Remembering George Alexander Weatherill

It is with much heartache that we announce the passing of George Alexander Weatherill with family by his side at Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Orillia on August 7th 2022 at the age of 87 years old.

George is survived by his wife Marilyn of 66 years . Daughters Laurie Georgeina(spouse Robert ) Arbeau, Tammie Georgeina Allen, son Greggory George(spouse Heather)Weatherill. Grand-Dad to Adam Lever (spouse Jen). Great Grandson Bryce, Great Granddaughter Quinn.

Special thanks to the nursing staff of Gavin, Yvonne and the team of nurses on IMRS 2 wing 4th floor for the compassionate care they gave towards Dad and our family in his final stage.

A Celebration of Life of when and where is still to be determined. In the meantime, we hope this tribute to Dad will bring some comfort and even a smile to all that read on. There is just not enough space on a tribute page to say what a wonderful, loving, fun, kind-hearted man Dad was.

He had this most wonderful laugh and it would be a full out belly laugh . At times you'd be laughing more at Dad laughing than the situation itself.

Throughout the years Dad liked staying active as he loved playing horseshoes, he curled, bowled, played darts , played pool and boy oh boy he loved to dance. Rock n' Roll songs of the 50's , country music and even swiveled his hips and did the arm actions to the Macarena. He wasn't shy if a song came on that he like he'd would just start to dance on the spot. Some of his favorite singers were Elvis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Stompin' Tom and even like the song Madonna sang "Don't cry for me Argentina".

Favorite movies were Little Big Man, Forest Gump, Young Frankenstein, Kelly's Heros, Shrek, Ice Age, The Road to Eldorado and Rango. Loved watching the spaghetti westerns, Dirty Harry movies and old classics. Reading about history or watching the History channel was always a favorite. Looking out for old coins or antiques at flea markets, Dad was like a big kid in a candy store.

He loved his Tim Horton's Double Double with two French Crullers as Dad always said because they were light and airy, no worries going to the hips.

Born in Toronto December 30th 1934 with his background a mix of Irish, Welsh, English, American, to parents Bill and Sarah Weatherill. There were 4 brothers, Gord, Bud, Jack, Bobby and 2 sisters Annie and Elsie. All have passed away .

Growing up there was a variety of jobs ranging from farm life, fixing roller skates at Mutural Arena, a stable hand at Greenwood Racetrack, a Ten pin stacker at the bowling alley in which Dad described as having to sit above the pins jumping down quick to stand them up again and get outta there fast cause it seemed you'd be the target instead of the bowling pins. Then he worked at a lumber yard for a while.

It was about 1954, as Mom recalls she and a friend were walking in opposite directions when they saw Dad. She thought he was so nice looking . Her friend said she sort of knew him and before Mom could stop her "hi George" was yelled out. Mom says Dad crossed that street pretty fast to strike up a conversation . Well, that went from "hi George" to "I do" a couple of years later as Mom and Dad were married January 28th 1956. Their wedding son "Tennessee Waltz".

In 1957 Dad got a job working for Kingsway Transport in Etobicoke doing odd jobs around the garage including delivering/picking up parts for the truck mechanics. Not too long afterwards Dad wanted to be a trailer mechanic and study very hard with the help of Mom by his side. He got his license and for 37 years Dad was a dedicated hardworking employee. Except for vacation times, Dad very rarely missed work and two occasions of remembering that being when a pipe fell on his hand breaking some bones. The other time having to have his gallbladder out.

On Sept 1st 1994 Dad retired. Not too long after this the old Kingsway building of the early 1940's was torn down. Today on the very spot stands The Home Depot building across from Sherway Gardens.

Growing up we'd often heard Mom saying " I have 4 kids not 3". Dad so enjoyed having fun with us kids. He taught us how to skip stones across the water, in return all three of at one time or another accidently hit Dad's head instead of the water. Twice it meant finding a pharmacy for band aids, and one time was a trip to The Queensway hospital for a couple of stitches. Ironically a few years later tables turned it wasn't a stone Dad was throwing but a fishing line as he was casting out to the water, he accidently hooked onto my little brother instead of a fish........

Dad would climb trees and act like Tarzan to make us laugh. Even when the branch broke, he made us laugh harder as Dad walked a little differently going home. He'd play cops and robbers with plastic toy dart guns and one time hitting a glass cat Mom loved knocking it to the floor and busted the tail off. Dad almost got away with it by quickly gluing the tail back on, until it was discovered he glued it on backwards.

