Passed away after a long illness on Thursday, July 6, 2023 in Barrie, Ontario at the age of 96, surrounded by family. Left to grieve are his daughters Mary Lou (John) and Nadine (David) and sons Glen and Shawn (Eileen). He was predeceased by his son Norman Edward, his grandson Hayden and by his beloved wife of 48 years, Mary, and partner Dorothy Liddle. “Grandpa Rip” also had a special place in his heart for grandchildren Andrea, Daniel, Elaine, Patrick, Connor and Natalie.
Norm was born in the heart of Toronto, and raised with his sister Aileen in urban surroundings where High Park was the closest thing to wilderness to be found. Yet like his sister he formed a bond with the lake country to the north, both working at Hotel Britannia on Lake of Bays during the 1940s. He even found time to get north while on leave during his army training in 1945.
Circumstances intervened as his post-war work with the Arrow Shirt company took him to the Maritimes, where he met Mary, and then Calgary until he came full circle back to Toronto with a wife and five children in tow. He then turned his eye north again, and in 1968 he and son Norman built a cabin on Lake of Bays (with varying degrees of support from littler helpers). It came to be what he had always hoped: a place built with his children, for his children, and for his children’s children.
The Rotary Club was very much a part of Norm’s life in Toronto, where he concentrated on a program for the eradication of polio. After retirement he shifted his membership north to the Gravenhurst chapter. There he gained a greater insight into the economic challenges faced by some of the local permanent residents working to support the grander Muskoka second homes. To that end, he helped establish and endow several Rotary bursaries, each designed to reflect the experience of his wife: a young person of very limited means could, with help, move on to post-secondary education and achieve their potential. He held so very strongly to the Rotary principle of “Service before self.”
In brief, he left his life as he lived it: with thoughtful preparation for a goal in mind, with the welfare of others uppermost in his mind, and with grace and courage to the end.
Inurnment will be at a later date in Assumption Cemetery, Mississauga. Donations in his memory may be made to the Rotary Bursary Endowment Fund, Boc 888, Gravenhurst, ON P1P1V2.