Alfred Bernard Schmidt of West Kelowna, BC, passed away聽 Friday, April 22, 2016 at the age of 83 years, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Alfred was born May 5, 1932 in Weyburn, the second of eight children born to Bernard and Wanda Schmidt. He leaves to mourn Fran, his loving wife of 62 years; children Karen (Andrew) Hill; Judy (Rob) Goeres; Linda (Brent) Wadsworth; Bill (Darlene); grandchildren Brent, Mitchell, Ian, Leah, Alex; brother Gene (Thelma), sister Betty; sisters-in-law Colleen Heebner, Marlene (Reg) Williamson, and Susan Schmidt. He was predeceased by his parents, Bernard and Wanda; siblings Edith, Gertrude, Werner, Lucien and Eric. Throughout his life, Alf did a variety of jobs, from being a General Motors parts manager to being a firefighter for Weyburn, and eventually to owning his shop where he sharpened saws and repaired small motors. He had a great love of music and played in both the school dance band and the Jaycees Band for 13 years. When he retired to Kelowna, it wasn鈥檛 very long before he began repairing lawn mowers and other small motors in his garage for the community of Lakeview Heights. He loved it when customers would pull into the driveway and 鈥渟hoot the breeze鈥� on any subject. Alf enjoyed visiting with his family, whether we were asking him questions about how to repair things, or talking about gold panning, fishing or the latest hockey or football game. Alf instilled in all of us an appreciation of the outdoors whether we were looking up into the night sky counting satellites, watching for meteors and the space station or fishing at the lakes and campsites around Saskatchewan and British Columbia. We would like to thank Dr. Mike Banwell and all of the doctors, nurses and health care professionals who helped make Alf鈥檚 life a little easier as he battled cancer. A special appreciation to the drivers from the Freemason Volunteer Driver Program who provided transportation to the cancer clinic at Kelowna General Hospital throughout Alf鈥檚 treatments. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Central Okanagan Hospice Association www.hospicecoha.org/donatecoha; to the BC Cancer Foundation, Kelowna, BC or to a charity of your choice.
