts of our family are with you at this time of sorrow.  

We were forutnate to have the opprtunity to spend a week with Karl and Nadine in Fort Lauderdale where we walked many miles together.

Sorry to hear of Karl's passing. He was a brilliant man with a great sense of humour. May the memories of his kindness and generosity live on forever. We will always remember his kind smile and easy laugh.

We were saddened to hear the news. Sending our deepest condolences to the family & close friends. May you find comfort and peace from the cherished memories and love Karl shared with you all. Naresh & Vicky Garach & Family

I am deeply sorry to hear about the death of Karl. I had the privilege of taking Karl to a Children's International Summer Village in Denmark when he was eleven. He was an exceptionally bright young man and wonderful delegate - enthusiastic, thoughtful, and caring. My sincere sympathies to Karl's family and friends.

Our deepest condolences from the Grisebach family.  Being neighbours of Karl's for many years, we shared numerous coffee hours enjoying Karl's clever witt and brilliant intellect.  A sad day indeed.

OBITUARY

Dr. Karl Richard Salo

Westmount Memorial Celebration Centre

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