Derek Albon

It is with profound sadness that the family of our beloved Derek announces his passing from this life on Sunday, March 6, 2016. Mourning his loss are wife Beverley, daughters Nicola McLaughlin (Barrie), Lindsey Albon, Jennifer Albon (Benoit), and son Simon Albon (Eden); Beverley’s children Wendryn Hamm and Andrew Wilson; and niece Ann Hall (Ian), son Oliver and family, as well as other relatives in Canada and the UK.

His dearly loved grandchildren Kyle, Christopher, Danielle (Lee), Georgina (Erick), Taylor, Jordan, Annelle, Jacob, Brogan, Mackenzie and Kelsey will miss his wise advice and admonitions to live their lives to the fullest and seize each opportunity for growth, also to never sit when you can stand, stand when you can walk or walk when you can run.

“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and each man in his time plays many parts.”

~ Shakespeare

Derek was born in Stamford, England, and his love of singing began at the age of seven as a choir boy at his local St. Martin’s Anglican Church. Later, after the traditional 11+ exam he was astonished when awarded a scholarship to continue his education at the “public” Stamford School which he attended from 1939 to 1944. There he encountered the formality and structure of learning, regular sports and games, the ritual of the church, but most of all the joys of drama and music when he performed in his first Gilbert and Sullivan, Trial By Jury, as part of an all-boy school cast. The world he learned about at Stamford School created the map for his whole life.

On school-leaving, after writing the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams, he and his friends joined the British Navy so that they would be a part of the excitement of WWII. It may have been then that he developed his zeal for travel to new places as his service took him to Ireland, through the Mediterranean and on to Sri Lanka and Australia. As well at this time, he nurtured his piano skills playing nightly in a dance band, his dad having told him when he joined up , “If they ask if you can play an instrument say yes.” In a book recently completed for the family he ended this part of his story with “Incredibly, after all the adventure, I was still under 20 years of age!!”

As with all servicemen, on his return to England he was offered advanced academic training and decided to study ceramic engineering at the College of Ceramics in Stoke-On-Trent. He won the Silver Medal for Chemistry on his graduation. Always an adventurer, he decided to move with his young family to Canada, first to the National Research Council in Saskatchewan and then to Clayburn Industries in Abbotsford where as Director of Research he worked for thirty-five years, latterly becoming a part owner. This also took him on projects around the world to the countries of Nigeria and Egypt and Peru and Iran. He developed and patented many different kinds of bricks for different uses but the most memorable patent, at least to the uninitiated, was the one which was translated into Farsi for Iran. It looks so exotic and international.

Early in the 1980s he and Beverley moved to Corbould Road in Arnold, establishing their home together and spending many contented years. This was their world, their sanctuary, their retreat. It was the scene of many happy events, swimming and lazing around the pool, schmoozing in the sauna, entertaining friends and family to evenings of music and laughter and camaraderie, celebrating special occasions and creating a magical space. Even with age and health issues he was determined to stay ‘on the farm’. The cottage at Gun Lake north of Pemberton was a favorite retreat as well where “all was right with the world”. There he could indulge in fishing, playing piano, drinking martinis, and by the light of the guttering coal-oil lamps reading aloud to us from Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which he said reminded him of his days at Stamford School.

After formal retirement Derek served for nine years as a Trustee on the Board of Maplewood House/MSA Manor and continued ceramic engineering as a Canadian Executive Services Overseas (CESO) consultant for the Canadian government. This led to a further fifteen years of travel with Beverley to projects in developing countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Columbia, and Ghana. He continued to promote the idea of becoming a ceramic engineer to anyone who would listen and each of the children and grandchildren when finishing high school was nudged to consider science and engineering as an exciting goal! He told them, “The nose cones of the space shuttles are made of ceramic, you know!” The Rotary Foundation awarded him a Paul Harris Fellow for “tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.”

Throughout his life he also continued his love of music. He started an early Barbershop group in Abbotsford and played piano for over twenty years with the Moonliters dance band. He taught Sunday School and sang in church choirs and urged others to join, especially for cantatas, not only to augment the voices but to encourage participation in such a joyous undertaking.

He became involved with the local amateur theatre group, the Valley Musical Theatre Guild, where he wore many hats – singer, actor, set designer, set builder. For many years the sets for each show were built on the very spot where we are today in “the barn” on the property which had been recently bought by Calvin Church. A friend recalls that it was drafty and the rats sometimes ate anything which had glue but Derek looked on Fraser Valley Stage rental of the space as a way to help raise funds for the church. Ultimately he became the artistic director and choreographer of many Gilbert and Sullivan and Broadway shows. He wasn’t really a trained choreographer but he loved dancing - even on the table when he was only 80 years old! - and so he wanted to try to see if he could get others to dance too. One time a cast member said, “I couldn’t dance at all but when he did it, it looked so easy that I practiced to see if I could do it too.” In 2010 he was recipient of the Abbotsford Arts Council Arty Award for Lifetime Achievement in the arts.

Derek was forward-looking, thrifty, imaginative, an entrepreneur and organizer, a cook, a gardener, and the ultimate host. He was mentor to many and we were all swept up by his passion for creating and making something new and different. We thought he was indestructible.

His was a life well lived and he loved it all – his family, his friends, his music, and his world!!

“The music in my heart I bore

Long after it was heard no more”

~ William Wordsworth

Heartfelt thanks to the many doctors, nurses, and medical staff at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, the Jean C. Barber Lodge at VGH, Abbotsford RHCC and Christine Morrison Hospice who cared for him throughout his five year journey with MDS and acute leukemia. In lieu of flowers please consider donating blood to the Canadian Red Cross, or funds to the Abbotsford Hospice Society as a fitting tribute in Derek’s memory.

A service of Thanksgiving for his life was held at the new Calvin Presbyterian Church, 33911 Hazelwood Avenue, Abbotsford, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 19th with a reception afterwards at the church. Cremation will follow. Arrangements under the direction of Woodlawn Funeral Home, Abbotsford, BC.