John Silvester

John Silvester was born April 13th, 1931 at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver BC. He passed away peacefully on February 18th, 2017. John’s battle with heart disease began over thirty years earlier, but even in his last days, he was determined to get home from the hospital and back to the bowling alley.

He was predeceased by his wife Florence May, (whom he married in 1954), and survived by his children John Frederick (Shelley), Donald Cyril (Ginger), and Janis Dawn Swaine (Andy). John also had four grandsons Rob, Jamie, Clayton and Devan and three great granddaughters Bailley, Mia and Alessandra. Also survived by sister Dorothy Bell (born 1932) and brother Robert Silvester (born 1933). He also had many nieces and nephews.

John’s school days began at Cecil Rhodes Elementary at 14th and Alder in Vancouver for grades 1-8, and then King Edward High at 12th and Oak, from 9th to 12th grade. John loved all sports but he always had a special place in his heart for bowling. He began working as a pin setter as a kid with his brother and he was able to practice and hone his skills. This began his

over 55 year passion as an avid bowler.

John also had a job as a paperboy and told many stories of the paper “Shack” where the papers were sorted and the paper boys hung out. They formed sports teams and played against the other paper shacks. I believe this is also where John’s competitive love for playing cards may have started.

John’s first job after high school was with Rock City Tobacco which later was bought out by Rothmans Of Pall Mall Canada. John spent 35 years with the company and became one of their very best salesmen and leaders. He started out doing display areas, to salesman, to supervisor and then became part of Dunhill of London, specializing in sales and service of very expensive products such as lighters and hand rolled Cuban cigars. He became the expert at managing the very important humidors that held the expensive cigars in his customers shops.

His sales territory took him from Victoria, BC to Winnipeg, Manitoba. John was voted best salesman for Western Canada and earned many bonuses over the years including one of the first VCR’s on the market, a beautiful clock he still kept in his living room, and a trip to Jamaica for Florence and himself.

John and Florence and their three children lived for over 50 years in their yellow house on the south slope in Burnaby. John enjoyed gardening and took great pride in growing many flowers, fruit trees and kept a perfect lawn. John loved the sun, he liked to go to the beach, particularly Kitsilano where he grew up. In the evening you’d often find him on the front porch reading the newspaper, basking in the hot sun.

“Johnny and Flo” took their kids on many memorable road trips to Christina Lake, Edmonton to visit family, the Okanagon, Birch Bay and Disneyland to name a few. John and Florence enjoyed many bus trips to Reno, Hawaii and took Mexican and Alaskan cruises with their

friends. One of their favourite weekly pastimes was going for dinner on Saturday nights, and playing cards into the wee hours with their neighbours.

John bowled for many years, every Monday night, at The Town and Country Lanes at the Blue Boy Hotel at Marine and Fraser in Vancouver. He was very regretful to have leave this league and his closest bowling friends when eventually the evening drive from Langley to Vancouver became just too much for him. John continued 10 pin bowling in South Surrey at Sandcastle Lanes where he joined an afternoon seniors league. He was very proud that his team won the league in 2015. John was still bowling up until a few months before his death.

Both John and Flo took active roles in their grandchildren's lives and this included venturing out to Langley every Friday to spend time with their grandson Clayton. John would continue this for all of Clayton’s childhood.

When John and Florence sold their home in Burnaby, they moved to a townhouse at Peninsula Village in South Surrey and lived together there until Florence passed away after a long illness in 2007.

These last eight years John had been living near his kids at Avalon Gardens in Langley, where in his late seventies, he found a new lease on life, making many new friends. He was a member of the Strata council and became a fire safety captain. He also helped organize activities such as pool (billiards), Rummoli and Bridge. John also became a member of the Langley Seniors Center where he played Bridge regularly and went on several bus trips often to casinos. During his quieter times John watched tv, enjoying all the old favourites including Mash and old war movies. He also played many games of solitaire on his laptop when he couldn't sleep at

night.

John was a big man with a big heart. He loved to tell his stories and always had a joke or comment to try to get a laugh or smile. He will be dearly missed. In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John’s memory to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.