ROBERT ANDREW (ANDY) WILSON

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ROBERT ANDREW (ANDY) WILSON November 30, 1918 - May 28, 2014 Dad was born in MacNutt, Saskatchewan where his father, James, who at the age of twenty, arrived in Minto, Manitoba from Kilmarnock, Scotland, was the C.N.R. Station Agent. Dad was the third born of James and Aurore Robert's nine children. His brothers, Edward, Gilbert, Donald, Neil and Douglas have passed on as has his sister Dorothy. Yvonne and Doreen continue to enjoy the world. This Wilson family moved from Saint-Laurent to Fisher Branch, and eventually to Winnipeg. Dad joined the R.C.A.F. and spent the Second World War in England. It was in Manchester that Dad fell in love with Molly Murray, a raven-haired beauty from Ringsend, Dublin. In June of 1945 they married in St. Patrick's Church, Dublin. Andy and Molly had five boys, three of whom, Murray (Denise), Neil (Michèle, mother of Sean, and Thea), and Andy (Janice) thrive while Patrick (Sharon) and Martin (Gail) died tragically in 2004 and 1990 respectively. Following the listed order of Dad's sons, his grandchildren flourish: Ariel (Marc) and Alexandra; Sean (Kira); Ian (Ma Qian) and Kerstin (Rebekah); Jodi (Stephen) and Aaron (Samantha). Great-grandchildren came into the world: Aidan with Sean and Kira; Callan and Emma with Ian and Ma Qian. Molly died in 1974 and four years later Andy married Gladys. They lived and traveled together for almost thirty years. From your earliest days, Dad, you observed the train tracks outside your home, ever converging rails that pointed to infinite adventure and ultimately the East and the unknown. In the station-home, you heard your father tapping Morse code over the wire. Distances beckoned. Springs surged in song and ribald whistling; summers egged you on to ponds and swimming; and the winds of fall and winter enflamed your desire to crack sticks on drum rims, and blow on reeds of rolling paper apposed to tines of comb. After growing with you and Mom in Winnipeg, Trenton, North Bay, Uplands Airport in Ottawa, Dublin, Baden-Baden, Bagotville and Chatham, your children and their descendants, too, espoused travel and learning. For those born to you, living in all these places and countries before the age of seventeen allowed each of us to meet challenges confidently and to learn with love and fearlessness. In your last years, life merrily flowed along in the Lions' Manor in Winnipeg, the Carlingview Manor and the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre in Ottawa. The staff there excelled at making your life not only interesting and rewarding with all the song gatherings, the indoor and outdoor recreational activities, but also these fine women and men showed you love, humour and tenderness, and the meals were deliciously and waistfully expanding! And how often you would praise them! - the staff and food. We owe you life, Dad, that is, the glorious opportunity to study the stars, plants and people. You leave a proud legacy which we all can earnestly wish to emulate. Thank-you Dad. A graveside service will take place on Thursday, June 5, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at Brookside Cemetery, 3001 Notre Dame Avenue with a reception to follow at Neil Bardal Funeral Centre (across from Brookside Cemetery). NEIL BARDAL FUNERAL CENTRE 204-949-2200 neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 02, 2014