Sivert Vedoy

Sivert Vedoy, born in Vea, on the island of Karmoy, Norway, emigrated to the west coast of Canada in 1957, along with his wife Inger and their oldest daughter Elin, seeking adventure and better employment prospects than Norway had to offer at the time.

After an interesting year in isolated but beautiful Tallheo Cannery, across from Bella Coola, the family moved to Prince Rupert, BC, where three additional daughters were born: Iris, Susan and Trudy Marie. Sivert and his family were active members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, where the three youngest were baptized. (Sivert’s parents and siblings emigrated to Prince Rupert, Canada shortly afterwards, so for a few years, until Sivert decided to move the family to the sunnier and warmer Sunshine Coast (Port Mellon, Gibsons), Sivert’s whole extended family would gather together regularly for Christmas and other occasions.)

Later in life, when Sivert and Inger were “empty nesters”, and she wished to pursue advanced positions on the BC Ferries that weren’t obtainable on the Sunshine Coast, he decided to retire early and move again with Inger: to Nanaimo briefly, then Saltspring Island for a couple of years, and then back to Nanaimo, which they made their home for twenty-five years, joining the Hope Lutheran Congregation there.

Sivert’s childhood playtime included some unusual elements, such as, with Norway under German occupation during WWII, searching for spent cartridges left behind by these German soldiers who regularly patrolled the area Sivert lived in, and speaking with, and occasionally providing some food to, Russian prisoners who were being kept captive nearby. Sivert wrote a little bit about those and other experiences, expressing that overall, he enjoyed those early years.

He also wrote of his time serving in the Norwegian Army, first as a private, when he received his Radio Operator training, and later when he was briefly recalled and promoted to Sargent. Sivert enjoyed the Radio Training, and all things Ham Radio related, and for many decades before the internet age arrived, opening up for the rest of the planet the fascinating world of instant online global communication, Sivert was already communicating “online” via MORSE code to HAMs living all over the world. Early days, when he described to his children who he was in contact with, and from where, it sounded like magic, or make believe. Later in life he and his best friend Henry, (Sivert in Nanaimo and Henry in Sechelt), used to keep up with each other with daily HAM radio (live voice) chats, again, decades ahead of the internet generation.

Sivert worked as a pipefitter for most of his life, work he trained to do at the former Pacific Vocational Institute (now BCIT), and continued doing because it was a secure job that allowed him to provide well for his family. (The last few years before he retired, he was arm-twisted into giving up the pipefitting for a supervisory/managerial “desk job”, but never enjoyed it as much as the physical hands-on pipefitting work.)

Sivert always loved learning and when choosing television viewing, would opt for Jacques Cousteau or some sort of documentary over almost any other type of programming, though he also loved and never tired of the many British comedies playing on local cable.

Later in life, he became a voracious reader, devouring books on varied topics covering classical literature, philosophy, history and almost any type of non-fiction, as well as any books containing some sort of good (or not so good) humour…really, some so corny most might only groan…but many more laugh-out-loud funny ones too, and he loved to share these with his family.

When Sivert’s children were little, vacation usually involved family road and camping trips throughout BC, as well as, when finances first permitted, a family vacation back to Norway, to see his and Inger’s extended families. Later in life, he and Inger enjoyed self-guided touring, driving through a number of European countries, and at one point surviving an earthquake that hit the hotel in the former Yugoslavian community they were visiting at the time.

And then they discovered Hawaii, and Sivert was smitten! Inger and Sivert returned to Hawaii every winter for about two decades, spending close to two months away each year, and there enjoyed socializing with other vacationing retirees in a way he never really had socialized at home, usually preferring small gatherings of immediate family (including, of course, grandchildren, all of whom he rushed to make homemade waffles for, as soon as he heard they might be coming.)

He was very fond of, and proud of each of his grandchildren: Jennifer, Kristina, Bjorn, Kris, Shayna and Jack. He was also fond of, and absolutely delighted with, great grandchildren Bennett and Landon, children of Kris (and wife Stephanie).*

In 2019 Sivert and Inger moved to Sidney, BC, from Nanaimo, to be closer to family, three of his four daughters having settled in the Greater Victoria area. (During COVID they learned to use ZOOM to visit twice weekly with their fourth daughter, and Inger was able to keep up with her Nanaimo Lutheran church community.) Sivert, who at seventy one, a year after having suffered a stroke, was physically robust enough to bicycle from Nanaimo to Sidney, and for many years afterwards would get up at 5:30 in the morning and walk or bike for hours, at 85 was slowing down substantially and at 87 using a walker, but still stubbornly, determinedly, got up every single morning to go for a small walk around the block, no matter how much it hurt or tired him, and then delighted in coming home and making himself a full breakfast with his first of many daily cups of coffee.

Sivert had a very good life; ninety full years and seventy of them married to his Inger, love of his life, and the best mom and grandmother in the Universe.

In addition to family already mentioned, Sivert leaves behind his sisters Elisabeth and Hild, and many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grandnephews in both Canada and Norway. (He was predeceased by his sister Krisbjorg.)

*Notably, each of Sivert’s grandchildren and great grandchildren, upon learning he was in Palliative Care at Saanich Peninsula Hospital and his condition was deteriorating rapidly, visited him there to say their goodbyes while he was still alive. Kris, his wife Stephanie and their lovely children Bennett and Landon, drove all the way down from Kelowna, Jack and fiancé Olivia, and Shayna took time off work and travelled over from the Lower Mainland, and Jennifer and Kristina, Greater Victoria based but also working full time, visited with him at least a couple of times each. With visits from them as well as his wife and daughters, who spent many hours by his side, he was surrounded by immediate family in those final days.