Lloyd Jacob Poss

POSS, Lloyd Jacob Lloyd Jacob Poss aged 77 years died suddenly on December 28th, 2010. Survived by ex-wife Gwen, brother: Gil (Dale), sister: Audrey (Larry), his children: Brent (Tammy), Charyl (Randy), Wade (Christine), Owen (Connie) and 9 grandchildren, as well as many relatives and friends.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, 20786 Fraser Hwy on February 12, 2011 at 11 a.m. Condolences may be offered at www.hendersonslangleyfunerals.com

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, Langley, BC.

LLOYD'S LIFE JOURNEY

Lloyd was born September 28, 1933 in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. Humboldt is about 3/4 the way up the province. His dad (William or Bill) was from Belle Plain, Minnesota, his mum (Adeline Jasken) was born in Pilger, Saskatchewan, about 20 miles from Humboldt. They had a farm around the area until Lloyd was about 6 years old. They moved into Humboldt and Lloyd started school there. He didn't have many years of formal education, but what he didn't have in book learning he made up for in practical knowledge. There wasn't much he couldn't figure out how to do, and he's passed that gift on to his children. Lloyd had a brother Gil and a sister Audrey all about 5 years apart. Lloyd was the oldest of the three children. He played hockey through his younger years and was a top player. He and Glen Hall used to play shinny in their spare time when they were kids.

When he left school at about 14 years old, he got a job driving dump truck for a local man, even before he was old enough to have a driver's license. The man he drove for said he ran his trucks better than any of the other drivers he had in the past. He did that for a couple of years and made enough money to buy himself a Harley, which he rode for a couple of years on those prairie gravel roads. Now and then, he would hit a soft spot in the road and end up laying the bike down on its side. Thank God for the big crash bars on the old Harley. Since the bike was one of the biggest they made at the time, it was sometimes very hard to get it back on its wheels, so he would crank the handle bars hard, give it some gas, pop the clutch and the bike would stand right back up and he’d be on his way again.

He decided to go to Pine Falls, Manitoba to work as a cook’s helper in a bush camp and often mentioned how much those loggers ate - a whole platter full of hotcakes or steaks for one man - happened quite often it seemed. Also, the timber wolves would howl and he said the sound would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. He also worked on the logging site, cutting trees, etc. By the time he left the bush camp a couple years later, he had made enough money to buy a new 52 Chevy.

While in Manitoba, he played Jr. Hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings and was even asked to try out for the Pro’s, which he turned down in favour of going prospecting for uranium in Northern Saskatchewan. Using the proceeds of the sale of his Chevy and a grubstake, he went with a couple of his buddies who were experienced prospecting. They flew 125 miles north of Lac LaRonge with an 18ft freighter canoe and supplies, then paddled and portaged their way back to LaRonge after they had finished prospecting. The following year his brother Gil joined them but this time they paddled both ways. Lloyd once put a piece of uranium ore in his pocket and it burned his leg right through his pants. He would spend the summer prospecting and then spend the winter in Toronto working and taking some classes in rock identification.

When he quit prospecting, he went to Hinton Alberta and worked in a paper mill for a time. He got to be a paper maker there and exclaimed over the huge rolls of paper they would have on rolls. He then joined his family in Vancouver, B.C where he met a beautiful woman named Gwen who became his wife.

He learned how to do plastic laminates and floor tiling and was a whiz at it, doing a few apartment blocks and hospitals around the area as well as private homes. He did this for 12 to 14 years. During this time, his children came along - 3 boys, Brent, Wade and Owen and 1 daughter, Charyl. He worked long, hard hours for his family to provide for them. After finishing his regular work, he spent time working hard to make a better home for his family including raising and adding on to the old house that they bought making it into a four-bedroom 3800sq/ft home. He also made time for fun with family, riding his horse Goldie, coaching hockey, camping and fishing.

He bought an old backhoe and went into the backhoe business, gradually upgrading his machinery and ended up doing many kinds of jobs. For a number of years he worked up the west coast on the island of Bella Bella. He had his equipment barged up the coast (an excavator, two dump trucks, a small cat and a large van for all his tools and supplies) to do work for the hospital building a sea wall, setting up the nurse’s residence and building what they needed at the time. He even did work for the local native people. They were happy to have him there, as it was hard to get anything done through the works yard that was supposed to do that work for them. He worked for the municipality of Surrey as well as putting in septic tanks and fields, digging drainage ditches and all that business entails. He excelled in this also and was in this business for a number of years, as well as doing some manufacturing of his ideas. Whatever he put his hands to he did it well. About this time his sons started to rodeo, with the youngest Owen taking up bull riding and Wade giving that a try also for a short time. Lloyd through his company Western Hoe then sponsored a wild horse racing team consisting of Wade, Owen and friend Chuck. Brent was also wild horse racing with his own team. Lloyd was always willing to fill in (and did on occasion) when there were injuries etc and was very good at it and always had a blast. This started the annual rodeo B-B-Q’s at the house. His kids enjoyed the western life style just as Lloyd did, being brought up on a small farm themselves having horses, cattle, goats etc. The kids would feed the stock, milk goats morning and evening, help in the garden through the spring and summer months. You would always find Lloyd in his western hat and boots, and when the music played it was country. When Lloyd started raising his own cattle, he also came up with his own brand. A registered brand with the cattle association known as the flying LP, he even built his own branding irons. He often spoke of having a cattle ranch, a few good saddle horses in some rustic setting in the interior of BC. A place where he could shoot and hunt on his own land, enjoying the quiet country life. That was his dream. He liked dancing and about that time East Texas style line dancing, swing and two-step became very popular. Most of the family took up this style of dancing and even joined the dance club at the local honky tonk in Langley. They would put on shows at different events around the area; this was some of the best times his family and friends had together.

His retirement years were spent researching / working on his inventions, spending fun time with his children, going to some of the outdoor country concerts around the province, rodeos, hunting and camping. He even tried sky diving.

Lloyd was a proud man and didn't stand for any nonsense. He brought his children up knowing right from wrong; he was proud of them and loved them very much. He lived life to the fullest and had many good times.