SPENCER THOMAS SILVER

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

SPENCER THOMAS SILVER

Spencer Silver died at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre on Monday, September 23, 2019, at 71 years of age. His wife Lynn was with him.
Spencer is survived by his wife of 35 years, Lynn; his cousin Derek (Heather); son Matthew (Amber); many cousins; friends and former colleagues. Spencer was predeceased by his father and mother, Stan and Louise Silver; his sister Karen; brother-in-law Marc; sister Charlene; and his aunt and uncle, Helen and Lionel Wood.
On October 19, 1947, Spencer was born in the Weston neighbourhood of Winnipeg. He attended Weston School, Cecil Rhodes School and Daniel McIntyre Collegiate. At the University of Manitoba, he attained Bachelor's Degree in science and education. After teaching at St. James Collegiate for two years, Spencer was pulled back to science, more education and a career in meteorology. After some years forecasting with Environment Canada, Spencer realized that he needed to teach. He attained complete fluency as a speaker and writer of French and spent the bulk of his career teaching meteorology to Canadian and international military student pilots.
Spencer always asserted that he hadn't liked school. That may be the case, but he was as enthusiastic a learner as he was teacher. He loved history particularly and when he discovered an era of history of which he considered he was not sufficiently informed, he would dive into it with complete gusto and the purchase of books.
Spencer's career took him to several of Canada's military bases, but anyone who has discussed the city of Moose Jaw with Spencer will realize that Moose Jaw was his favourite posting. Spencer enjoyed three stints in Moose Jaw, one on his own and two with Lynn. Along the way, he became a licensed scuba diver (in Lake Diefenbaker!) and a private pilot of small planes.
After retiring from Environment Canada in 2003, Spencer accepted new challenges. For a time, he considered returning to teaching high school in northern Saskatchewan. He decided it might be an asset to speak a First Nations language, so he became proficient in Cree in addition to English, French and German. We decided to return to Winnipeg instead and has been in Winnipeg since 2001. Spencer worked for a secondhand bookstore (our collection grew!), joined the education department staff team at the Winnipeg Humane Society, tutored math and physics students and was a group leader with Weight Watchers.
Spencer took pride in being a faithful and empathetic friend, an effective and insightful teacher and an active contributing member of Toastmasters. Spencer strove to be the man his dogs always knew he was.
Spencer and Lynn enthusiastically included cats and dogs in their family. Spencer and Minahsen and then Minahsa and Spencer enjoyed tramping over thousands of kilometres of prairie in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
In January 2015, Spencer lifted a bag of dog food, which he had done hundreds of times over the previous 20 years. At first, he brushed off the resulting pain and visited walk-in clinics. By February 9 he had been to the emergency department of the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, twice. He first received a diagnosis of compression fractures. Although accurate, it wasn't the entire story and we received the diagnosis of multiple myeloma on February 10. Throughout the next four years, Spencer's attitude of determination, patience and appreciation did not flag. He accepted and put into practice the advice he received with cheerful diligence. As a result, he rebuilt strength in his back and had more than four years of good health. He resumed walking our dog, became a proud member of the unofficial dog walkers club in our neighbourhood, joined the board of the Manitoba Writers Guild and became a member of a Library Advisory Council.
Between August 16 and September 13, 2019, Spencer's situation changed drastically and despite the very best efforts of the medical teams at CancerCare and the Health Sciences Centre, Spencer lost his life.
Throughout the past four and a half years, we were awed by the calibre of medical care Spencer received and by the endless and generous support offered by family, friends and neighbours. Our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Kotb, Jane Kasian, Dioni and Alexis at CancerCare Manitoba and the staff at CancerCare at the Grace Hospital, Dr. Goytan at Health Sciences Centre, the WRHA homecare and health care aides and nurses, the staff at GA-4 at the Health Sciences Centre, Home Therapy Services, the pharmaceutical staff at Shoppers Drug Mart Manitoba Clinic and Unicity, the entire Mead family, Jon , Eileen , Sophie and Charlotte, David Shanks, Lucie Blais, Henry and Jane Fidler, Derek, Heather, Matthew and Amber Wood, Maria Cabas, Guy Jodoin, Lois Rogers, Bev and Don Rickey, and Lynn's siblings, especially her brother Steve and his wife Penny. Your empathy, expertise, encouragement and practical support was an invaluable lifesaver and will never be forgotten.
Spencer's life will be celebrated on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Airport West, 2520 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg. If you are able to attend, please RSVP to (204) 452-3699 or mfcsilver@hotmail.com.
If you wish, contributions in Spencer's name can be made to the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation.

For those who wish to sign the online
Guest Book please visit www.chapellawn.ca

Chapel Lawn Funeral Home
204-885-9715

Make a donation to

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 28, 2019