Phillip Makortoff

It is with tremendous sadness and heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of Phil Makortoff, beloved father to Mischa and Grandpa “Deda” to Dalton. Phil died suddenly in his home on December 26th, 2021.

Father Sam Makortoff and mother Mary welcomed Phil into their large family in 1949. Phil was the sixth child after brothers Cyril, Alec, Fred, George, and sister Marie. Phil was born in New Denver, British Columbia and the family lived on a farm in Hills, a small community outside New Denver. Hills is located in the Kootenay region of BC. Sam and Mary were members of the Doukhobor community and Russian was the first language of their household.

Learn more about the Doukhobors and their beliefs using this link: http://www.usccdoukhobors.org/about.htm

The Doukhobors were Russian Christian peasants who were persecuted by the Orthodox Church and Czars of Russia for their beliefs and pacifism. Several thousand Doukhobors immigrated to Canada on boats at the end of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th century.

Phil’s father Sam and brothers Cyril, Alec, and Fred founded a logging company ‘S. Makortoff and Sons,’ in the Kootenays. During Phil’s elementary school years the family moved from the Kootenays to Chase and then Kamloops.

The family moved in an effort to find better opportunities the family logging company in Chase and then in Kamloops. Phil’s father Sam bought a chunk of land 4 or 5 lots in size. The family home was built on one lot on Shubert Drive. A few lots were subdivided and sold and brother Alec build a house on one lot. Phil’s father Sam died as a result of a logging accident in 1964 when Phil was 14. Phil missed his father deeply and son Mischa recalls emotional visits to Sam’s (Deda’s) gravesite decades later.

Phil was very athletic and played Soccer, Basketball, Softball, and ran Track and Field. Phil attended North Kamloops High School “NorKam” for grades 8 through 12 from 1962 – 67. Phil competed on school Soccer and Basketball teams throughout his high school athletic career. Phil played on the Senior Boys Soccer team from grades 9 through 12. Phil was sportsmanlike and occupied the central mid-field position on the soccer field. In his grade 9 year he helped the Senior Boys Soccer team win the Okanagan Championship, the first major trophy in school history. The Senior Boys Soccer team won the Okanagan Championship again in Phil’s grade 12 year. In his native Kamloops Phil was a city all-star in both basketball and soccer skills. A sportsmanlike athlete. In his grade 12 year Phil was the President of the Athletic Coordinating Committee and a member of the Student Council. Phil had a big smile and he was well loved by his classmates.

Phil was the first member of his family to attend University as he attended the University of British Columbia “UBC” from 1967 – 71. During a few summers Phil returned to Kamloops to work in the summer. Brother George got Phil a job related to BC Gas, digging ditches. Another summer Phil worked as a night janitor when jobs were scarce. Years later Phil remarked that these summer employment experiences provided motivation to finish his studies so he could get a good job which he enjoyed. Phil graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1971. Soon after graduation Phil accepted a job in Calgary, Alberta working at a group home which offered programming for adults with disabilities. Moving to Alberta for work later became a trend in the Makortoff family as several of Phil’s nieces and nephews currently live in Alberta.

After working in Calgary for a few years Phil quit his job and travelled the world for a full year from November 1973 until November 1974. Phil used London, England as his basecamp and returned to England multiple times before embarking on new trips. During his year abroad Phil travelled to dozens of countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. During one trip Phil joined Percy and Jenny Jantz and the group travelled through Europe to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Phil had many fond memories of his year abroad some of which are captured in slides, travel journals, and stories which he relayed to son Mischa years later. Fond memories included Phil’s time in the Canary Islands and riding across North Africa in the back of a truck. Phil loved to travel and travelled extensive in his 20s.

Phil developed a passion for brewing home-made beer and making wine in his 20s. He continued brewing beer for a few decades. Phil continue to make wine up until his late 60s. In the late 1980s/early 1990s Phil attended wine tasting events hosted by his brother-in-law Bob MacKay. On atleast one occasion Phil’s wine won an award at the wine tasting event.

After returning to Canada following his travels Phil worked with young people through the Ministry of Human Resources in BC and with the Surrey Association for the Mentally Handicapped. Phil met the love of his Theota in 1978/79 when they both worked at General Gordon Elementary school in Vancouver. Phil was a school counselor and Theota was a Learning Assistance substitute teacher. Phil and Theota got to know one another better during this year. They began dating and eventually moved in together. Phil and Theota married in June 1980 at what was the Botanical Gardens at UBC. In July 1980 they had their yajna, a beautiful ceremony during which Phil and Theota talked about being friends to each other and committed themselves to marry in all future lifetimes. Phil and Theota welcomed their Son Mischa into the world in December 1981.

