Please join us on Saturday, April 6th at Theatre Aquarius (190 King William Street, Hamilton - L8R 1A8), beginning at 1:30 PM as we celebrate Bob's life. There will also be a service at St. Augustines Church in Dundas at 11:00 AM.
If you might wish to make a donation on Bob’s behalf, they could be made to either Theatre Aquarius, Sick Kids’ Hospital, the McMaster Children’s Hospital (neonatal unit), the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, or a charity of your choosing.
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On Sunday, March 3rd, 2019 Robert Knuckle left us peacefully after a very brief illness, surrounded by his wife and all his children and grand-children. He was in his 85th year and had led the perfect life; a life full of love, and fun, and adventure, and accomplishment. We are overwhelmed with pride and gratitude for the legacy he left us, that being most evident in the love and dedication he devoted to his family, as well as his vast network of very close friends. More importantly, we know he was very proud of this legacy himself and will rest easy knowing he has left an indelible and poignant mark on the world.
He leaves behind his loving, dedicated, and remarkable wife of 57 years, Elizabeth (Myles), sisters Cathy (Grant) and Patricia, and children Richard (Leanne), Laura (Bob), Mark (Laura), and Kelly (Brad). Quite possibly his greatest love (next to his wife) and proudest accomplishment are his grand-children Lakota, McKinley, Geneva, Alex, Sam, Joe, and Vivi.
Through his incredible variety of passions and the tireless effort he dedicated to them, Bob touched the hearts and minds of many people in the Hamilton area and in his home town of Windsor, Ontario. He was a long-serving teacher/Vice-Principal in the Hamilton Board of Education, where he coached football and basketball teams and won many city championships. He founded and organized for several years the Silver Fox Basketball Tournament; he helped coach the McMaster Marauders men’s basketball team to a birth in the national championship; he was the General Manager of the Hamilton Skyhawks of the World Basketball League; he was an accomplished actor and playwright and took one of his plays to the Edinburgh Festival; he wrote a number of books; and he was a prolific public speaker. When he died at 84, he had written and was in the production process of yet another play, while at the same time finalizing the movie contract for one of his books.
Sprinkled in amongst these accomplishments, Bob found time to travel extensively, and, with his wife Liz and often his family or a contingent from his large list of other traveling companions, he embarked upon over a hundred major trips to destinations the world over.
Beyond all that, Bob had been a member of various choirs, and was a high school choir and orchestra conductor. In his early days, Bob was a musician and over the years had written and professionally recorded a number of songs. He completed extensive genealogical research on his family. He joined the seminary as a young man.
There was virtually nothing, other than plumbing, that he wouldn’t try, and when he put his mind to something, he was an unstoppable force. Between 1975 and 1985 he attempted to be a farmer, and probably should have stopped around 1976.
Somehow, through all of this, Bob was able to find lots of meaningful time for fun with his family and friends. Playing cards with a table-load of kids and grand-kids, family reunion pig roasts at the farm, weeks-at-a-time at Geneva Park, crazy Christmas openings and dinners, and the family discussions/debates/arguments that he would prompt us into at a frequent Sunday dinners: these were all things that completed this perfect life so well-lived. And constant visits with his massive list of very close friends was the grout that filled the cracks of time between this amazing mosaic of events that made up his life.
He will be so deeply missed by such a vast network of people, which is of great consolation to his closest loved-ones at this time, and his family would like to thank all of you for being a part of his life, and for your kind and heartfelt words and memories at this time.
There will be a visitation this Friday, March 8th from 2–4 and 6–8 at the Marlatt Funeral Home “Swackhamer Chapel” 195 King Street West, Dundas.
The family would like to thank the staff at Juravinski Hospital, and especially those in the ICU for keeping him comfortable in his final hours. We would also like to thank all his friends, acquaintances, and various partners-in-crime for your outpouring of love and best wishes for us and our father/grandfather, and for your support for our mother. We are very comforted knowing you share in both our grief and love for our father. He knew it would be this way.
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