William was born in Bristol, England in June of 1946. Dinah and Percy already had a son, David, and daughter, Angela, and his Dad asked Dinah if they were crazy having another child since they already had one of each. However, when he arrived William was a very happy baby and he brought joy to the family from the moment he was born.

In his teenage years Bill had two great friends, Mike and Andrew. They spent hours together on their bikes having great adventures. He also started playing golf at Knowle Golf Club.
When Bill’s parents moved to Dawlish, Devon he made new friends through his love of golf. His idea of a great day was two 18 hole rounds of golf followed by an evening with friends in the clubhouse.

Bill attended Bristol Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to start work at the National Westminster Bank. He studied hard at evening classes to gain his banking qualifications. After emigrating to Canada in 1976 under the sponsorship of the Bank of Montreal at a time when there was a shortage of bankers in Canada, he continued his studies to become a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers in 1979.

Bill met Valerie in Bath in 1974 when he was about to move to the Channel Islands to continue working for the bank in St. Peter Port, Guernsey in their very busy international banking section. Bill owned a house in Bath which he had renovated and offered for rent while he was out of the country. Val was making her career as a librarian with Bath City Libraries. She along with two of her librarian friends rented his home and there was an instant connection. The romance blossomed with many trips to the beautiful Channel Islands.

Bill and Valerie were both restless young people longing to try life in another part of the world. After considering various options including both New Zealand and South Africa they settled on Canada and emigrated three months after their wedding. They had their first taste of Canadian hospitality when a co-traveller handed them a list of must see sites for their road trip from Calgary to Vancouver. This road trip via Jasper, Valemont, the Okanagan and the Fraser Valley also served as a second honeymoon. They arrived in Vancouver on May long weekend, got lost and drove over the Lions Gate Bridge and around Stanley Park before finding their hotel in downtown Vancouver.

They made many friends who delighted in taking them hiking and teaching them about Canada. They loved their adopted country and became Canadian citizens as soon as they possibly could. In Richmond Val and Bill made many friends at Edgewater Park where Bill became involved in the management of the townhouse complex. From there they moved to an old house on Ash Street which they immediately started renovating with help from many friends.

Bill fulfilled his contract with the Bank of Montreal working in Vancouver, Chinatown and Richmond and then switched to the credit union system and spent the rest of his career with Richmond Savings Credit Union and Kelowna and District Credit Union (now Interior Savings).

After Rebecca and Giles came along the family moved to Kelowna in 1985 to their “temporary home” of 25 years. Renovations became a way of life as the needs of the family changed, walls were torn down and rebuilt, once again with the help of various friends. Every couple of years they looked at other houses, but never found a better location and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the support of the neighbourhood. Bill always had at least several longterm projects on the go. These projects could include anything from mechanics to plumbing to carpentry to restoring old cars to wine making.

The family travelled to many areas of natural beauty in the Pacific Northwest, Europe and New Zealand and made extensive use of the wild areas close to home in British Columbia. This love of travel and adventure has been instilled in the younger generation. Bill was always happy to be outdoors and in Canada continued the two pursuits that he loved from his time growing up in England, golf and cycling. He knew how fortunate he was to be able to enjoy the great outdoors with his family and friends and wanted to help preserve and protect the wild places while making them accessible to others.

After Giles showed great aptitude for mountain bike racing it was a natural progression for Bill to join the Kelowna Mountain Bike Club and become involved in arranging races and preserving the trails. Not only did he arrange races he competed himself. One of his most memorable races was the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Silver Star where he was part of a team with Eric and Gord riding laps all day and all night. He was President of the Club in the late 90’s.

Bill loved the mountains that were so easily accessible from his doorstep and helped to found the Friends of the South Slopes. He was a board member for six years, from 1998 to 2003. As Vice President in 2000 and 2001 and then President in 2002 and 2003, Bill guided the board through some challenging times, first the establishment of Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park in 2000 and then the aftermath of the devastating 2003 Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park forest fire.

Bill retired from the Credit Union in 2004 and he and Val were able to enjoy their mountain home in Kaslo. They joined the Kaslo Trailblazers formed to enhance and protect the hiking and biking trails around the town. Bill enjoyed the work parties and was very proud of the Trailblazers covered pedestrian bridge over the Kaslo river which opened to the public in 2007. Bill had discovered Kaslo when he was on a motorcycle trip with his friend Colin several years before and never tired of riding the route through the Monashees. He also volunteered to help with the annual Kaslo Jazz Festival which took place in Kaslo Bay just below the house.

Even when his health started to decline Bill did not lose his sense of adventure and love of being with friends and family in the outdoors. On a trip to visit his daughter in Scotland he insisted on racing his niece, Sarah, to the top of a Munro in Glen Coe.

After moving to Red Deer Bill continued to explore the natural surroundings with new friends. It was a thrill for Bill to be able to walk his son Giles down the aisle at his wedding to Sheri in 2011. Bill had 18 months of enjoyable rural living beside the Blindman River before a worsening of his condition necessitated a move to Bethany Sylvan Lake. While there Bill was able to meet and enjoy his two grand-daughters, Savanna and Emerson, who were regular visitors.

Bill was a gentle soul, a man of integrity who loved his family and friends and did his part to leave the world a better place.

Bill is lovingly remembered by his wife Valerie, daughter Rebecca of Edinburgh, Scotland; his son Giles and wife Sheri along with their daughters Savanna and Emerson of Red Deer County, Alberta

Bill will be sadly missed by his extended family overseas and many friends near and far.


A service will be held at Parkland Funeral Home in Red Deer on
Tuesday, November 24th, 2015, 10:00am

A Celebration of Life will be held in the summer of 2016 in Kelowna.


To honour Bill’s memory and support the areas he loved donations may be made to

Friends of the South Slopes Society
Box 28011 RPO East Kelowna
Kelowna, BC, Canada
V1W 4A6

or in the United Kingdom to

In Memory Gifts (West Somerset-Holnicote)
Fundraising Department
National Trust
Heelis
Kemble Drive
Swindon SN2 2NA

For either charity please mention Bill’s name on the donation so that it can be directed to a special project (to be determined later)