(WILLIAM) VICK MCDOWELL

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(WILLIAM) VICK MCDOWELL After a heroic fight with metastatic melanoma, Vick McDowell passed away on August 8, 2010. He went peacefully, without pain, and secure in the knowledge that he was very much loved. Vick's memory will live on in the hearts of all who knew him, but will be most cherished by his family - his children, Melissa McDowell and Ryan McDowell (Angela Chapman), his sisters, Maureen McDowell (Frank Boas) and Eileen Wood (Wayne), and his niece, Sherry Weaver (Glenn). Born to Bill and Muriel McDowell on July 6, 1942, Vick grew up in the Weston neighbourhood of Winnipeg, MB. He was a graduate of Cecil Rhodes, Tec Voc, and Daniel Mac, though he was always more interested in friends, girls, and football than school. The summers of his youth were spent at the family cottage (Connie G) at Lac Lu, where he could be found splashing his sisters, wrestling with his cousin, and jumping (or being thrown off) the dock into the lake. After a quick stint carrying on the family tradition as the third generation to work at C.P. Rail, Vick began a more than 20 year career with Xerox Canada, where promotions would relocate him first to Thunder Bay, ON, and then to Saskatoon, SK, where his children were raised. He always maintained strong ties to Manitoba through family, the Xerox network, friends, and until 1994, through annual visits to the cottage on Lake Winnipeg in Grindstone Provincial Park that he and his father-in-law had built in 1978. In the late 1990s, the West Coast began to call to Vick, and he tested the waters in Kamloops and Steveston before making his home in the community of Youbou, overlooking Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. Like his mother and sister before him, Vick discovered that Island life was truly the life for him. Vick made friends easily wherever he went thanks to his kindness, generosity, and eager willingness to golf, dance, philosophize, or share a drink with anyone and everyone who shared his passion for life. His wicked sense of humour made him the life of every party and he would rather be remembered with a smile than a tear. A celebration of Vick's life will be held in Youbou at a future date, yet to be determined. In lieu of cards and flowers, donations can be made to the Cancer related charity of your choice.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 14, 2010