William Stanford Lakevold

Bill died peacefully at home of natural causes, with his wife Clara holding his hand, and family members and a close family friend present. He was 91.

Bill was born on Christmas Day, 1930 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in his mother and father’s original home country. At the time, his family was living in Birch Lake, Saskatchewan, and his mother Bergetta had travelled south to the States to have the birth. “Billy” was born in the home of his Grandma Houglum in Minneapolis.

He is survived by his wife Clara Lakevold (Demko); his sons Dale Lakevold and Merrill Lakevold; his grandchildren Vanya Hanson, Annika Lakevold, Cal Lakevold, and Kendra Lakevold; his great-granddaughter Njiba Hanson Kalala; his sister Barbara Bawden (Lakevold); his nieces and nephews George Bawden & Sue Bawden: Ken Beresford & Yupha Beresford; Marty Beresford & Susanne Tuson; Leslie Beros & Lori Beros; Betty Kruse (Bawden) & Denis Kruse; Bonnie Oldring (Bawden) & John Oldring: and Peggy Simank (Beros) & Bill Simank; Debbie Beros; and many other relatives and friends. He is predeceased by his parents Bergetta Lakevold (Houghlum) and William Norence Lakevold; his mother- and father-in-law Margaret Demko (Galgoczi) and Martin Demko; his sisters-in-law Gizella Beresford (Demko) and Margaret Beros (Demko); his brothers-in-law Hugh Bawden, Norman Beresford, and George Beros; and his nephew Wayne Beros, and Wayne and Debbie’s son Gregory Beros.

At his request, no funeral or memorial services will be held.

Bill was of Norwegian extraction on both sides of his family. He grew up in the northern Canadian bush country of Saskatchewan and Alberta for the first seventeen years of his life. They were formative years for him. He grew up with a deep respect for the land – for its trees, forests, lakes, rivers, animals, and all living things. This respect carried over into everything he did and with everyone he met throughout his life.

He grew up in such places in the North as Cold River and Cold Lake, Alberta, and Birch Lake, Saskatchewan. He did not attend public school until his family moved to Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, where he began Grade Seven. Until then, he and his sister Barbara studied by correspondence under the tutelage of their mother Bergetta. When Bill’s attention drifted occasionally from his studies at the kitchen table, he would begin sketching what he saw outside through the window. These early artistic efforts continued through his teenage years as he found his medium in oil painting. He would go on to take art classes at university and discover the work of the Group of Seven that inspired his own art making. Several of his paintings from those early years hang in the family home to this day.

From Meadow Lake, he went south to Saskatoon and the University of Saskatchewan. There he obtained an Engineering degree that led him to become a Civil Engineer and dedicate himself to the betterment of life in the communities that he served in. At the U of S, he lived in the residence of the Lutheran Seminary College on campus and made many lifelong friends during his four years there.

It was while working at a summer job in Eastend, Saskatchewan, after his first year of university, that he met 17-year-old Clara Demko who was serving customers at one of the town’s few restaurants, Mike’s Café. Clara says he told her years later that he knew right away that he hoped to someday marry her. But he was a rather shy young man and “it took him a long time,” says Clara, before he proposed. By then, however, it was evident they had both fallen in love. Clara ended up with her first nursing position in Saskatoon, just as Bill was going into his final year at the U of S. They were married on September 15, 1956, in Eastend, and remained lovingly devoted to each other for some 65 years.

Bill’s professional life began in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1957, where he worked as City Engineer until the end of 1971. He and Clara also began a family in Brandon with sons Dale (born in 1957) and Merrill (born in 1961). In 1972, he was persuaded to move to Kelowna, BC, to work as an Assistant under one of his old mates from Engineering School, Nelson Deck. Later he would become the city’s Engineering Director after Nels left for Campbell River, BC. His time in Kelowna lasted until 1983, when he was hired as Director of Engineering for the Township of Langley. In each of the cities that he worked in, he was committed to the notion of public service. He was there, in his position, to serve the best interests of the community. And he was loved and respected for his loyalty and service to the community. Bill completed his engineering days in 1993, when he retired and stayed on in the township at their wonderful home surrounded by trees, bushes, and other foliage on the ridge above Rees Lake.

In 1976 Bill and Clara found a rustic A-frame cabin at idyllic Mabel Lake, in the Shuswap area east of Enderby. It would become their own bit of paradise, a cabin accessible only by boat, situated on a deep-water lake with inland salmon swimming past their front door each summer. Every May, Clara would head to the lake for the summer, while Bill would drive out on Friday so they could spend their weekends together. After retirement, they would spend every May to October at the lake. In the early 2000s Bill designed and oversaw the building of a three-level addition to the cabin for their family to enjoy on into the future. Over the years they became deeply attached to a wide circle of friends and neighbours in the Mabel Lake community.

Bill was an active and faithful member of the Lutheran church wherever he lived. In Brandon and Kelowna, the family attended Redeemer Lutheran and Christ Lutheran respectively. In Langley, Bill and Clara were devoted members of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran. He took part in the life of the church in many capacities, serving on boards and committees, and volunteering in other ways. In Kelowna, for example, he involved himself in the congregation’s sponsorship of a refugee family from Vietnam. When the church sponsorship of the family ended after the family’s first year in Canada, Bill and Clara helped the family purchase their first home and assisted them in many other ways. The Phu family has grown much larger over the years and prospered remarkably.

Bill was a kind, gentle, compassionate, and selfless person, and he touched the lives of many, many people. His sons have tried, without success, to remember a time when he ever raised his voice. He was always concerned and engaged but never angry. He saw the good in everyone he met. There were times when he brought home strangers in need to give them meals and a bed for as long as they needed. One bitterly cold, blizzardy night in Brandon, he rescued a man who had fallen and was lying in the snow alongside the road. The man could barely be seen from the road, but Bill could somehow make out the man’s form under the snow. Bill went out and helped the man into the car then took the man to hospital.

Bill lived a good, long life, always putting the needs and well-being of others before himself. He will be missed deeply and remembered with love.

Condolences may be sent to hendersonslangleyfunerals.com