William Wallace (Wally) Warner
May 22, 1920 – Oct. 25, 2012
“WWW”
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our father, William Wallace (Wally) Warner on October 25, 2012, in Salmon Arm. Survived by Clelia, his loving wife of 59 years, his life was always “family first” and included Kathy (Knud), Gary (Leslie), Jack (Brenda) and Patti, grandchildren Chris, Jeff, Evan, Brendan, Emily, Alex, Justin, and Shannon, and great grandchildren Adam and Anna.
“WWW” was born May 22, 1920 in Saskatchewan and left school early to help support his family during the depression. After early years of breaking horses and branding cattle, our Dad moved to Vancouver Island where he worked on a sawmill green chain. At the start of the Second World War he joined the Canadian Navy and served until his discharge on VE day. He started his career at the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1946 as an operator in Yahk, BC, before being transferred to Revelstoke in 1950 where he met “the most beautiful stenographer I had ever seen”.
He married Clelia Lazzarotto on May 8, 1953, in Revelstoke. Together they moved to Nelson where all four children were born. Our Dad always had a passion for the outdoors and spent time hunting, fishing, camping, and working to develop our summer property on Kootenay Lake. Dad was transferred to Revelstoke in 1968 as the Chief Dispatcher and then to Vancouver in 1972 as the Assistant Superintendent of Transportation for the Pacific Region. After 39 years, Dad retired on June1, 1985, and was described by Mr. J.D. Bromley, Senior Regional Vice President as “The Best Transportation Man in the History of CP Rail.”
Our Mom and Dad spent many happy hours in their retirement working on their properties at Anaheim Lake and Shuswap Lake, fishing the Dean River, and taking their trailer to Mexico during the winter. Dad was always happiest when surrounded by family and working around his cabin at Annis Bay. He would only stop to watch the trains go by and wave at the engineers, many of whom remembered Dad and were happy to salute him with a toot of the horn.
He will be greatly missed by family and the many friends he made during his working career. In lieu of flowers, a donation could be made to the Salvation Army, Dad’s charity of choice.
A celebration of life will follow.