John William Clarence Gorman

He was born in Banff to Marjorie Pecnik (Fewkes) and William Gorman. After spending his youth in the Crowsnest Pass, the family returned to Nanaimo and Clarence lived in Chase River for the next 70 years.

He attended school at the old John Shaw and the new Woodlands Jr. High and graduated from NDSS in 1960.

Clarence worked at Nelson's Laundry during school and after brief stints as a mechanic and with BC Ferries, he joined MacMillan Bloedel. Ltd, forest company. He worked in their mills at Harmac in Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Chemainus and back to Nanaimo's #4 Woodroom. He was a boatman, boom man, lead hand, carrier driver, in maintenance and lastly a crane operator. He also spent some time with Pierce Logging doing log recovery.

The highlight of his career with M&B was receiving his 25 year recognition with the company and a fabulous banquet celebration in Vancouver to collect his award It was a fitting end to his career and Clarence soon retired from Weyerhaeuser at age 56.

Clarence was a handyman extraordinaire. If something needed doing or fixing, it had to be done yesterday and he didn’t rest until it was achieved. He also liked creating and making things and always had a project on the go, whether it was building his home, carports, sheds, stonework, welding or manufacturing any object to make our life easier. All someone had to do was tell him it couldn’t be done and he wouldn’t rest until he had proven you wrong. Clarence did all the work himself (“so as to save money”) but the truth was he really loved the planning of a project (diagrams and measurements), collecting the supplies, building it and seeing the finished results. This often ended up costing more, but he always said the labor was free.

Clarence was very artistic and creative, carving masks and making unique burl tables among other things. He was also musical and played the accordion and loved to dance.

Clarence liked the outdoors and being outside. The rainy winters were not his favorite season, unless it snowed and then he could get out the shovels and snow blower. His early years were spent commercial fishing for salmon in his wooden dory, the “Margie” but he also liked to fish for trout in the lakes and rivers. He hunted locally on the island or in the White Swan area of the Kootenays with his hunting pals. Camping with the family, especially at Schoen Lake, or spending time at Rathtrevor Beach was always a favorite pastime.

After retiring, Clarence turned his attention to sprucing up his large yard and growing a more specialized garden. Although he grew a variety of vegetables over the years, spaghetti squash, zucchini, potatoes, pumpkins and tomatoes became his main crops. He was especially proud of his delicious tomatoes and shared his abundant crop with everyone. He also took an interest in dahlias and was experimenting with grapes, berries and fruit trees.

After 9-11, Margaret finally convinced Clarence to try cruising, knowing he would love it once she got him on a cruise ship. And he did, seeing new places, meeting new people, the entertainment and partying. With trips to the southern Caribbean, Scandinavian Europe, Alaska and the Panama Canal, his most favorite place was Tahiti and he often talked about returning there. He had hoped to walk on the Great Wall of China and tour the historical Mediterranean but his hip and knee replacement surgeries kept him from achieving this.

Clarence was a lifelong Edmonton sports fan, rooting for the Oilers and Elks although they would always be the Eskimos to him. He was also an avid supporter of the San Francisco Forty Niners, his team in the states.

Clarence was predeceased by his father in 2006, his mother and half-brother Reginald Pecnik in 2016. He is survived by Margaret, his wife and partner of 55 years. His stepson Jamie Day and stepdaughter Susan (George) Chadwick and granddaughter Jennifer (Spencer Tipping), his sons Jeffrey (Lorie and delightful granddaughter Amber) Day and Derek (Christina and adored granddaughter Piper) Gorman. Also missing him is his beloved granddaughter Kelsey O’Connor (Mike LeMoine) and his two cats Moses and Misty.

The family would like to thank the paramedics and firemen for their valiant efforts to try and save Clarence and to the RCMP (Mike) and the coroner (Steve) for their kindness and respect afterwards. Also to Tyler at 1st Memorial for all his help.

A Celebration of Life will be held on August 3rd, Sunday at the Nanaimo Golf Course from 1:00 - 4:00pm.