Gordon Hovey

Gordon (Gord) Elmer Hovey
January 4, 1929 – May 15, 2015

Gord died peacefully at the Perley Veterans’ Centre in Ottawa on May 15, 2015, having been able to enjoy many wonderful visits and good byes with family and friends.

The way Gord approached life was evident very early on. Hungry for adventure and quite fearless in his approach to the unknown, he left his childhood home in New Brunswick at the age of 14 to serve in WWII as a member of the Merchant Marine.

After the war, still a teenager, he ventured out to B.C. where he worked several years as a gold miner, a logger and a construction worker and managed to become a hero of the labour movement – that’s a story! It was here that he met his first wife Joan, started a family and “settled down”, joining the Air Force. He returned to school and earned an engineering degree from Queen’s University.

He was an inventor at heart and happiest when designing at his drafting table and creating in the machine shop. His work, both in the Forces, and later as an entrepreneur, took him on many adventures around the world. Notable among them was receiving a medal from the American government for his work at the South Pole in the 60’s. He loved fishing on the Miramichi River and mucking about in the woods. He also loved golf and was amazingly good at it, although it did also occasionally involve mucking about in the woods. Many of his relationships with both family and friends were solidified around these favourite lifelong activities.

Gord had an infectious sense of humour and loved to tell “bear stories” and make people laugh — who among us is not familiar with his trademark “injured” look?! He was a loving, generous and much respected individual who will be sorely missed by his family and friends.

He was pre-deceased by his first wife of 52 years, Joan (nee Hume), his parents William and Cedelia Hovey, and all of his siblings and their partners. He is survived by his children Jim (Sue Townley), Marilyn (Al Gillich), and Rick; and by his grandchildren in whom he took huge delight and pride: Aaron (Lucia Perez Alonso), Peter (Alyx Holland), Lisa (Dave Jozsa), Christina, Bonnie (Kielan Way), Owen, Liam and Caleb. Gord’s first great-grandchild is due to be born any day now.

He is also survived by his wife of 9 years, Lina (nee Dugas) and her extended family who welcomed him warmly into their lives and provided him with a whole new batch of grandkids to spoil. They very much appreciated Gord’s humour, kindness and sincerity, and were the source of much joy and companionship in his later years.

Sincerest appreciation to Dr. Ngo Minh and all the staff in Rideau 1 South for the extraordinary warmth and care they showed to Gord in his final months. Their compassion and professionalism ensured that his final days were comfortable – and we liked that they appreciated his quirky sense of humour and played along – he enjoyed that!

A celebration of his life will be held — fittingly, given his lifelong passion for golf — at the Falcon Ridge Golf Course, (opposite the Rideau Carleton Raceway) on June 26, 2015, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.