Owen Hartley

Our family is celebrating the full and wonderful life of William Owen Alden Hartley.  Owen was born on January 28, 1945.  He enjoyed his family time on Hartleigh Avenue, Ottawa and up at the cottage with his Mom and Dad (Levern & Katherine Hartley, both deceased) and his brother, Robert (Connie).  Owen graduated from Woodroffe High School (1964) and went on to get his Business Degree at Western University (BComm ’68).

Owen was an entrepreneur at heart.  After university, Owen went to London, England to work for a year in Finance.  He then moved back to Ottawa to start a career at IBM.  Owen also worked at Sun Microsystems and ended his career working in the Government of Canada.  He held a commercial real estate license for many of his working years and operated Baskin & Robbins, Second Cup and Flying Colours franchises.

Owen had so many varied interests throughout his life.  He loved sailing at the Britannia Yacht Club on his 2 boats, Magic and Thumper, and spending time on or by the water was one of his favorite things to do.  He also looked forward to time away at NASCAR races with his brother and friends.

Owen had great care at home over the past 4 years from his professional caregivers, Nadia and Grace.  Nadia and Grace were more family than caregivers and both Owen & Christine loved having them in their lives.

The family would like to thank Dr. Katelyn Lalonde, Brianna Beck, Dr. Camile Munro, Rayelle and all the nurses in the Chest Diseases Observation Unit and Ward for their care and support while Owen was in the General Hospital.  And heartfelt thanks to Dr. David Grimes for all his support over the past 10 years as Owen and Christine navigated their lives through Parkinson’s.

Owen will be forever remembered and loved by his sons, Mike Moffatt and Will Hartley.  He was such a great father who was always there whenever his boys needed him.  He also loved his new “daughter”, Caitlin Donnelly and the recent arrival of his sweet grand-daughter, Ellie Brooklyn Hartley.  He would hold Ellie in his arms and quietly say “Hello Beautiful” every time he held her and looked into her eyes.

And his wife, Christine, will never forget him.  She holds so many warm and loving memories of their life together.  She will always LUVO4EVR.

A celebration of Owen’s life will be held when we are all on the other side of this pandemic.  Details will be provided at a later date. We look forward to seeing all our friends then, sharing fond memories and raising a glass to celebrate Owen’s rich life.

Donations in Owen’s memory can be made in support of local Parkinson’s research by Dr. David Grimes at the Ottawa Hospital.  Donations can be made online at the Parkinson Research Consortium Ottawa website (www.ohri.ca)

Photo credit:  Helene Anne Fortin