1948 to 2021
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our Bill on May 11th in Kelowna after a long struggle with cancer.
Bill was born in Vancouver and spent his school years primarily in Abbotsford, where he excelled in track and loved baseball and soccer, graduating from Abbotsford Senior Secondary in 1966. The following day he started work at B.C. Penitentiary as a Switchboard Operator working his way through the administrative ranks at different institutions in Western Canada, from Regional Chief Sentence Administration to Assistant Warden to Manager of Human Resources. The majority of his career was spent at Bowden Institution in Central Alberta where he raised his children and volunteered for different organizations. After a 32 year career, he retired to B.C. and worked for several years at a golf course in the Shuswap, where both he and Joan could golf regularly and build their dream home together. .
Bill is survived by his best friend and wife, Joan (Handford), sister Susan Farina (Anthony), brother Dennis, daughters, Kim Church (James), Connie Bolding (Brian), son Martin, step-children Valerie and Jason Rawlings, brother in law Greg Handford (Ruth), sister in law Sheila Shanahan (James) and eight grandchildren.
Bill’s favourite things in life were spending time with his family, golfing and camping. He enjoyed renovating homes with Joan and always took time out to help out neighbours. For many years, Bill enjoyed winters in their Phoenix home with Joan, golfing and watching MLB spring baseball. He was passionate about political issues and clever with his letter writing to those responsible. Bill’s sense of humour and kindness was ever present. He was never without a smile and it was certainly always contagious. He will be greatly missed.
The family would like to sincerely thank Okanagan Hospice for the amazing care Bill received.
