Gene emigrated to the US with his parents in 1945, he was 19 at the time. He married Pamela Landricombe in 1950 but later divorced in 1992 and they had two daughters together, Diane & Wendy and then became a grandfather in 1995 to the birth of Shannon Farmer and then in 1998 to the birth of his second grandchild Heather Farmer. Gene absolutely adored his grandchildren and they adored him.
As a young man Gene loved fixing and selling things to make some money. He had a great joy in buying and restoring old model Ts and also collecting bottles to make money during the depression.
While in 7th grade in his woodworking class, he was given an assignment to make a book case; the teacher gave him the poorest boards with holes and knots, Gene then noticed that the teacher had held back the best boards for himself so he decided to switch the bad boards for the really nice ones the teacher had. Gene being a perfectionist, made a beautiful book case which ended up winning first place for his age in the whole province of Saskatchewan Canada. His teacher was so annoyed that he had taken his boards, that he told him he was going to deduct 25 points off his grade which he did despite the fact of Gene winning first place in the province. We have this bookcase in our care now!!
After leaving school, Gene joined the Canadian navy. During his time in the navy the navy wanted to award him with a medal, but Gene declined it because he didn't feel he had earned it.
After leaving the navy Gene emigrated to the US along with his parents and landed in Oregon in 1945. He then was able to get a job with Franz Bakery where he worked for a while and then started his apprenticeship as a commercial plumber. During his career, he plumbed most of the Portland area hospitals, schools, Techtronics, Intel as well as many other commercial buildings. Gene was a perfectionist in all he did and was rated as one of the top plumbers in Portland, he was always proud of his work.
After his divorce, he met his life partner, Faye Martin the love of his life. Together, they have enjoyed all aspects of life enjoying seeing the Winter Hawks hockey team play and actually traveled and followed them in the NW to watch the games. He (they)also enjoyed all the Blazer games together (he saw the last game of the season the night before he passed away and was disappointed that they had lost). He loved sports.
He also enjoyed their trips to Spirt Mountain where he often hit big jackpots, he proclaimed he had the machines figured out!!
He loved people and always sensed the good in them; people would often notice his beautiful smile and friendliness and would be drawn to him.
In Gene's earlier years, he loved going to the Flea Market in North Portland. Eventually he had his own table each week selling jewelry, watches and clocks and other misc items. Vintage clocks were his speciality which he would buy, fix and restore and would then sell them. He loved the challenge of seeing how things worked, one time he completely disassembled a old watch, carefully taking each part out and laying each the part on the table; he then carefully reassembled the watch and after he finished, the watch worked perfectly!
He also loved gardening, taking great pride in growing lots of different vegetables, he was always proud of his garden.
He was an outgoing person who loved people and always sensed the good in them. He had a great sense of humor and often told jokes, he was quick witted right up to the day before he left us. He also gave good advice to his family and others he was always willing to help people, he knew a lot about a lot of things and was always learning something new.
His mind was sharp right up until his last breath. He had accepted that everyone had their turn in life and had expressed that he was ok with death when his turn would come.
As his time came, all of his loved ones were by his side as he entered the gates of heaven and now he is fully restored, however, he had hoped to live to 100!! He loved everything about his life and especially his time with his life partner, Faye Martin.
We already miss him but know we will see him again someday reunited in heaven.
A life well lived......
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18