Harold Douglas Abbott

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our Dad, Harold Abbott, loved by family and friends. He passed away peacefully on the morning of Saturday, January 23, 2021 at Zion Park Home in Surrey, BC. Harold was just a few weeks short of his 91st birthday.

Harold is predeceased by his parents (Pearl and George Abbott), his loving wife of many years Madeline (Dyson), daughter Linda (White), brother Eddy and sister Marilyn. He leaves behind from his first marriage to Lena Wowchuk, his daughters Christine (Rob), Brenda (Duncan), Anita, and son Doug (Peggy), ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews and many dear friends—some of whom he had known since childhood in Arcola, Saskatchewan.

Harold was a man of many interests throughout his life; cars, gun collections and gun shows (he was quite an expert on firearms), woodwork, gardening, hunting and fishing, homes, cooking large breakfasts and the Calgary Stampede and in his youth, boxing.

Social and outgoing, Harold made many friends throughout his life. He loved to dance and loved his country and western music. Many a time in Clearwater furniture was pushed aside for an impromptu dance after a night out. His appreciation for the ladies never waned and at Zion he handed out candies as generously as his compliments and quips. If you asked Harold in recent years how he was doing, he would reply with a mischievous smile, “I don’t remember!” Alzheimer’s disease never diminished his dry sense of humour.

Harold came from the small town of Arcola in southeast Saskatchewan, where his grandparents (Reuben and Sarah Toole) and twelve aunts and uncles (Herman, Pearl, Hazel, Edith, Rosie, Clara, Raymond, Freeman, Josephine, Flora, Edgar, and Lewis) doted on him. He was very proud of the fact that Rueben and Sarah grew and raised all that was needed for their large family except for sugar, flour and spices. When still a teenager the call of the West drew him and he hitch-hiked to Victoria with his childhood friends. He joined the Navy and was posted at HMCS Naden, Esquimalt. As a young seaman of 20, he fell in love with and married Lena Wowchuk, and the young couple would go on to have a family of five children.

Harold was always industrious and at BC Forest Products he steadily worked his way up to the position of head saw-filer. As well he made fine gun racks and sold them to Robinson’s Sporting Goods in Victoria and up and down the island. Later he moved to Williams Lake to work for Weyerhaeuser and then to Blue River and Clearwater BC, where he worked in management. He remembered all his coworkers with great fondness and respect.

After retiring, he and Madeline moved to Kamloops where they pursued their hobbies and interests and enjoyed their many friendships, new and old. He had quite a green thumb and in the summer months it wasn’t unusual for the neighbors to find a small bag of tomatoes at their front door in the morning.

Harold loved his family and friends and we will always love and miss him.

We are very grateful to the devoted and attentive staff at Zion Park Home for the excellent care Dad received and for their unfaltering kindness. Thanks too to all his good friends and extended family for all their kindness and caring throughout the years.

A memorial and celebration of life will be held for Harold and Madeline post-COVID when all is safe once again.

If you wish, may we suggest in lieu of flowers a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association of Canada.