Obituary of William Keith Edgar

EDGAR, William (Bill) Keith:January 25, 1926 †" January 5, 2013- On January 25, 1926, William Keith Edgar was the first child born to Sam and Velma Edgar in Owen Sound Ontario. His birth would soon be followed by that of Shureen Anne, Colleen Ruth, and almost nineteen years later, here in St. Catharines, by his brother Samuel Wallace. In 1944, Bill decided to join the RCNVR in Hamilton at HMCS Star with his buddy Art Burge. Dad had thought a lot about this and chose the navy because he thought that he would look cuter in that uniform than any of the other services. After his training in Montreal at HMCS Donnacona, his next stop was HMCS Cornwallis in Nova Scotia which was the largest naval training base in the British Commonwealth by the end of the war. Dad eventually served on two different mine sweepers, HMCS Swift Current and HMCS Fort Frances out of Halifax during the Battle of the Atlantic and he re-enlisted for Pacific duty after VE day. He was scheduled to leave for Australia when the US dropped the bomb so his trip was cancelled. He was always just a little bit disappointed that the war ended when it did because it was always his dream to see Australia where his family had once lived. After the war Bill decided to stay here in St. Catharines and work with his father Sam Edgar at the old St. Catharines Brass Works where Dad†™s feet were seriously burned (for the first time) during a foundry accident. While recovering in the St. Catharines General Hospital, he met a beautiful young nurse named Marion Botting who thought him quite fresh at the time. She resisted his advances until one night when they ran into each other at a †œY†� dance. Dad pawned his date off on his †œwingman†�, our Uncle George Edgar, and the rest is history and the start of our branch of the Edgar family. Marion and Bill married on October 21, 1950 and spent close to sixty-two years together, taking care of their family and each other. It looked as if all of the kids would be boys when Kelly, Kerry and Kevin came along. Kevin died during an operation when he was about 2-1/2 so Mom and Dad decided to start work on the next half of their family. Kirby, the fourth son, was born and then finally a baby girl, Kimberly, joined the Edgar clan. The kids all stayed very close while setting up their own extensions of the family. Kelly and Darlene live in St. Catharines and have two daughters. The eldest, Meghan, lives in Toronto with her new husband Richard Mitchell and Shannon currently resides in Shanghai, China. Kerry and Heather also brought up two daughters. The oldest, Bridget, married Craig Bullen and they have a daughter Cassady who recently acquired two new twin cousins, Violet and Eileen, who were born to Carolyn, the youngest daughter, and Luke Irvine. Kirby and Stacey live here in St. Catharines with their two sons Kevin and Kieran and Kim married Gord Bartlett and they live not too far away in Canborough, Ontario.Dad survived mom†™s passing and continued living at Garden City Manor until last Saturday morning January 5th when we said goodbye to him at the General Hospital. Everyone will miss you, Dad. You were a great guy and we love you. Cremation has taken place. The family will receive visitors at the GEORGE DARTE FUNERAL CHAPEL, 585 Carlton Street on Saturday, January 12th from 11:30a.m.-12:30p.m. A Celebration of Bill's Life will follow at 12:30p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Memorial donations to Parkinson's Foundation or the CCAC- Niagara Branch would be appreciated by the family.