Tribute

Our beloved son Steve passed away at his home in Cobble Hill on June 23 in the quiet company of his family and cherished canine companion Willie.

Born into a military family at Red Deer, Alberta his youth was spent relocating between various Canadian provinces and Germany before he joined the Royal Canadian Navy at the age of 19. It was in high school at Lahr however, that he acquired his moniker “Jake” and it stuck.

Steve served 22 years in the RCN touring Pacific Rim countries, including ports in Russia. Many a top-deck chili cook-off competition was won by Steve. Perhaps, seeking a more sedentary life, he took early retirement and dug in on Vancouver Island where blue skies or grey, sunshine or rain, he took to the woods on hunting forays or enjoyed the solitude of fishing local lakes and streams. He often loaded his own ammunitions and tied his own flies. Steve did not ever mind coming home empty handed.

He was well read and often recounted minute details equally about war history and munitions of the history as of BC’s gold mining towns and his own community. Steve knew joy in wood carving, decoy ducks being his favorite subject and on occasion carved his own pipe bowls. He built intricate models of ships only after he exhausted his passion for tanks.

As a Senior Hull Systems Engineering Technician for 6 years with Babcock Canada, his colleagues remind us he was a valuable member of the Victoria team working to maintain and restore Canada’s fleet of submarines on the West Coast.

Steve valued his privacy and often played his cards close to his heart; but we have grown to know he gave selflessly and generously to his comrades, neighbors and community. In our time of grieving we have found comfort from his many friends locally and across the country that have expressed their sadness of his untimely passing.

A wonderful son to us, his parents Jack and Velma, Steve also leaves behind his son John and daughter Sarah; sister Wendie and brother in law Glenn; nieces Julia and Nicole, nephew Paul; uncles, aunts and cousins will miss him dearly.

We hope you will join us to Celebrate Steve’s Life at H.W. Wallace Cremation and Burial Centre, 5285 Polkey Road on Saturday, July 9, 2016 at 2:00 PM

“For whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”  Roman’s 14:8