As little kids he'd tell us great stories , like why he had his name "George " tattooed on his arm was encase he lost his arm they would know who it belonged to and give it back to him. Or Dad had these great bed time stories, and if we'd asked him to tell us the same story again on another night, Mom said she could hear us say "that's not what happened Daddy" then he would fumble trying to remember how he told the story all the while Mom would be laughing in the background. He'd told us his joke of "what goes over the water ,under the water, through the water and comes out dry..a bare-naked duck. For years as little kids we would always laugh at this joke over and over.

Dad would sing us The Dickie Bird song. He would put small pieces of masking tape on his index finger representing Peter and Paul the Dickie Birds. He'd tap the table with his index fingers then quickly cross his middle finger over hiding the tape saying they flew away, then he'd show his index fingers again and Peter and Paul flew back. All these years later still remember the words and can hear Dad's voice singing this song even as I write this.

For a big surprise Dad made our very own stage coach. He even would act like a horse and pulled us around in the basement when we lived at our Grandfather 's home on West Rose Avenue in the Royal York area. Dad even made a little wooden bench table used when we would all go to the drive-in movies. Dad would strap it behind the front seats of his and Mom's. He designed it so that us kids had our very own cup holders and a place to put our food on while watching the movie. Fond memories of the # 5 drive for us little kids back in the 60's .

Dad enjoyed being involved in the army cadets with our brother , and also would have busy summers driving each one of us kids to our ball games. Even became a coach one year with Mom as the score keeper that led to winning League Champions in 1975. The family station wagon had Dad driving us along with friends to ball games in the summer or in winter strapping a transport truck inner tube to the roof driving to Centennial Park in Etobicoke for us to use to come down that enormous hill. Dad would laugh his head off seeing us all bouncing off that big inner tube

Dad's station wagon would also be loaded up for many summer time camping trips over the years, hauling a tent trailer behind going all over Ontario and even out to Manitoba one time. It was these trips that taught us to appreciate nature and the wildlife we saw. Always on the lookout for anything moving off in the distance lots of times Dad would spot a moose, bear, deer. Night time around the camp fire Dad would always tell us the ghost story of the Ghost with the Golden Arm. We always knew the outcome but Dad would still make us jump at this one part as we would be so intense listing to his voice. Such precious memories.

It was February 1995 Dad had some luck along with three other winners in Lotto 649. It was a modest little amount that helped by a place on Monrock Lake located between Haliburton and Bancroft. It was home for them for 22 years. Dad discovered he had a passion for kayaking after a friend of the family left one at the lake for him. He also liked to canoe and troll around in his 4 stroke motor boat doing a little fishing and peacefully watching the family of beavers that lived on the lake. Lots of good time were had here.

In 2017 do to some health concerns Dad and Mom moved to Bracebridge to a condo building called Legends at the Falls on Kimberly Ave. Dad truly loved the pool tournaments, the card games and the Friday night socials. The people whom live here all very friendly and caring.

Just wanted to mention a very special "thank you " to Chris and her late husband Frank Neal whom were very kind and helpful to both Dad and Mom . A couple of years later Dad started showing signs of dementia was coming into his life. Chris had helped out again at different times when Dad was a little confused. Truly appreciated the kindness that Chris showed towards Dad having the start of this terrible disease.

In 2021 Dad and Mom were moved to live at the Leacock Retirement Lodge in Orillia. Then Dad on Jan 18th 2022 was moved over to Leacock Community Care as the dementia was starting to gain a little more on him. The family wants to thank Manjoth Kaur of the Pinkerton group also known as Moe as Dad and Mom would call her. We like to thank her for sitting with Dad giving him activities like doing crafts , making paper air planes and playing one of Dad's favorite games Spot It.

The day before he passed, as weak as he was, he still knew who we all were and managed to say "Love you". Even though dementia had complicated things in Dad's life, pneumonia had the upper hand that took Dad away from us.

In the Dirty Harry movie Clint Eastwood says that famous line "Go ahead make my day".

Well Dad that's what you did every day....you made our day.

will forever love and miss you always

In memory of George donations can be made to the following charities

Nature Conservancy of Canada 245 Eglinton Avenue East Suite 410 Toronto, Ontario M4P 3J1 1-800-465-0039 or on line www.natureconservancy.ca

Alzheimer Society of Muskoka 440 Ecclestone Drive Unit 17A Bracebridge, Ontario P1L 1Z6 1-705-645-5621 or on line www.alzheimemuskoka.kindful.com

Arrangements entrusted to Carson Funeral Homes – L. Doolittle Chapel, 54 Coldwater St. E Orillia (705) 326-3595