While Theota was pregnant with Mischa, Phil accepted a job at the City of Burnaby as a Counselor in Youth Services in 1981. Phil made his career at the City of Burnaby and worked there until his retirement in 2010. The Youth Services division was based at the Burnaby RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Detachment. In Phil’s work with ‘Youth Services’ he worked with families with children who were ‘at risk.’ Phil provided assessment and counselling to youth referred by the RCMP, other community agencies, schools, and parents. In the mid-1980s Phil was a member of the Burnaby RCMP soccer team. Son Mischa has fond memories of visiting Phil at the ‘Police Station.’ In the late-1980s Phil was promoted to Supervisor of the Youth Service division. Another aspect of Phil’s role was the ‘ride along program’ with RCMP members. During a ‘ride along’ Phil would ride with an RCMP member in their police car for a shift. Some of these ‘ride alongs’ occurred at night.

Phil, Theota, and Mischa enjoyed many family trips. When Mischa was an infant there were regular trips to Kamloops to visit Phil’s mom Mary during the summer and Christmas holidays. Mary was known affectionately as “Baba” to the grand-children. There were also trips to the Kootenays to visit Phil’s family. There were also fishing trips with Phil’s brother Alec. There was frequent trips to the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga on Salt Spring Island as Theota was devoted student of Baba Hari Dass and an active member of the Dharma Sara community.

Phil decided that he wanted to change careers in his late 30s. While working full-time Phil studied Human Resources Management on a part-time basis at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Phil took courses in the evening, on weekends, and occasionally in a compressed format as week-long intensives. In 1990 Phil left his role as Supervisor of Youth Services and took a job as a Personnel Officer in the Human Resources department at the city of Burnaby. After 6 years Phil completed his Human Resources Management Program at BCIT in 1993. Phil was eventually promoted to Supervisor in Human Resources. During the 1990s Phil played on a co-ed slow-pitch softball team in the City of Burnaby league. Phil played a few positions in the field including pitcher.

In 1991 Phil, Theota, and Mischa took a long summer vacation in their car to Disneyland. The car, a 1984 Toyota Corolla hatchback did not have air conditioning. There were many stops including in Washington, the Oregon Coast, Northern California in Santa Cruz – at the Mount Madonna Centre (the sister centre to the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga), and Disneyland in the Los Angeles area. In the summer of 1992 the family took a long vacation through the prairie provinces to visit Theota’s maternal family, the Dermodys. Theota’s mother Rose and Father Don lived in separate long-term care homes in Vancouver. Rose and Don loved to visit Theota, Phil, and Mischa, especially at Christmas time. Frequently Phil would pick-up and or drop-off Rose/Don to their care homes. An avid card player, in his 40s Phil spent a lot of time with Leonard Dermody (first cousin to Phil’s mother-in-law Rose). Among other things Leonard was an expert card player and gambler who had a craps table and black table in the basement of his White Rock home. Going to the casino to unwind became one of Phil’s hobbies the last 3 decades of his life. He would select some numbers for Keno and sit-down at the Blackjack table. Phil would also throw dice at the craps table on occasion. In the early 90s Phil joined Leonard and a few other men on several annual gambling trips to Reno, Nevada.

Phil was a devoted father and attended Mischa’s extra-curricular activities. Son Mischa played various sports in community leagues in the 1990s including Soccer and Softball. Mischa also competed on school teams in Cross Country running, Basketball, and Track and Field. One found memory was watching Mischa’s Cross Country team at Kennedy Trail Elementary win a championship in their age group in the City of Surrey. The family moved from Surrey to Coquitlam in 1994. Living in the Riving Springs neighborhood of Coquitlam they were neighbours of long-time friends Greta, Harvey, Lisa, and Jarrad Lajeunesse. Phil was an avid gardener and one year was the talk of the street with a sunflower which grew very tall. Son Mischa switched his passion from sports to acting in his senior years of high school. Phil attended each play in which Mischa was cast. Phil was a huge sports fan and passed this down to son Mischa. Phil and Mischa attended many live sporting events together locally including Vancouver Canucks (NHL), Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA), Vancouver Canadians (minor-league baseball), and Vancouver 86ers (Soccer). They also attended university sports while Mischa studied at SFU and in later life when Mischa began working at UBC. Phil and Mischa took father-son trips by car or plane to the US to watch baseball including: Seattle for Mariners games, San Francisco for a Giants game, and San Diego for Padres games.

