We deeply grieve the death of our husband, father, grandfather and brother, Tad Fetterly.
Gaylen Edwin Fetterly was born on August 8, 1942 in Ceylon, Saskatchewan to Gerald and Lois Fetterly. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother Stuart, brother by choice Cody Corpe and brother-in-law Ken Coupe. With a profound sense of loss, Tad is mourned by his wife Berdie, his three children (and their spouses) and his five grandchildren: Carlene Fetterly (Hardy Nelson), Alyssa Schoock and Andreas Schoock (Bee Larson); Chris Fetterly (Charlotte Fetterly), Isabella Fetterly and Jonathan
Fetterly; Mary Francis (Cary Francis), Tesla Francis; as well as his sisters Marilyn Wright (Dan Wright) and Cheryl Coupe, his sister by choice Cheyanne Bowler and brother by choice Cim Corpe and their families.
When Tad was born, his doctor thought he was stillborn and placed him aside on the oven door. When Tad realized the time was right, he started crying to let everyone know he was present. In Tad’s later words: “I will cry when I want to cry.” He was a fighter and struggled through numerous accidents and illnesses. Young Tad was also a wiggle worm and squirmed around in the bed he shared a bed with his brother Stuart. This led to his nickname, an abbreviation of the word, Tadpole.
Although Tad disliked school, he followed his passion and attended the Alberta College of Arts and Design. This training inspired him to start a business in the Sign industry and ultimately determined his lifelong career. A defining moment in Tad’s life occurred when he met Berdie Kranabetter in Calgary while attending the art school. They married on November 16, 1968 in Creston, BC, at which time Tad gained an enormous extended family. In 1970, the family moved to Vancouver and five years later to the Tri-Cities, their home now for 45 years. Tad joined the Focolare Movement in 1979 and became a Catholic in 1980. He was deeply honoured to receive Holy Communion from Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square.
Tad was full of life and always happy to be of service to others. His energy, joyfulness and positivity uplifted the spirits of anyone he encountered. In the words of his family, “he was a very nice, funny guy, a good brother, good husband, great dad, and amazing granddad with the loudest, most gregarious laugh in the world.” Two of his friends shared that they had “lots of great memories of time spent with Tad and a few annoying ones!”
Tad happily participated and supported the activities of his children and grandchildren. He could be found on the floor playing with hot wheel cars and trains; carving the coolest pumpkins long before three dimensional pumpkins were a thing; coaching and umping for softball, soccer and ringette; and cooking a mean grilled cheese and tomato soup for his kids and grandkids, as well as his renowned French toast. He took up serious cooking upon his retirement thanks to his Christmas gift of “How to Cook Everything” by Berdie. He enjoyed watching movies, especially The Crimson Pirate, in addition to playing Board Games, although he involuntarily cheated at Stock Ticker. His favorite alone times were spent either fishing off the rock at Kootenay Lake near the family cabin or painting. A pastime that topped all others, however, was his love of playing Bridge, especially at the Dogwood Centre. Nothing came before Bridge.
Tad retired happily from Colortec Creative Print Solutions in 2004, a company which he founded and had then passed on to two of his children. In the past four years, he resided at Nicola Lodge Long Term Care Home in Port Coquitlam, where the staff offered excellent care, for which the family is extremely grateful. Tad remained a cheerful, loving and generous person and would strike up a conversation with anybody, anywhere. He was quite proud of the fact that he escaped from Nicola Lodge to walk over to Walmart and loved showing off his "wanted" poster at the front door. Tad never lost his sense of humour or his love for life.
We miss you Tad, Dad and Granddad. We love you so much.
Date & time of funeral services - Friday, January 29, 2021 @ 10:30 am.
Interment - Gardens of Gethsemani
In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the food bank.
Painting of Tad produced by Rick Gaetz.
To watch live streaming of the service please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRoPgeXy2p4
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