May 23, 1933 - December 1, 2019
Don passed away peacefully at home in Maple Bay. He will be remembered as a determined, principled man with a passion for life. He set goals and saw them through. Born in Winnipeg, he moved with his parents to Victoria when he was just one year old. After Grade 12 graduation in 1951, he completed his 4 year apprenticeship and worked as a boilermaker at the Esquimalt Naval Dockyard. In 1954 he married his high school sweetheart, Doris Glass, and they started their family.
In his mid-twenties, he chose a new career direction, enrolled at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and graduated in Metallurgical Engineering in 1962. Then, after working for Westinghouse in Hamilton, Ontario for 4 years, he returned with his growing family to his beloved West Coast to settle in Maple Bay and take up a job at BC Forest Products in Crofton. He worked there until retirement.
While at BCFP, and then again after retirement, Don built two different houses by renovating small old waterfront cottages. He always had projects in motion. He might be refurbishing electronic devices recovered from the dump, building a backyard fishpond, making wine and beer in the basement, rescuing a piano from a ditch and totally rebuilding it - and so much more. Cooking was a passion, from bread to preserves to fruit leathers to pickled pig's feet, the kitchen was always busy.
Don also had a passion for music, especially jazz. He played many different musical instruments, mostly piano, and often entertained family, friends and boaters at the Maple Bay Yacht Club. He and Doris attended the first Jazz Festival held at Friday Harbor on their boat Mr. Higgins.
Don is survived by his wife Doris; his daughter Maxine Cox; his sons Murray, Paul and Steven; three grandchildren (Angela, William and Miranda Cox); and two great grandchildren (Bilal and Laila Tasse). He was predeceased by his granddaughter Gina Cox (Tasse).
Husband, father, and friend . . . your love is still our guide.
No service by request.