Norman Brown

Dad's slow fading over a 5 week period ended peacefully in Lakeridge Health Oshawa Supportive Care Unit. The family wishes to thank Dr. Ngo and the Unit's nursing team for their excellent end of life care.

Dad was predeceased by Edythe (née Sparks), his wife of 50 years, his son David, his brother Raymond and sisters Hilda and Helen. He is survived by son Graham (Jan), daughter-in-law Valerie, grandchildren Matthew (Jenny), Michael, Adam and Christopher, great-grandchildren Devon, Cameron and Nathan, sister-in-law Bernice Sparks, cousin Nancy Stokes, and several nieces and nephews.

With only high school, curiosity and determination Dad joined a group that formed Canadian Controllers Limited in the 1940's. They were exempt from war time service because of the company's work on a device to keep mines away from ship's hulls. He rose through the ranks to become Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer in the 1950's. But, most important to him, during his rise at the company, through on the job training, night school and supervised work experience he assembled the necessary education and then wrote the examinations to become licensed as an Ontario Professional Engineer.

In addition to wanting to know how things worked, especially things electrical, Dad kept current on world affairs through his daily ritual of reading the Globe & Mail. His television viewing was confined to Discovery, PBS and CBC. An articulate agnostic, he was a gadfly to Protestant clergy who had studied scholarly doubts about the gospels but refused to explain them to their congregations. Dad was self-educated. He might have enrolled in university during retirement had it not been for perhaps his greatest legacy to his children: lovingly nursing his wife/our Mother Edythe during her final years of struggle with MS. He kept his commitments willingly, helped without complaint where he could, and reaped the respect and love of family and friends. Rest in peace, good, faithful and unknowing servant.

A private family burial and celebration of life will be held on April 25th. Anyone wishing to make a memorial donation, please do so to the MS Society or Salvation Army. Condolences www.rskane.ca