Andrew "Andy" Elock

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Andy was predeceased by his parents Martha and Andy Elock and his sister Rose and survived by Marilyn his loving wife of 39 years, younger sister Marjorie (Margie) Oszust, younger brother Allen (Paulette) and many cousins, nieces & nephews. Uncle Andy will be missed; especially by Raymond and Donald for whom Andy was a mentor and father figure.

Andy passed away peacefully on August 10, 2008, after a short illness. Andy spent many years in trucking and later spent over two decades in the mobile crane business. Andy loved his boats, fishing and travel.

Andy was born in Beverly, a coal mining community overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley, located in what is now part of east Edmonton. When Andy was 15, his dad bought a farm and moved the family to Glendon. Andy's dad was still a detective with the RCMP and was gone for long periods of time. Being a free spirit, coupled with his dad's lengthy absences, Andy had a Tom Sawyerish life moving from one adventure to another, often with his lifelong friend Paul Slyke. Andy was a gifted athletically and once scored 10 goals in leading Beacon Corner to victory over a rival team from Glendon. Andy played some junior hockey in Edmonton. He had a promising future in hockey but chose a different path. Andy had a short stint in the Navy but left as the war had ended.

Even at an early age, Andy had an eye for practical solutions. The family raised some horses on the farm and a couple of times Andy & Margie had to break a young horse. Andy waited until winter when there was snow on the ground. He led and Margie rode, that way if the horse bucked her off, Margie had a snow bank to land in.

Andy always had an iron will. Once he set his mind to something, he made it happen. This was evident even when he was a young boy. Andy had a toque that he liked to wear. When his mom sent him to grade one (he had just turned five in June) he wore his toque and kept it on in class. When Andy didn’t want to take it off, the teacher swept the toque off his head. He left school and went home. Andy told his mother that the teacher had hit him and took his toque. The next morning Andy told his mother “that’s a stupid teacher, she hit me and I’m not going”. When Andy went out of the house his mother thought he was going to school, but instead he hid under the porch. When he did not come home after school they went to look for him and found out that he hadn’t gone to school. True to his word Andy stayed home the rest of that school year.

After the 2nd world war Andy worked on the dismantling of the Canol pipeline and drove bus for a while in Alberta. Andy settled into the trucking industry and was an owner operator, making long haul runs to Toronto, Montreal, California and most of Western Canada.

Andy & Gerald Fedunec started NIC which they later sold. Andy & Gerald then formed Liquid Chemical and had a couple of trucks hauling tallow to the coast, returning with loads of molasses. Two of Andy's long time friends Roger Coons and Steve Myroniuk drove for the company. Liquid Chemical was bought out by Trimac. Later, Andy, Roger and Gordie Lutz had a couple of trucks working for Gill.

Pat Lamoureux, Roger & Andy hauled produce from California. On one of those trips Pat & Andy spotted a new mobile crane and Pat thought that would be a good business in BC because of all the construction in the province. And so the seed for the mobile crane business was planted. Andy met Walter Much while window shopping at an equipment dealer. That chance meeting led to Andy to the mobile crane business. Andy, together with Pat, Gordie & Ray Matheson formed Time Crane which later merged with Much to form Much & Time Crane. Andy retired from business in 1987 when the company sold.

Andy met his wife Marilyn in 1963. For Marilyn, it was a blind date, but not for Andy. Through a mutual friend Andy had seen a snap shot of his future bride and he was keen to meet the beautiful woman in the picture. They were married in 1969 at an intimate family wedding.

Although he was a successful business man, Andy's true passion was the ocean. He bought his first boat – a 26' Chris Craft - in the 60s. From then on Andy always owned a boat or two. Andy fished whenever he could – he knew every fishing spot from Vancouver to Port Hardy. One of his favourite spots was Stuart Island. Andy fished with so many friends and relatives Allen, John, Mike, Roger, Big and Little Steve just to name a few. It was important to Andy that everyone who went fishing with him got a 'good' fish.

One time when Andy was fishing with Marilyn's brother Gary, they had gone to Stuart Island on Andy's 50' trawler but there were no big fish were to be had. On the way down Andy decided to try a spot he knew off of Lund. They were trolling and Marilyn (as usual) was saddled with running the boat while they fished. After a couple of passes Gary hooked a good one. Andy was determined that Gary land that fish!! There was no flasher no sinker on the line - just a chain swivel and this big fish. The fish fought like crazy - it was all over the place and Gary was all over the boat (Andy directing traffic) – side to side and bow to stern. The other rods were propped on the deck and Gary managed to step over them a few times – then CRUNCH – it was Andy's special new reel for fishing the whirlpool at Stuart Island. Gary was all in a flap – but Andy couldn't seem to care less – just get that fish on board – and they did - Gary's biggest ever - 38 lbs.

Family was important to Andy. Whether it was buying a house for his parents to live in or helping his nephews Raymond & Donald get into the union, Andy was always ready to lend a helping hand.

Andy liked kids and they all seemed to love him. Two of Andy's nephews Lorne & Eran Spence, certainly were no exception. Andy delighted in playing with the boys, and would often ignore adults at family gatherings while making the boys the centre of his attention. When Patrick Lameroux was 4 or 5 he loved to watch a Saturday morning cartoon called Hong Kong Phooey. Patrick asked Andy if he watched it. When Andy told him no, Patrick told him that he should because it was really good. After that, Andy would watch Hong Kong Phooey just so he could discuss the show with Patrick.

Andy had somewhat of an impulsive side, especially when it came to travel. One time Andy decided on the spur of the moment to fly to San Francisco and Marilyn & Andy left the next day. When they arrived there were no rental cars to be had – turned out that there was a World Series game in town. Undaunted they just flew to L.A. instead. Another time Andy had them going to Florida on the spur of the moment. They arrive only to find that there wasn’t decent room to be had, so they had to spend one night in some dive motel before finding a decent place to stay.

Andy always had the gift of the gab. One time Gerald and Andy had to move 7 fully equipped Sherman tanks to CFB Shiloh – at 37 tons each, they needed some heavy equipment for the move but all they had was a tandem axle tractor and trailer. They managed to move 6 before they were stopped by the RCMP for being overweight. Even with the canon sticking out the back, Andy was able to convince the officer that “Oh no we're not overweight! It's just a shell – it's been gutted – no motor – nothing inside” and off they went to deliver the last tank.

Andy had many loyal friends which speaks highly of his character. Some of his pals have gone before him, two, with whom Andy shared a special bond, were Steve Myroniuk & Roger Coons.

Calm seas and safe harbour Andy.