Robert James Hardill

We are heartbroken to announce the passing of Robert James “Bob” Hardill (July 14, 1931 – January 10, 2023) after a long illness. Predeceased by his beloved wife Sylvia, his parents Jeff and Helen Hardill, and his brother Gary Hardill.

Bob will be profoundly missed by his daughters Kathy (the late Robert Callaghan) and Susan (Deepinder Brar), his beloved grandchildren Jason, Arun, and Anisa, and his extended family as well as many dear friends from church, community and his years at General Electric.

Bob was raised in Bridgenorth where he resided for the better part of eight decades, never once wanting to be anywhere else on the planet. He exemplified the notion of blooming where you are planted.

As a child, he had an aptitude for snooker, and while still in public school could be found playing pool in the Bridgenorth pool hall in the evenings. When asked whether his mother would have been worried about him, he would say “She always knew where to find me!” Like many kids of his era, he helped out his grandparents on their dairy farm – including driving cattle across the famous floating bridge spanning Chemong Lake. Not a chore for the faint of heart, he recalled windy days when the waves would crash up over the logs and the cows would slip off into the lake and swim the rest of the way to the Ennismore shore.

Bob was athletic and in particular had a talent for baseball. A very good pitcher, when asked what his best pitch was, he would respond with his famous self-deprecating humour, saying “anything I could get over the plate!”

Eventually, Bob met our mother, on a double date when they were both seeing other people. Sylvia caught his eye right away, and he loved to tell the story of asking her out for their first date on a mid-week Tuesday, rather than a prime-time Saturday, thinking he would have a better chance of success. His strategy worked and Sylvia was hooked.

A man of many interests, he taught himself to play the saxophone and sang in the choir. He dabbled in writing and had a short story published – a murder mystery set in a fictional Bridgenorth! He was a pillar of Bridgenorth United Church. Bob had a talent for building and fixing anything and everything. Although he loved to downplay his self-taught skills – one of his favourite jokes was that he had “cut a board three times and it was still too short” – in fact he built their first and only house, mostly by himself, in the evenings after work. Sylvia would come out from Peterborough, bringing burgers and milkshakes for a picnic and providing encouragement and moral support.

Sylvia was the absolute love of Bob’s life and they were in each others’ corners for more than sixty years. That house that Bob built became a home bursting with laughter, sometimes tears, and always so much love. We shall miss him immensely – his humour, his wisdom, his tenderness, his compassion for all creatures great and small, and his deep and abiding love for us.

Friends and relatives may call at Comstock-Kaye Life Celebration Centre, 356 Rubidge Street, Peterborough on Thursday January 19th from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. A funeral service will be held at Bridgenorth United Church on Friday January 20th at 11:00 a.m. Reception to follow at the church. Interment at Bridgenorth Cemetery at a later date. The family respectfully asks that masks be worn to both events. Friends who are unable to attend are invited to watch the Livestream of the Funeral Service (from Bob’s obituary, scroll down to service and click join livestream).

If anyone wishes to make a memorial donation in Bob’s memory, he would have appreciated donations to Bridgenorth United Church https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/48867?v1=true or to Telecare Peterborough https://www.telecarepeterborough.org/donate-to-telecare-peterborough/. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.comstockkaye.com for the Hardill family.