In 2001 Phil took a new job at City Coordinator at the Burnaby RCMP Detachment. This marked a return to the building where he worked for the first several years of his career. Phil managed over all of the city employees who worked at the RCMP Detachment but were not employees of the RCMP. Phil was a hands-on leader who met frequently with the various unit under his management in an effort to resolve grievances and improve employee satisfaction in their work. This included sitting in with Communications Operations ‘Com Ops’ call takers who answered emergency 9-1-1 calls. On several occasions Phil left the family home on Christmas Day in the mid-morning or late-morning to drive into the office in Burnaby to visit colleagues. During these Christmas Day visits Phil brought gifts and attempted to boost the morale of the staff who had to work on Christmas Day. Phil continued to work as City Coordinator until his retirement in 2010. Phil was a well-liked and well respected colleague at the city of Burnaby and he was celebrated in a large retirement party.

Phil’s beloved wife Theota began suffering health problems in her 40s. At age 42 Theota took a year long leave of absence from teaching as she had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Theota was never able to return to her teaching career and took early retirement for reason of her long-term disability. In her late 40s Theota was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease. Theota and Phil were devastated with this diagnosis. During her first few years of living with Parkinson’s disease Theota was still able to walk and drive. Theota’s health and mobility gradually deteriorated until Theota became physically disabled and had to get around in a wheelchair. During these years Phil was devoted and committed to Theota and supporting her on a daily basis, and as such trips and visits with his family and friends decreased. Phil and Theota were a mentally tough couple.

Phil, Theota, and Mischa moved from Coquitlam to South Surrey in 2003. Their new home was a rancher with no stairs and perfect for Theota to be able to spend time in every room in the house while in her wheelchair. Theota had been received support from home care aides on a daily basis for several years. They had been a client of a home care agency who would send their staff to support Theota with her care. Eventually Theota found it draining and exhausting working with the agencies. Theota and Phil researched the Choices for Supports in Independent Living (CSIL). CSIL was a program that offers funding for eligible home support clients wishing more flexibility in managing their own services. Once accepted into the CSIL program Phil and Theota interviewed, hired, trained, and managed their own staff of home care aides. This was a family affair as Phil was President and Treasurer of Theota’s CSIL society. Son Mischa was Vice-President and second-line signer on all the cheques. The remaining positions on the executive were filled out with close friends and family members. For the last several years of his work career Phil had 2 jobs: one at the City of Burnaby and the second job at home handling Human Resources and Administration for Theota’s society of home care aides.

Taking early retirement from paid work at the City of Burnaby in 2010 allowed Phil to stop commuting and to have only one ‘full-time’ job which was caring for wife Theota and Managing the Society which provided her care. Theota and Phil found joy in the little things every day. While Theota was getting around in a wheelchair they travelled several times to her beloved Salt Spring Centre of Yoga retreats. They also travelled to Harrison Hot Spring and Granville Island. They became to love staying at Granville Island as the island is wheelchair accessible. In 2015 Theota broke her ankle and had to live at Peace Arch Hospital for several weeks while she recuperated. They arranged for Theota’s home care aids to come into Peace Arch Hospital to support her care. Phil’s devotion to Theota was total and without limit. In an effort to make Theota feel safe and keep her morale up during her recuperation in hospital Phil made sure that someone stayed overnight in her room every night she was in hospital. Phil filled most of the overnight shifts himself and was spelled occasionally by Mischa or a home care aide.

Son Mischa became a father when Dalton was born in 2017. Phil and Theota were delighted at the birth of their grandson. Phil visited the hospital and held Dalton lovingly on the day he was born. Phil was a very proud grandfather. Phil loved visiting Dalton in Richmond and hosting Dalton at his house in South Surrey.

In his later years Phil was invited to join the “Hills Brunch group.” This was a group of retirees who first met in the Kootenays when they were children living in Hills and the surrounding area. Phil enjoyed having brunch with the Hills group and was a frequent attendee during the last several years of his life. Phil’s cousin Nell Plotnikoff is also a member of the Hills group. Attending these lunches enabled Phil to reconnect with many old friends.

Phil’s beloved wife Theota passed away in February 2020. Phil missed Theota deeply and her death hit him hard. Grieving during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging. In 2020 Phil walked regularly and visited White Rock Pier as this was a place which Theota loved to go. During the pandemic Phil met up friends and had overnight visits with friends in Vancouver and in the Abbotsford/Matsqui area. During the pandemic Phil also had many visits with son Mischa and beloved Grandson Dalton. Among other things Phil loved to pull Dalton on wagon rides near Mischa’s home.

Phil is survived by son Mischa, Grandson Dalton, brother Alec (Nora), brother Fred, brother George (Jan), and sister Marie. Phil is also survived by many nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, and cousins. He became “Uncle Phil” as soon after he started elementary school as his eldest Brother Cyril was 18 years older than him. Phil was predeceased by wife Theota, father Sam, mother Mary, and brother Cyril. Phil was the best father a son could hope for and a doting grandfather who loved to spoil his grandson. He was a most committed husband to life partner of 42 years, Theota. Phil was much loved and will be missed dearly.