GEORGE SIMUNDUR SIMUNDSON

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GEORGE SIMUNDUR SIMUNDSON (GEORDIE) July 14, 1931 - July 1, 2016 "You can live without money but you can't live without friends." !Geordie Simundson Dad passed on July 1, 2016, after a short stay in hospital and surrounded by family and friends. He was vital and alert until the last day. He loved life, and would have very much liked to stay forever. Most of all, he loved his "girl", our mom. Dad passed away one week before their 55th wedding anniversary. Geordie was born July 14, 1931, at Little Bullhead, Manitoba, second child of Lucy Edna Simundson (nee Lea) and Simundur (Mindy) Simundson. Dad's brothers and sisters were a very important part of his life. Dad began a 50-year commercial fishing career at age 15. It was hard, dangerous work but he loved what he did for a living. When he wasn't fishing on Lake Winnipeg he worked on construction of the float plane base when Thompson was just being established, guided at Separation Lake and fished on Great Slave Lake. He trapped. He worked hauling freight for the Sigfusson Transport Company. When the lake closed, he went to St. Theresa Point to build air strips. He even dabbled in prospecting after his retirement. Dad was working on construction of a school at Loon Straits when Doug and MaryAnn Monkman introduced him to MaryAnn's visiting friend, Jean Craik. On July 8, 1961, Jean and Geordie married. Soon, Chuck arrived. Four more children arrived in the next seven and one half years. Dad worked away from home for long periods of time. Whether away fishing or working up north, we knew he would be home when he could and that we were in his heart. When things seemed bad, Mom would say, "Oh Geordie, come home". We never heard this as a complaint that Dad wasn't there but as an acknowledgement having Dad around made everything a little bit easier. After we left home, invariably, a visit to Pine Dock would have us returning to our homes with pickerel cheeks or hardfish or Dad's special stones as gifts to people who were kind to his children, especially when we first went to Winnipeg for high school. Dad measured success by the quality of the friendships in his life. He was very successful. He was content to spend weeks at a time alone in a fishing camp or on a trap line, but he was really interested in meeting people. Complete strangers soon became friends. There was always coffee ready, and visitors were always welcome. When we were young we would often wake up in the morning to find that we had been moved to a different bed when some of his many friends needed a place to sleep if the lake was too rough to travel on. From the time he was a young man, and as long as he was able, Dad made a point of checking in and visiting elderly people, in Pine Dock, at Little Bullhead and all along his way up the lake. Dad and Mom spent a lot of time on Vancouver Island, with our sister Elizabeth and her husband Grant. Dad loved touring the island and checking out local points of interest. But mostly, Dad loved meeting people, and he and Mom formed a lifelong friendship with Chris and David Nicolaye and their family in Campbell River. Granddaughters, Gena and Amanda were especially dear to their grandpa and they spent lots of time together. Jordyn and Alec, his younger grandchildren, were also very dear to Dad. We hope they will retain memories of him as they grow up. Dad was predeceased by his parents, Lucy and Mindy; father-in-law Charles Craik, mother-in-law Margaret Craik; sister Edna; brother Albert; daughter Elizabeth; brothers-in-law, Joseph Zagozewski, Manny Collins and Bill Porth Jr.; and sister-in-law Nancy Simundson. Left to cherish his memory are wife Jean, sons, Chuck (Malcolm) and Bill (Dennis); son-in-law Grant Jones; daughters, Kathy (Dwayne) Shlachetka and Heather (Darren) Dufour; grandchildren, Gena, Amanda, Jordyn and Alec; sisters, Emily Collins and Sylvia Zagozewski; brothers, John and Jarald (Ann) Simundson; and sister-in-law Anne (Bob) Duncan; honorary family members, MaryAnn Monkman and her family, Diane Gardarsdottir; the Chudd Family; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. We thank Kenny Mowatt, Clifford and Violet Lea, Lorri Monkman, Alfred Lea, Johnny and Bernard Selkirk, and everyone else who helped Dad stay in Pine Dock as long as he could. He would have been happiest if he could have spent all his days either in Pine Dock or on the lake, and your kindness made staying there so long possible. Dad's independence was important to him, and he kept it until the end thanks to the staff and residents at the Icelandic River Lodge and friends and family in Riverton, especially Marge Johnston, Auntie Sylvia, and Sherry Rozecki and Daniel Gudbjartson on the Riverton Handi-Van. Thanks to Menno Friesen and to Nelson Gerrard for the many hours spent visiting with Dad, and for keeping him interested. Thanks to the staff at the Gimli Hospital, particularly nurse Julie Kumps, Dr. S.V. Patel, and the palliative care staff; as well as Dr. Karvalis at CancerCare Manitoba. There are so many people who meant so much to my dad. I hope you all know how much he loved and appreciated you. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, August 20, 2016 at the Riverton Hall at 2:00 p.m. Before the Celebration of Dad's life, please go for a walk near water, find some peace, pick up a stone and give it a special thought. Bring it with you to the Celebration of Life, and it will be interred with Dad's cremains. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the RM of Bifrost-Riverton, Box 70, 329 River Rd., Arborg, MB, R0C 0A0, in support of the Riverton and District Handi-Van or to the North East Palliative Care Program, Box 250, Gimli, MB, R0C 1B0. NEIL BARDAL FUNERAL CENTRE 204-949-2200 neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 16, 2016