Obituary of William Ira CAMPBELL

William Ira Campbell, born Oct. 13, 1924, to a School Marm, Naomi Palmer, and an engineer, Archibald Campbell, at Mt. Hamilton Hospital in Hamilton, Ont, died at Calgary Alberta, on 04 May 2015. Archie and Naomi had found each other later in life so Bill and his older brother, Jack, were the treasures of their life. Bill was a true Canadian born of UEL stock descended from an ancestor who worked for the North West Trading Company (with the likes of Simon Fraser). Bill spent his childhood on Barnsdale Avenue and Community Beach in Hamilton. In 1943 he enlisted in the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot, always conscious of a distant relative named Charles Lindbergh. However, the program already had enough so he trained as a Bomb Aimer on a Lancaster. He was always grateful the war ended before his training and he never dropped a bomb in anger. After the war he realized that his Royal Canadian Air Force uniform allowed him to hitchhike from base to base with the American Air Force and he managed to cross the country to visit his brother, Jack, who was attending UBC. He then graduated and attended Graduate studies at McMaster University, followed by OISE for a teaching accreditation and became a Science Teacher at Pembroke District High School. The following year he became a Teaching Assistant at Guelph where his daughter and grandsons would follow. He had numerous interesting summer jobs with the Canadian Wildlife Service where he worked in the far north and Newfoundland Labrador. For several summers he was a Park Naturalist in Algonquin Park. An avid photographer — if you have an old copy of the Birds of Alberta, his is the picture of the Belted Kingfisher — which incorporated his other love of birdwatching. He joined the Colour Photographic Club of Hamilton and met the older daughter of Bill Kirkwood, also a member. He never left her side celebrating 60 years of marriage last summer. When he became a high school teacher in Waterdown, Ont., he was affectionately known as “Wild Bill”. The only thing wild about this gentle man was his stories. He had a life-long passion for wood carving and became an accomplished artist. He appreciated the Group of Seven and often carved the trees depicted in their works. When asked once why he carved Varley’s tree, he responded that he wanted to see the other side. He leaves behind his loving wife, Patricia Alison Campbell, his daughter, Louise P. Campbell Q.C. (Tim O’Hara) of Calgary, his older son, Raymond (Charmaine) of Burlington, and their four sons, Ted, Tony (Simone), Nicholas and Jesse, and younger son, Jeffrey (Terri) and their son, Brendin of Clearwater, BC, as well as his brother, Dr. John D. Campbell of Edmonton, Alberta, and his friends at SAWS (Southern Alberta Woodworking Society). A service will be held at Woodcliff United Church on Saturday, May 9, 2015 at 5010 Spruce Drive S.W., Calgary at 3.00 p.m. Internment in Hamilton, Ontario will follow at a later date.